Men's golf shoots well on front 9, struggles on back

The Duke men's golf team catapulted itself into second place going into the back nine before falling late in its round to finish sixth at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Georgia. The tournament featured five of the top 10 teams in the country, easily the toughest field Duke has faced so far.

"I think we were satisfied with our overall finish, but not happy how we finished to get there," coach Rod Myers said. "If you had told me we'd finish sixth I would think, OOK,' but to go from second to sixth in the last nine holes doesn't make you happy, naturally."

The team opened some eyes by playing its way into third place going into Sunday. Leif Olson led the red-hot Blue Devils into second place by shooting a remarkable four-under par on the front nine. Rob Beasley and Matt Krauss both shot one-under par on the front nine to add to the team's remarkable play.

However, the team fell apart on the back nine.

"The golf course was set very difficulty," Myers said. "And we played just very poorly.

The team's struggles late in the final round marks the second straight weekend in which the Blue Devils have had difficulty putting together a whole tournament. At their last event, the Seminole Intercollegiate, the Blue Devils held first place going into the final day, but finished third.

In that event, however, the entire final round was a debacle. At Forest Heights, Duke struggled only on the final nine holes. Myers sees this as a positive sign.

"I think the key thing with this team is that we've been getting better every week," Myers said. "This team just needs to experience [the final 18 rounds] a bit more. I think this team is finally starting to believe in itself. We just have to believe we belong here."