After showing improvement in their last start, the Blue Devils return home to cap a busy week and try to gain more momentum in their second-to-last fall tournament.
Duke will host the fifth annual Rod Myers Invitational this weekend at the Duke University Golf Club. The Blue Devils competed hard at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational Monday and Tuesday, finishing ahead of three ranked teams, and are looking to keep trending in the right direction after finishing third at their own tournament last year.
But with such a busy week traveling to Fort Worth, Texas, playing 54 holes in two days, traveling back to Durham and getting ready to play 54 more holes in two days this weekend, managing fatigue will be a major concern for head coach Jamie Green and his staff. Duke will play 36 more holes Saturday, followed by 18 and the final round Sunday
"It's a really quick turnaround—we rarely do this," Green said after Tuesday's final round. "The guys are really cramming when they get back. Guys are studying pretty hard in the airport now and getting ready to take some midterms. It will be a different kind of preparation. We're not going to play a whole lot of holes."
Because it is hosting the event, Duke will get to have all nine players on the roster compete, although only five players can contribute to the team's overall score. Green said Tuesday that the team's lineup for the weekend has not yet been determined.
Coming off the best finish of his career, senior Michael Ricaurte will look to show the consistency that has been missing in his time at Duke. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound native of Columbus, Ohio, finished tied for 13th at Colonial Country Club and is hoping his diligence in the weight room and on the golf course continues to show on his scorecard.
Like Ricaurte, freshman Adam Wood is hoping to contend this weekend after carding the second top-20 finish of his young career early in the week. His classmate, Jake Shuman, has finished in the top 35 in all three of his starts this season and has also been a steadying presence in the lineup so far.
Although it is likely that Ricaurte, Wood and Shuman will be in the lineup, Green could go a number of different ways with the final two spots. Sophomore Max Greyserman and senior Turner Southey-Gordon competed in Fort Worth, but both players struggled—finishing tied for 39th at 14-over-par—and have not performed up to their standards so far in the season.
"We'll evaluate who we feel like our best five are to put into the starting lineup," Green said. "[But] everybody will be out there and hopefully we'll [all] compete at a high level."
Junior Motin Yeung—who finished tied for sixth at the event last year—would be a logical choice for a fourth player in the lineup. The Beijing, China, native competed at the Asian Games in South Korea last week and was Duke's most consistent performer last season, but did not at compete in Texas because of the huge amount of travel involved with the Asian Games.
"You're going to get some jet lag, so I looked at what his class schedule was, and knowing that we wanted to have 100-percent Motin Yeung available during the Rod Myers, I made [this week's lineup]," Green said. "He should be ready to go."
Although the team score will be the focus for the Blue Devils this week, three of their players will also be making their season debuts. Sophomores Andrew Bieber and Alexander Matlari and freshman Ben Silverman are likely to compete in the event as individuals.
The Blue Devils will be putting their roster's talent on display and their home course, which had Champion Bermudagrass greens implemented last summer. Duke's local knowledge of the greens and areas surrounding the putting surfaces—which were also redone by notable golf course architect Rees Jones—should give the Blue Devils an edge against the 12-team field.
"The greens have matured and are the defense of the golf course," Green said. "Us knowing a little bit more about where certain hole locations are best to play from is going to be helpful. Hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of what we know."
And although Duke is focused on its results on the course this weekend, the tournament remains much larger than a regular inter-collegiate golf tournament.
The event is dedicated to legendary coach Rod Myers, who coached at Duke for more than 30 years and died of leukemia in 2007.
"[Myers' wife Nancy] hosted us for dinner last week, just before we came to [Forth Worth]," Green said. "It really is a special event for our golf program and our university to honor Rod each year. We're certainly looking forward to making it a special event for everybody involved."
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