What started as a sunny February trip to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. took on a bit of a sour note Tuesday, as Duke posted a 16-over 304 on the last day of competition to fall back to a third-place finish at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational.
The Blue Devils put together two solid rounds Sunday and Monday at Sawgrass Country Club, posting scores of 294 and 291, respectively. Those scores put Duke in second place overall at 9-over par for the tournament heading into day three—only three shots off the lead.
Wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour and a Louisiana State team that posted a 3-over 291 on the day dropped the Blue Devils to third place behind the Tigers and tournament host North Florida, despite Duke placing four golfers in the top 25. The Ospreys won the tournament with a 12-over 876 team score.
“Anytime you’re in position to win a tournament going into the back nine on the last day—it’s an enviable position a lot of folks would like to be in,” head coach Jamie Green said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t really close the deal. North Florida played exceptionally well on the back nine when the wind picked up to a really high level.”
Duke’s struggles were concentrated on that back nine. The Blue Devils held a two-stroke advantage over Louisiana State with three holes remaining and all of the Tigers in the clubhouse. The par-three 15th proved to be Duke’s biggest obstacle to a second-place finish, though, as only one of the five Blue Devils—freshman Adam Sumrall—managed to make par. The other four Duke players combined for two bogies and two double bogies on the hole.
“Fifteen and 16 are pretty tough holes generally,” Green said. “Even without a breath of wind you still have to hit really solid golf shots and get your work done on the green…. Fifteen is a par-three over the water where basically you have a situation where you just have to step up and hit it. You don’t know how the wind is going to affect the ball—you just have to hold your breath a little bit when you’re in that kind of wind.”
Freshman Julian Suri had an especially tough time on the back nine, shooting 5-over par down the stretch. Despite a birdie on 11, Suri bogied holes 13 and 18 and carded back-to-back double bogies on 15 and 16.
Even with these day three struggles, Suri provided some excitement for the Blue Devils on day two as he was among only 12 competitors under par on the round, netting a 2-under score of 70. Unfortunately, Suri never got comfortable on the leaderboard, as he carded an 8-over-par 80 on day one and finished with a 6-over 78 on day three.
“[Suri is] certainly a terrific player,” Green said. “Our guys are all very competitive. It’s going to be a good thing for us down the stretch as we move on through the season, getting our guys a little taste of how well they can play. Even if they don’t quite get there each time or in as many rounds as they’d like, if they get a little taste and just realize what they’re capable of, we should be able to go out there and shoot for par.”
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