Leading after 36 holes, the men's golf team sealed the Duke Golf Classic with a strong final round Monday. Duke beat North Carolina in the team rankings, but UNC's Martin Ureta edged out Duke's Ryan Blaum in a four hole playoff for the individual crown.
In an exciting conclusion to this year’s Duke Golf Classic, Duke junior Ryan Blaum took North Carolina’s Martin Ureta to four holes in a sudden-death playoff before surrendering the individual title. The Blue Devils dominated the 14-school tournament overall, however, finishing four under par as a team and a gaping 13 shots ahead of the Tar Heels, who finished runner-up at nine over par.
Blaum and Ureta were the only two players to advance beyond the first hole in what began as a four-man playoff for the individual title. Duke freshman Michael Quagliano and Michigan State’s Matt Harmon finished regulation play tied with Blaum and Ureta for first, with all four posting three-round scores of 210.
On the first hole of playoff competition, Quagliano and Harmon both settled for par, while Blaum and Ureta earned birdies. With the action moving to the 18th hole, Blaum and Ureta tied again. On the third extra hole, Blaum had a chance to win after Ureta bogeyed, but he missed an eight-foot par putt. Finally, Ureta birdied what proved to be the final hole of the playoff, and after driving an approach into a greenside bunker, Blaum could not reciprocate.
Monday’s win marked Duke’s first tournament victory of the year. It was an impressive triumph, as the Blue Devils’ team score of 860 set a new tournament record for the Duke Golf Classic. The last time Duke won its home tournament was 1999, and head coach Rod Myers discounts home course advantage as an explanation for the Blue Devils success this year.
“We botched [the Duke Golf Classic] last year with a chance to win with four holes left to play,” Myers said. “You almost have to fight expectations on the home course, which can become a disadvantage. Our course is very demanding, and it’s a course on which the best players are going to win. Of course, our guys feel more comfortable playing on a course they know, but I think they won because they were the best.”
Myers instead credits his players’ talent and their hard work throughout the fall and summer for the win, and he said he is not surprised by the team’s stellar performance in the tournament.
“I’m very excited about the group of young guys we have this year,” Myers said. “We have two promising freshmen in Michael Quagliano and Michael Schachner, and with two returning All-Americans, we have a great group of guys.”
Blaum and Quagliano were Duke’s top finishers, tying for second place along with Michigan State’s Harmon. Matt Crenshaw of UNC finished alone in fifth with the second-best score of 213. Duke junior Nathan Smith also placed in the top 10, posting a score of 215, to finish alone in sixth place. Schachner tied for 28th to round out the Blue Devils’ top four.
Duke will not play this weekend but will tee off in the Landfall Tradition Tournament at UNC-Wilmington Oct. 29-31.
“This win is really going to propel us along,” Myers said. “We should have a very good chance at Landfall.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.