This time of year, the golf world is just now turning their eyes to the Players Championship in Northeast Florida. However, Duke beat the rush and traveled to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., this past weekend for The Hayt at the Sawgrass Country Club.
Joined on the leaderboard by top-ranked teams like North Carolina, Alabama and Virginia, the Blue Devils, led by sophomore Ethan Evans, rallied on to fifth place, securing their eighth-consecutive top-five finish.
In the first round, the weather got the worst of the Blue Devils. Wind and rain scattered throughout the day, even to the point where the tournament was put on delay, and the team fell right back into the trap of squandering round 1 — similar to their performance last week at the Wake Forest Invitational.
“I never ever like to blame performance on conditions because so many of the players play in the same conditions,” said head coach Jamie Green. “But I will blame our preparedness. We didn't control things that were in our control.”
Luckily for the Blue Devils, steady golf from senior Ian Siebers and Evans bailed them out from what could have been worse than 11th place after round 1. Siebers competed well, shooting 2-over but going even on the back nine. Evans, the low Blue Devil throughout the tournament, alternated between birdies and bogeys in the front nine before ending at a solid 1-over. The Blue Devils were heavily separated from the rest of the pack, and once again needed a huge response if they wanted to stay competitive.
And they did just that.
Duke is building a bounce-back reputation, as each round never seems to affect the next. With a second-round 1-under, the Blue Devils were one of two teams to end under par Sunday, alongside rival North Carolina. The Sawgrass Country Club is a course that doesn’t lend itself to big moves, and it is very difficult for teams to jump from one pack to another. However, Duke climbed five spots to sixth place, spearheaded by Evans. The Mercer Island, Wash., native dove into the red at 4-under on the day, tying the best individual round with Virginia’s Deven Patel, the overall winner. Highlighted by concluding hole 7 with a birdie and hole 8 with an eagle, Evans shifted the momentum for the team as well as trailing the leader by one stroke.
“I think Ethan's become more and more and more comfortable in what he does well,” Green said. “He's got a very good iron game, and was decisive in his tee shots. His length doesn't force him to hit a driver off a lot of tees. It [his success] was a ball striker's paradise.”
Also in the mix rounding out the Blue Devils’ response was another under-par finish from sophomore William Love. Starting with a double-bogey on hole 10, Love quickly answered by grabbing a birdie on hole 16 and an eagle on 18, and shot even on the front nine. Duke continued its pursuit into the third round, hoping to climb further.
In the third round, the Blue Devils edged into the top-five, passing Louisville by just one stroke and shutting the door on South Florida. The best two Blue Devils were junior Luke Sample and freshman Bryan Kim, ending even on the day. In addition, Love added a second eagle and ended his day at 1-over. But Evans stayed consistent once again, finishing the tournament 2-under and tying for second place — his best individual finish. His play on par-5 holes was immaculate and the biggest contributor to his success at 9-under and as the low individual.
“I can't think of a single time that he hit a poor tee shot on a par-5,” Green said.
The Blue Devils will make the return trip to Florida in a couple weeks for the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at the Floridian National Golf Club. The course is quite unforgiving, and control off the tee will be heavily stressed as the team prepares.
“Whoever we feel like is in the most control of their tee shots will be a factor for us in the lineup that we pick,” Green said. “If we want to be competitive we can’t fake our way around and just put together two good rounds. It's got to be all three.”
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