Duke men's golf struggles in pair of weekend tournaments

After winning back-to-back tournaments, the Blue Devils struggled this week with the postseason rapidly approaching.

No. 22 Duke finished seventh at the Hootie at Bull’s Bay Intercollegiate Tuesday, 29 shots behind tournament champion No. 14 South Carolina. The Blue Devils were paced by sophomore Adam Wood, who finished tied for 17th, with freshman Alex Smalley and junior Matt Oshrine close behind in 19th and 26th, respectively.

Wood started off strong in Sunday’s opening round, finishing the first 18 holes tied for fifth with a three-under-par 69. But the Zionsville, Ind., native faltered in the second round, carding a three-over-par 75. In the final round, Wood could not create any separation on the leaderboard, and finished with a score of 72 to finish at even par for the tournament. The sophomore finished at or under par for the 16th time this season. 

Throughout the final two rounds of play, Wood was chased by his teammates Smalley and Oshrine. After shooting even par during the first two days, Smalley could not get over the hump and shot a one-over-par 73 on the final 18 holes. Following his victory at the Seahawks Intercollegiate, Oshrine could not build on his recent play and finished at two-over-par for the tournament. The junior bounced back after a first-round 74 to shoot even par in the final two rounds of play. 

Juniors Max Greyserman and Alexander Matlari rounded out Duke’s lineup, with both players struggling in the final round. After using five birdies to finish with a team-low score of 70 Monday, Greyserman carded a score of 76 Tuesday to finish tied for 36th place at four-over-par for the tournament. Matlari struggled with consistency throughout the tournament shooting rounds of 74, 77 and 75 to finish tied for 60th with a score of 10-over-par.

With the Blue Devils splitting their team across two tournaments, Duke received solid performances from four players who competed as individuals at the East Carolina Intercollegiate. Sophomore Jake Shuman paced the Blue Devils with a first and third round score of 73 en route to a tie for third place. Sophomore Ben Silverman bounced back from two rounds of five-over-par to shoot a score of 73 in the final round of play to finish 13th.

Freshman Shrish Dwivedi and junior Andrew Bieber also competed as individuals and tied for 21st and 32nd, respectively. Dwivedi started off well, sitting at four-over par for the tournament after 36 holes. But the Redwood City, Calif., native struggled mightily Tuesday with a final-round 82 that dropped him to 10-over-par overall.

The Blue Devils will next take the course at the Princeton Spring Invitational Friday and Saturday as their final tune-up before the ACC tournament begins two weeks later.