A quick glance at the men's golf team's individual results may indicate a strong showing at this weekend's Florida Southern/Imperial Lakes Golf Classic in Mulberry, Fla. But the results were actually quite disappointing.
The Blue Devils finished 15th of 21 teams overall and last out of the six Atlantic Coast Conference teams competing at the tournament.
"We certainly didn't set the world on fire in any way, shape or form this weekend," head men's golf coach Rod Myers said.
Jimmy Flippen of Virginia won the Classic with a score of 11-under-par. Joe Ogilvie was the top golfer for the Blue Devils, as he finished tied for 13th in the tournament. He led Duke with a two-under-par 214. However, 38 other players in the tournament also finished at or below par.
The weather played a major role in the low scores, as the lack of wind allowed for seemingly better results. Every Duke player shot his lowest scores of the spring season, but this was due more to the conditions than to their personal improvement.
"This was the easiest that this course could have been," said junior Justin Klein, who finished second for the Blue Devils and tied for 39th in the tournament at one-over-par. "The scores were by far the lowest that I've seen in this tournament in the last three years. Our scores look good, but we were still disappointed relative to the field."
Behind Ogilvie and Klein, Jason Buha finished 10-over, Chris Dauk was 14-over, and Raleigh Shoemaker finished 18-over.
"Joe and I weren't extremely disappointed," Klein said. "We played well, but we just didn't get the most out of the course. [Buha, Dauk, and Shoemaker] were very disappointed in their scores. A poor round should have been a 74 or a 75. There is no excuse for shooting [higher]."
Of the three golfers, only Buha managed to get a single round lower than 75.
The low finish over the weekend does not bode well for Duke's postseason chances. Myers had speculated that the Blue Devils would have to finish among the top seven teams to help their chances of making it to the NCAA tournament.
The Blue Devils also blew a chance to do well against teams from their own conference. Clemson, who finished fifth among the six ACC teams, still beat Duke by 18 strokes.
"This was a good opportunity to make a move and establish ourselves in the district, so it's frustrating and disappointing for all of us," Klein said. "As a team, we're really behind the eight-ball now. We need to turn things around, and turn things around quick or else we're not going to have a chance to make the NCAA tournament."
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