The 28th-ranked men’s golf team looks to put a solid stamp on its fall season when it hosts the 2004 Duke Golf Classic Sunday and Monday at the Duke Golf Club. Coming off of a second-place finish two weeks ago in Chicago, Duke is confident given its familiarity with the course.
“I feel it’s a very important tournament, mainly because you want to defend your home track,” junior Ryan Blaum said. “I think as long as we all play our game and play how we know we can play on that golf course we should have no problems out there.”
The team considers the Classic to be its most important fall tournament and expects to win against a solid but not stellar field.
“I don’t think there’s any reason why we shouldn’t have the best team in the field,” junior Nathan Smith said. “I think we should dominate if we all play well.”
The rest of the 14-team field includes No. 12 Michigan State and No. 46 North Carolina.
“UNC is going to be in the field as are other schools around this area, so we’re all really looking forward to this weekend,” Blaum said.
In order to take down the competition, the team will need to be steady and take advantage of its opportunities when they arise. Freshman Michael Quagliano has opened his Duke career with several strong performances and ranks second nationally in fairways in regulation.
To jump out to a strong start, Blaum has used aggressive play, earning a second-place finish at the Windon Memorial.
“Individually I’m just trying to give myself the most birdie opportunities that I can,” Blaum said. “Teamwise, I would like to see everyone just keep the ball in play and play some solid golf over those two days. The only thing I expect from the guys is to have fun and to not get frustrated.”
After a summer when he qualified for the U.S. Open and nearly made the cut, Smith has gotten off to slow start in his third season at Duke. He hopes to turn his fall around this weekend, but especially given the importantance of the event, he is more concerned with where the team finishes.
“As far as the individual is concerned, I’d much rather have our team win and come in last place myself,” he said.
With its long and narrow fairways, the 7,104 yard par-72 course plays to Smith’s strengths. The course is longer then those Duke competed on earlier this season and played host to the 2001 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships. Famous golf architect Robert Trent Jones designed the course, which is lined with enormous pine trees and brings streams into play on several holes. Rees Jones, known for toughening U.S. Open courses, renovated the links in 1993.
“I think [hole] number 12 is definitely going to be the toughest hole out there,” Smith said. “It’s a par-3, over water, it’s probably going to play 155 [yards] to a front pin, which will bring the water more into play, and to the back it will play about 190.”
The tournament will begin Sunday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start and will continue Monday with tee times from 8:00 a.m. to 10:06 a.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
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