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Duke men's golf travels to West Coast for Nike Collegiate Invitational

Chandler Eaton notched a top-three finish at last weekend's Rod Myers Invitational and will compete against the best in the country this week.
Chandler Eaton notched a top-three finish at last weekend's Rod Myers Invitational and will compete against the best in the country this week.

Coming off a second place finish against strong competition at the Rod Myers Invitational in their only home tournament of the season, the Blue Devils are off to play in the Nike Collegiate Invitational at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Ore.

The three-day tournament, which starts Sunday, will feature some of the top Nike schools in Division-I golf. The field boasts two top-five teams, six other top-25 teams and four squads that just fell out of the GCAA rankings this past week. 

However, with its performance last weekend, No. 17 Duke has shown it can compete with the best and will look to continue its strong play in the 54-hole tournament. In the two-day 54-hole Rod Myers Invitational, the Blue Devils finished ahead of the likes of No. 12 Vanderbilt and then-No. 9 Oregon, and finished seven strokes behind No. 3 Wake Forest.

Duke will see those three teams again, as well as No. 5 Florida, No. 7 and defending national champion Oklahoma, No. 20 Texas and No. 23 Southern California.

The Blue Devils will compete on the Bob Cupp-designed Witch Hollow track, which measures 7,017 yards and plays as a par-72. The course hosted the men’s U.S. Amateur in 1996, when Tiger Woods won his third consecutive title before turning professional, and still holds events for the Web.com Tour. The course is nestled in the shadows of the Cascade Mountains with undulating fairways that weave through a variety of trees and water hazards leading to large sloping greens.

Duke will turn to Chandler Eaton, Alex Smalley and Jake Shuman to lead the team through the tournament. The three players all finished in the top 10 two weeks ago, with Eaton shooting 9-under-par for a third place finish behind Will Zalatoris and Norman Xiong. Smalley finished fourth, one stroke behind his sophomore teammate, and Shuman tied for eighth at 7-under-par.

The trio will look to improve on their performances from last year’s Nike Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, when all three struggled to get in the red. Eaton posted consecutive rounds of 75 before closing his tournament with a 77, placing him tied for 60th at 17-over-par. Meanwhile, Smalley fared a little better with two rounds of 72 before a final round of 76 left him tied for 40th at 10-over-par. 

Shuman started off his tournament strong, posting a 2-under-par 68, good for eighth through 18 holes. But he had a back nine to forget in his second round, shooting 9-over-par in his final six holes to close the round at 12-over 82. Although he rebounded nicely to shoot a 71 in the final round, his 11-over-par overall performance left him tied for 42nd.

As a team, the Blue Devils will look to place higher than the 11th they did last year. Finishing at 30-over-par, Duke was 31 strokes behind winner Vanderbilt, which edged out Florida by a stroke. No other team was within 11 strokes of the Commodores.

A new face to the team competition will be freshman Adrien Pendaries. The Frenchman struggled with back problems to start the season, but posted an impressive 1-under-par in his first tournament as a Blue Devil. Senior Adam Wood, who overcame a 5-over-par opening round to place 29th at the Rod Myers Invitational, will round out the lineup. 

Five golfers not participating in this tournament—Evan Katz, Harrison Taee, Ben Silverman, Steven DiLisio, and Shrish Dwivedi—will head to the Country Club of Sapphire Valley in Sapphire, N.C., to compete in the Hummingbird Invitational. 

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