The men's golf team virtually guaranteed itself a spot in the NCAA Regionals this weekend, and set a tournament record in the process, as it captured the championship of the Wofford Invitational at the 10th-annual event in Spartanburg, S.C.
"It was always an extremely important event for us," Duke coach Rod Myers said. "It was the most opportune time to achieve our goal of making the NCAAs, since we were right on the bubble and competing against some of the other teams that were too. It was basically a shootout for the remaining spots."
The Blue Devils went into the weekend needing to finish ahead of both Augusta State and N.C. State to grab one of the final slots in the East Regional. They accomplished that easily, as the other two schools came in third and eighth, respectively.
Duke's 10-under-par total score of 854 eclipsed the previous tournament record, posted by Wake Forest in 1989, by five strokes. Senior Jason Buha-coming off a disappointing 14th-place finish at last weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament-led four Blue Devils in the top 10, carding a 4-under-par 212. Buha was tied for the second-best score after 54 holes but lost to Wofford's Chris Stone on the third playoff hole. It was Buha's sixth top-10 performance of the year.
"Jason's been on a roller coaster ride recently," Myers said. "But he's been really consistent all year, amazingly consistent. It was great to see him have a chance to win here and getting his confidence back."
A trio of Duke golfers tied for sixth-place honors, three strokes behind Buha. Freshman Mike Christensen, senior Erik Bertrand and sophomore Kyle Elfers all posted 1-under-par scores of 215. It was Christensen's fifth finish in the top 10 on the season, while this weekend marked the first-ever appearance there for both Bertrand and Elfers. The two also set personal-best scores for 54 holes.
"This was one of Erik's finest performances," Myers said. "He's a senior so his time is running out. He's been working real hard on his game-he played solidly so it was nice to see him take a good turn."
Elfers was playing in place of freshman Jim Donnelly, who struggled at the ACC Tournament, in the team's fifth spot.
"He really took advantage of it," Myers said. "He came on strong and gave us a tremendous lift."
This weekend marked the Blue Devils' first championship of the season, after three second-place results in the fall. Duke topped runner-up Virginia Commonwealth by four strokes and bettered three ACC teams, including Wake Forest, which it finished behind at the ACC Tournament last weekend.
"The team showed tremendous composure individually," Myers said. "The thing about golf is you're out there by yourself but all the guys were focused very well and playing with confidence. I was very impressed with them."
With their regular season complete, the Blue Devils are now looking towards the NCAA Regionals. The selection committee will officially announce bids on Tuesday for the tournament, which will take place on May 16-18 at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va. Eleven of the 23 teams at the Regional will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Evanston, Ill., on May 28-31. Duke has not made it to the final tournament since 1993, where it placed 10th.
"I think we've got an excellent chance to move on if we play anything close to how we played [at the Wofford Invitational]," Myers said.
The Blue Devils started slowly this weekend before pulling away from the field. After a 289 first round on Friday, third-best out of the 11 teams, Duke posted a 279 second round later that day to move into first for good.
Buha, coming off a disappointing 14th-place finish at the ACC Tournament, was tied for second after the first day of competition with a 4-under-par 140.
After struggling to a 74 in the first round, Christensen carded a tournament-best 68 to finish in fifth place at the end of Friday's play. Bertrand and Elfers ended the day in ninth and 14th place, respectively.
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