Last year, a disastrous fall season for the men's golf team left it with little chance of making the postseason. Hoping to avoid burying themselves again, the Blue Devils opened their season this weekend in South Carolina.
The shovels aren't out yet, but Duke's opening performance was not the strong showing it was looking to get, as a fourth place finish by Kyle Elfers could not prevent the Blue Devils from finishing eighth at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Classic. Conference rival Maryland won the tournament, 11 strokes ahead of Duke.
"I thought we were more ready for this tournament than we were," coach Rod Myers said. "We had played well at qualifying [tournaments], but we weren't that good this weekend. I though we would be able to have four scores under or around 220."
In actuality, only Elfers' score of 214 and Marc Chatelain's 217 finished below that seemingly elusive mark. After the first 36 holes of the 54-hole tournament, Elfers stood in second place with his score of four-under par. A rough stretch yesterday led to a 74 in the final round, but he was still able to maintain a top-5 finish, the second of his career.
"Kyle played real solidly," Myers said. "Tuesday he ran into a stretch of three or four holes where he didn't putt too well and ended up with consecutive bogeys, and that hurt his round. But he played really well, real solid the day before."
Chatelain's story was just the opposite. After shooting a 75 on the first 18 holes and a 71 on the next 18, the senior stood tied for 21st place. His 71 yesterday, however, catapulted him into the top 10, as he finished in seventh place with a score of one-over par.
While Myers described the play of his top two finishers as "solid," that is not the word to describe the play of the other Blue Devils. At one point on Tuesday, Mike Christensen was four-under for his final round, but lost his focus and collapsed-hitting two balls out of bounds and one in the water-to finish with a 74. Christensen, who along with Elfers led last year's squad, finished the tournament third on the team, 43rd overall with a disappointing score of 226.
"Like any tournament, we needed to stay away from big numbers-no out of bounds, no water hazards," Myers said. "But we couldn't avoid them this weekend, and it really hurt our score."
Christensen was not the only Blue Devil plagued by big numbers. Freshman Matt Krauss had a final-round score of 75, including a quadruple bogey. Krauss struggled to find his game throughout the tournament and finished 13-over par. Although it was just his first collegiate tournament, Myers was hoping to get more out of his freshman.
As a whole, the Blue Devils struggled off the tee, consistently leaving themselves with either tough second shots or additional penalty strokes. Adding to Duke's woes were the unusually fast greens at Osprey Point Golf Course.
Myers believes Duke's scores will go down next weekend in Virginia, and not just because of the change in venue. He fully expects his team to perform better, especially veteran Christensen. The Keswick Club Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville takes place on Saturday and Sunday.
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