Still reeling from the loss of last year's team captain and second-team All-American Jason Buha, the men's golf team made a decent showing at the Palmetto Classic on Kiawah Island, S.C., its first tournament of the season.
The inexperienced Blue Devils placed ninth out of 14 in the field, shooting 291 in their final round Tuesday and totaling 875 for the competition.
"I thought [the tournament] went okay," Duke coach Rod Myers said. "We're still trying to adjust to Jason Buha's graduation. Besides his low scores, we're really going to miss the leadership."
The team had hoped to catch Atlantic Coast Conference rival Maryland on Tuesday but fell one scant stroke short. The Terrapins finished eighth, shooting 874 for the tournament.
Duke's low scorer was junior Kyle Elfers, who stood in 14th place after the first two rounds of competition on Monday. Elfers shot a one-under par 71 in the final round, finishing the tournament tied for 10th place with a two-under par 214.
"Individually I was really satisfied," Elfers said. "It got the year off to a good start."
In his first collegiate appearance, freshman Kevin Streelman tied for 40th place, shooting a five-over par 221.
"Although he didn't have great tees, he showed really good signs of hanging in there," Myers said.
Also finishing in 40th place was senior T.J. Cooper with a five-over par score of 221. Cooper, who had played in one golf match while at Duke before this week's outing, rebounded from a seven-over par 79 in the first round to shoot a three-under 69 in the second round. Even after two double-bogeys in the third round, Cooper shot 73 to close the tournament.
Expected to lead the team this season, sophomore Mike Christensen finished a disappointing 50th in the tournament, at a nine-over par 223.
"He never quite got things going," Myers said, "But he's working really hard. He just got off to a shaky start."
Many of Duke's difficulties in the tournament came from putting, as the Blue Devils struggled with the Bermuda grass on the Osprey Point Golf Course.
"We play on bent grass here," Elfers said. "It's not that much different, but sometimes it's a little slower. Teams from the south are a little more used to it."
In fact, the southern teams dominated the tournament as a whole. Tied with Clemson after the first day of competition, South Carolina pulled through in the final round to win with an 18-under 845. Kyle Thompson, a freshman from South Carolina, won the individual competition, shooting a seven-under 209. Clemson, a perennial ACC powerhouse, finished second in the tournament, shooting 855.
Duke next travels to Charlottesville, Va. to compete in the Keswick Club Cavalier Classic. Senior Chris Schmid is expected to replace junior Seth Huffstetler in the Blue Devil's lineup.
"It's good to have one tournament behind us as we head to Virginia," Myers said. "It was a good learning experience."
Duke is scheduled to compete in five total tournaments during the fall season. The Blue Devils will use those competitions to adjust to the changes on the team and prepare for the conference competition they will face in the spring.
"By the end of the fall, we should really know where we stand," Myers said.
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