The Blue Devils may have entered the Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship seeded 10th out of 16, but it would seem nobody told them that.
Duke cruised to victory at Hawks Ridge Golf Club, defeating fourth-seeded Illinois 4-1 to take home the tournament’s crown yesterday afternoon.
“They played well all week long from absolute start to finish. From the mindset they had when they stepped on the ground there at Hawks Ridge, they were in a great place,” head coach Jamie Green said. “They were ready for anything in terms of that tournament and took care of business.”
Like the rest of the tournament, Duke came out victorious in the championship match with relative ease. Senior Wes Roach, who won three of his four matches in the tournament, won one-up and helped provide veteran leadership to the squad comprised of the senior and four underclassmen.
“There’s no doubt he leads by example—there’s no doubt about it in his preparation and certainly how he played today,” Green said.
The tournament began with the teams playing two matches on Sunday, and the Blue Devils wasted no time in setting the tone for the tournament. They shut out Texas in the tournament’s first round 5-0 and proceeded to defeat East Tennessee State 4-1 for a whopping nine out of ten wins on the day. The Longhorns and Buccaneers were seeded seventh and 15th respectively.
Freshman Austin Cody led the early success and delivered the most commanding victory of each of the first two rounds for Duke with a first round six-and-five victory and a follow-up win of four-and-three.
“A lot of them have had a good bit of success in match play before getting here, and so any chance you have to build confidence is a good thing,” Green said. “They’ve been practicing hard and playing pretty well leading up to this.”
The semifinals against 11th-seeded Southern California provided the most difficult challenge to the Blue Devils. While Cody rallied to halve his match despite trailing after 14 of the 18 holes and sophomore Tim Gornik fell one-down, the other three golfers prevailed for Duke resulting in a 3-1-1 win.
Overall, the Blue Devils won a remarkable 16 of their 20 matches while only losing three. Sophomores Brinson Paolini and Julian Suri won all four of their matches.
“In match play you get to start all over and it’s important to do that every time you step into the tee box,” Green said. “You’ve got to have a good frame of mind and forget what was going on in the past and take the new hole as it comes.”
Duke returns to stroke play, however, when it travels to the Hootie at Bulls Bay Collegiate in Awendaw, S.C. next weekend. The team will have the momentum of this big victory propelling them when they attack the savannahs at Bulls Bay Golf Club.
“Anytime you walk away with a trophy, and you’re driving home in a van with some positive vibes and excitement, you’re going to look forward to the next opportunity,” Green said. “You almost want to jump right out there and get it going right away.”
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