Duke’s modus operandi this spring has been final round dominance.
So it was no surprise that a last-day comeback in stroke play propelled the Blue Devils to the match play segment of the NCAA Championships last weekend at the Karsten Creek course in Stillwater, Okla. After upsetting top-seeded UCLA in the quarterfinals, though, Duke fell in the semifinals to Georgia 3-2 to end its season.
“We outlasted some teams in the stroke play portion by getting a lot of pars when others didn’t, but when it came to [Georgia] they just made a couple of extra birdies on us,” head coach Jamie Green said. “I don’t think we played poorly at any point. They just played better.”
The Blue Devils very nearly doomed themselves on the very first hole of the tournament’s stroke play, shooting a combined nine-over on the 477-yard, par-four tenth. Duke only conceded six more shots on the day, however, salvaging the round to finish the first day tied for 18th place.
After a solid second round put the Blue Devils in a tie for 12th place and within shouting distance of the eighth-place finish necessary to qualify for the match-play portion of the tournament, they were faced once again with that daunting tenth hole to begin the final round.
Duke, though, viewed it as a challenge to overcome.
“The guys went into that day really licking their chops,” Green said. “[On that hole] I stood in the fairway and watched ball after ball after ball from our guys, who on the first two days had struggled with that tee-shot, hit the fairway.
“That’s when I knew it was on. I said, ‘These guys are going to get this done.’”
All five Blue Devils bogeyed that hole, but on a windy day it was simply enough to not put up the double and triple bogeys that plagued them on day one.
That accomplishment fueled Duke, and led by freshman Austin Cody’s even-par performance and Julian Suri’s birdie on the final hole, it posted the lowest team score for the day and squeaked into match play, earning eighth place by a single stroke.
“I just can’t say enough about their performance on the back nine,” Green said of his team. “You can try to not look at the scoreboard, but the guys knew and I think to some degree they wanted to know.”
Duke’s reward after that comeback was a date with the top-seeded Bruins. Entering the match UCLA was a perfect 5-0 in match play for the season. The Blue Devils, though, shared the same perfect record and were fueled by their stellar performances over the last two rounds.
Duke came out firing, as Tim Gornik sprinted out to a 4-up lead through five holes. Gornik eventually won his match 6-and-5, scoring the Blue Devils the first point in the match.
Then, Gornik did some actual sprinting.
“When [Tim] finished his match, he went backward to watch Brinson [Paolini]. And our assistant coach Jon Whithaus looked at him and said, ‘We already know you won. Go tell your teammates up front that you won,’” Green said. “So he put his bag on one of the scorer’s carts and literally sprinted down the fairway on the 14th hole so he could get to his teammates, who were still trying to win their matches.”
That energy spread to his teammates and spurred Duke to a 3-1-1 victory that, in reality, wasn’t even that close—the Blue Devils’ lone loss came when, after they had secured the victory, Paolini’s match was called although he was down only one hole with three remaining.
“They came out to Brinson on the 16th green and told him he didn’t have to play anymore. Brinson’s reaction was, ‘Why?’” Green said. “I think if he had finished that match we probably wouldn’t have lost any, but who knows.”
Duke’s energy may have finally given out, though, in their semifinal loss to Georgia—a match that was tight throughout but saw the Bulldogs convert on their opportunities.
The Blue Devils, though, lose only one senior, Wes Roach, entering next season, and know that the experience of their NCAA Tournament run this year should pay dividends in the future.
“They have something that they can say, we’ve done that, we’ve been there, and we probably know what it’s going to take to get that much better,” Green said. “That experience they get, especially when younger, could turn around and really be helpful for us in years to come.”
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