The men's golf team played in its final tournament before the ACC Championships, finishing in a tie for sixth with North Carolina at the Southwest Bell Yellow Pages Invitational held at MacGregor Downs Country Club this weekend. The tournament field included six teams ranked in the top 20, one of which was ACC rival and top-ranked Clemson.
In the first round, Duke fired a two-under par 286 to take the early tournament lead. In the second and third rounds, however, the winds picked up and, partly due to some difficult pin positions, the Blue Devils' scores went up as well.
Duke shot 286-304-293 to finish with a 19-over par 883, which dropped it into the tie for sixth. Third-ranked UNLV won the 12-team event with a five-over par 869.
"We opened with an extremely good round," coach Rod Myers said. "Then when the winds picked up in the afternoon of day one, we started getting into trouble, but we were able to regroup and play some good golf on the final day."
The key to the Blue Devils' spectacular first round was the play of Mike Christensen. The junior started off hot, firing a five-under 67 to tie his career best. This put Christensen and Duke ahead of the field. Christensen wouldn't see his name on the leaderboard again during the tournament, however. A second-round 80 and a final-round 77 dropped him into 33rd place.
"[Christensen] played great golf in the first round," said Myers. "He seemed to struggle a little with his putter during the final two rounds, which led to his higher scores."
When Christensen was playing poorly, seniors Kyle Elfers and Marc Chatelain picked up the slack. Elfers fired a final-round one-under 71 to move him into a tie for 14th. He finished with a 219, three strokes over par. Chatelain also finished in the top 20 with a five-over 221, good enough for 19th place.
One of the difficulties the Blue Devils ran into at MacGregor Downs was the 18th hole. Guarded by water, the 18th hole punished players even if they kept their ball dry. The Blue Devils finished seven-over par on this hole alone.
Duke's Matt Krauss was one of the many victims of the 18th. The freshman carded three solid rounds of 72-76-74 for a six-over 222 to finish in a tie for 27th. Krauss was one-under on his final round when he reached the 18th hole, but he left the hole with a triple-bogey.
With only the ACC Championships left before the selection of the teams for the NCAA Regionals, Myers believes that a finish in the top four would help Duke's chances.
"We are playing better, more consistently and with more confidence now than we ever have before," Myers said. "Our most important contest in the ACCs will come against Maryland and Virginia, teams we know we can compete with."
The ACC Championships will take place next weekend at the Old North State Club in Uwharrie, N.C.
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