A diamond in the rough. Held by itself it is striking and impressive, but put it next to other jewels and it comes up lacking.
This weekend the men's golf team was a diamond in the rough. Traveling to Cary, N.C., for the PING Intercollegiate Tournament it shot a solid 898 for three rounds. By itself this score looks impressive, but in the context of a 12-team field that included nine top-ten teams, it's only good for a last-place finish.
The Blue Devils were once again paced by Senior Tom Hurley, who shot a 221 including a team low 71 on the final day. Hurley's run was highlighted by a back-nine 33 on the event's final day.
Freshman Justin Klein also helped pace the team with a consistent weekend of 75-75-76 for a total of 226. Senior Jason Widener put together another solid weekend finishing one stroke behind his teammate at 227.
Rounding out the weekend for Duke was junior Mike Muehr with a 229 and senior Al Birney, who started well with a first-day 73 only to have course conditions and a two round day on Saturday drop him to a three-round total of 230.
"The conditions weren't the greatest over the weekend but you can't always play in good conditions," said Birney. "I really think that playing two rounds on Saturday was tough and caused problems."
Saturday's conditions were less than stellar which could be the cause of some of Duke's problems. After raining heavily Friday night on a course that was already too wet, the teams returned to play 36 holes Saturday. The course was barely playable.
While head coach Rod Myers was not pleased with the 12th-place finish, he sees the potential his team posesses.
"We're just not sharp yet, not ready, but I feel we're not very far away," Myers said. "Each player just needs to make a commitment. The ACC Championships are around the corner."
Although the team has yet to come together and the ACC Championships are next weekend, Myers continues to have a positive attitude.
"I'm still very optimistic," said Myers. "We have a team that can compete but we have to have all cylinders working."
With junior Aaron Crewse reentering the line-up for the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils might just receive that extra spark they need to push them to the top.
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