It was deja vu Saturday for head coach Jamie Green and Duke men's golf Saturday, and unfortunately the results weren't pretty.
After shooting 29-over-par last year in the final round and finishing second to last in the stroke play portion of the Dick's Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup, the Blue Devils shot 20-over-par this time around for their final 18 holes and placed 11th out of 12 ACC and SEC schools.
Duke finished with a 54-hole total of 35-over-par, 39 strokes behind tournament winner Georgia Tech, and was left with another sour taste in its mouth at the par-71 Golf Club of Tennessee in Kingston Springs, Tenn.
"Obviously we were not pleased with how things went," Green said. "We just did not finish well at all. We had some guys make some double bogeys and hit some shots in some places you just couldn't recover from."
For the second straight event, a pair of Blue Devil freshmen were the bright spot for the team.
Jake Shuman—who played two solid rounds in Duke's season-opening tournament but was derailed by a final-round 81—was tied for eighth entering Saturday's final round, but was unable to build on positive momentum for the second straight week.
The Needham, Mass., native carded a final-round 80 after shooting 67—the lowest round by any Blue Devil this season—in the second round to finish tied for 26th at seven-over-par; he played his last seven holes of the tournament at seven-over-par.
If Shuman can figure out how to carry solid early-round play into final rounds, he could become an anchor in the lineup early in his career.
Shuman's classmate Adam Wood also had another solid showing after finishing tied for eighth at The Invitational at the Ocean Course, finishing tied for 29th at 8-over-par after a final round 77.
Like Shuman, Wood suffered through a forgettable final 18 holes but has shown a lot of promise early in his career.
"We're always looking for signs of how things have been good or things that we can grow on and build from, and there certainly were [still] things in this event," Green said.
Although the freshmen have impressed with their ability to put up solid scores in Duke's first two tournaments, the Blue Devil returners have held the team back and disappointed so far.
Sophomore Max Greyserman posted a strong one-over-par 72 in the final round, but struggled during his first 36 holes and only finished tied for 37th at 10-over-par.
Junior Motin Yeung—Duke's best player a season ago—tied for 46th at 14-over-par after rounds of 75, 76 and 76 and was unable to build on his final-round 71 at the Blue Devils' first event,
Senior Turner Southey-Gordon also never got on track, finishing tied for 58th out of 60 players at 18-over-par after rounds of 78, 74 and 79.
Duke's returners have shown they are capable of making birdies throughout their careers but still have trouble consistently keeping big numbers off their scorecards, derailing the team's momentum when it is trending in the right direction.
After Saturday's nightmare final round, the Blue Devils had to gear up for the ACC vs. SEC match-play portion of the event Sunday, during which they took on the only team they beat during stroke play, Missouri.
"Guys were pretty motivated," Green said. "We had some pretty pointed conversations challenging each other."
Wood and Yeung dominated their matches, winning after just 13 holes and 15 holes, respectively, and Duke had chances in the other three matches to come away with wins or ties but missed out on its opportunities.
Southey-Gordon lost the last four holes of his match to fall after 16 holes to the Tigers' Ryan Zech, Greyserman fought hard but fell to Euan Walker in 17 tightly-contested holes and Shuman went back-and-forth with Wilson Sundvold before finishing tied after 18 holes; because of limited time constraints, matches that were tied after 18 holes did not go to sudden death.
"In the end, we just have to credit Missouri and how they performed to win the holes against us the last nine holes that were played," Green said. "They were making birdies and eagles. We battled out there."
The Blue Devils will look to right the ship and find more consistency from hole to hole before they tee it up at the Swoosh Invitational Oct. 6 at Colonial Country Club—which annually hosts the PGA Tour's Crowne Plaza Invitaional—in Forth Worth, Texas.
"We'll be doing some heavy duty preparation between now and the beginning of October," Green said. "We're excited to see what our lineup can do out there."
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