While any attention on the golf program this week will be centered on junior Wes Roach and incoming freshman Brinson Paolini playing in the 109th U.S. Amateur in Tulsa, Okla., the team returning to campus is a very different one than the one that finished 14th in last year's NCAA Championships.
In addition to a host of new freshman players, head coach Jamie Green also welcomes a new associate head coach in Jon Whithaus. After spending the previous 13 seasons as the head man at Division III Ohio Wesleyan, Green's alma mater, Whithaus certainly is accustomed to guiding a winning program.
"The players are just getting to know him and probably unsure of exactly what he brings, but what I am positive of is his level of organization and experience," Green said. "The best thing for our guys will be knowing that they are going to have two head coaches essentially."
While Paolini will be busy competing against the nation's best amateurs at Southern Hills Country Club this week, his freshman teammates will be settling in on campus. Adam Sumrall, Julian Suri and Tim Gornik, who is originally from Slovenia but attended high school in Florida, all come to the Blue Devils having experienced a great deal of success on both the junior and amateur golf circuits.
"You can expect a very high level of organization and work from the incoming freshman players, and I would not be the least bit surprised to see them cracking the starting lineup," Green said. "That is going to be completely up to them, but something that I am going to leave wide open."
If any of the freshmen can make the lineup, they will be helping the team work toward its goal of improving on last year's 14th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Entering the final round in eighth place, this finish wasn't what the team had hoped for.
There are, however, a number of positives that can be drawn from last season. With a month and a half left in the season, an NCAA appearance looked unlikely. But Duke won the River Landing Invitational in April and finished third in the ACC tournament, earning them a bid to the national championship tournament.
One obstacle in the way of bettering that 14th-place finish at the NCAAs will be replacing graduated seniors Clark Klaasen and Michael Quagilano. The pair posted Duke's two lowest scores at the NCAAs. The coaching staff knows that it faces the task of not only replacing the duo's performance on the course but also its leadership and impact on team chemistry. This task that will largely fall on the shoulders of the squad's lone senior, Adam Long.
"Adam Long is without a doubt a guy that can step in and fill that leadership void," Green said. "If you look at what he's accomplished both athletically and academicaally since he's stepped on campus, it's pretty impressive."
The Blue Devils will be playing a slightly different schedule this year. While the Fall season is traditionally a shorter season focused on preparing for the tournaments in the Spring, the team is taking that mentality to the extreme by scheduling no tournaments for September. This decision was one made by former head coach O.D. Vincent, but Green thinks it could have a positive impact on the team.
"With four newcomers on the team, it will be a chance for the freshman to get accustomed to college and also be a semi-break from the rigorous summer tournament schedules our guys played," Green said.
Wes Roach played in one of those rigorous summer tournaments, the Tennessee Amateur, which was played at the Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., this year's NCAA site.
If the Blue Devil newcomers chip in and help the team make a repeat appearance at the NCAAs, Roach will get another chance to post a low number at the Honors Course in an even more meaningful round.
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