Just when it seemed like the men's golf team was peaking, everything came crashing down this weekend when the Blue Devils finished last at the ACC Championships with a three-round total of 14-over par.
No. 1 Georgia Tech won the tournament, played at the 7,102-yard, par-72 Old North State Club in Uwharrie, N.C., for the second year in a row with a score of 23-under par, four shots better then N.C. State. North Carolina's Dustin Bray led wire-to-wire to capture medalist honors with a total of 205, 11-under par.
"I don't have any answers," coach Rod Myers said. "We have played well in the last two weeks shooting eight- and nine-under par. I seriously thought we would have a chance to contend, but we didn't fulfill either of our keys to success."
Before this event, Myers said that for Duke to contend for the title this weekend, the Blue Devils needed to have all five Duke players shoot around par or better and one or two golfers would need contend for the individual title.
Junior Leif Olson led the Blue Devils this week with rounds of 72-73-70=215 to finish in a tie for 17th place at one-under-par.
"Leif played solidly all the way through," Myers said. "But, he didn't give himself enough opportunities to make birdie. Also, the chances he did have for birdie, he couldn't convert."
It would not be far off to tab sophomore Mike Castleforte as Duke's most valuable player this spring. This week, however, Castleforte struggled with his putting and shot three consecutive rounds of 73 to finish in a tie for 29th place at three-over par.
"Mike hit the ball as well as anyone in the tournament, but had nothing to show for it," Myers said. "He played fairly well and had the most birdie opportunities than anyone on our team."
Sophomore Rob Beasley shot rounds of 74-75-74--223 to tie for 36th place at seven-over par. In the final round, Beasley was two-under with three holes to play, but he double-bogeyed 16 and 17 to drop back.
Beasley was not the only Duke golfer to struggle down the stretch in the final round. Castleforte went bogey, bogey, birdie on his last three holes and senior Matt Krauss was one-under on his final round before finishing with an even-par 72.
In total, the Blue Devils were five-under par with four holes to play and ended up shooting a one-over 289 for the round.
"On this course, it helps to start quickly because two of the first four holes are par fives," Myers said. "We didn't take advantage of par 5's this week, something we have been doing so well in our last two tournaments. We had our best start of the week in the final round, but holes 16,17 and 18 hurt us."
Myers said he believes the Blue Devils are going to be selected to the NCAA Regionals because of their strong spring performance, but he will not know officially until May 6.
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