Duke Advances To NCAA Championship With Sixth Place Finish At East Regional

Saturday, May 19

Alpharetta, Ga.

All Day

Duke University

Day Three

Duke Advances To NCAA Championship With Sixth Place Finish At East Regional

5/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

ALPHARETTA, GA ? The Duke men's golf team shot a five-over 293 in the final round of the NCAA East Regional to finished sixth overall with a +10 874 and advance on to the NCAA Division I Championship (May 30-June 2) at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. Junior Michael Quagliano led the Blue Devils in the final round with a one-under 71 at the Lakeside Course (par 72, 7,017 yards) at the Golf Club of Georgia.

"We are excited to be going to the NCAA Championship. The guys battled all three days and we beat a lot of good teams. I could not be more proud of them," said interim head coach Brad Sparling. "Michael Quagliano played very well today and was really consistent the whole tournament. After being out with his injury this spring, to come back and play like he did was great for the team."

Top-ranked Georgia claimed the regional title with a nine-under 855 (286-288-281) while Florida (290-285-292=867), Auburn (293-284-290) and Georgia Tech (284-294-289) finished tied for second. Florida State shot a closing round 281 (-7) to finish fifth with an 873 (+9), while Duke was one shot back of the Seminoles. Charlotte (875), North Carolina (877) and Georgia State (880) finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, while Coastal Carolina and Clemson finished deadlocked at 884 for the 10th and final spot in the NCAA Championship. Coastal Carolina defeated Clemson in a playoff that lasted four holes and two-and-a-half hours.

Quagliano opened the final round with birdies on No. 10 and No. 12 before falling back to one-under with a bogey on No. 13. Following three straight pars he bogeyed the par-3 17th before carding a birdie on No. 18 to make the turn at one-under (35). The Ardsley, N.Y., native carded pars ib the first five holes of the front side and added a birdie on No. 6 to get back to two-under. Quagliano suffered a bogey on No. 7, but followed up with back-to-back pars to finish the tournament 13th overall with an even-par 216 (72-73-71).

Junior Michael Schachner fired a one-over 73 in the closing round with birdies on No. 10, No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6. The Libertyville, Ill., native closed the tournament tied for 17th with a two-over 218 (75-70-73). Jake Grodzinsky added a two-over 74 on Saturday with two birdies and 12 pars. Grodzinsky, a senior from Cornville, Ariz., closed the event tied for 46th with a seven-over 223.

Sophomore Clark Klaasen shot a closing round 75 to finished tied for 32nd at six-over (222). The Grand Rapids, Mich., native had four birdies in the closing round but also carded a double-bogey on No. 18 and five bogeys. Freshman Adam Long added a four-over 76 for the second straight day. He opened with birdies on No. 11 and No. 12 but had double-bogeys on No. 14 and No. 17 to make the turn at two-over (38). Long got back to one-over with a birdie on No. 1, but bogeyed three of the next four holes to slip back to +4. He finished the tournament tied for 50th at eight-over (224).

Georgia's Brendon Todd and Florida's Billy Horschel tied for the individual title at six-under (210). Chris Kirk of Georgia and Kyle Stanley of Clemson finished one shot back at five-under (211), while Patton Kizzire of Auburn rounded out the top five at four-under (212).

NOTES
*** The Blue Devils have now reached the NCAA Championship in four of the past five seasons. Duke will be making its 17th appearance overall in the NCAA Championship.

*** Duke got off to a fast start in the closing round, getting to six-under as a team through three holes of play. The Blue Devils, who opened up play on the back nine, carded six birdies and nine pars on holes 10-12.

*** Duke's 10-over 874 is the program's sixth-best team score in an NCAA regional event. The Blue Devils' sixth place finish is tied for the school's third-best finish at the NCAA regionals.

*** Quagliano's 13th place finish was his best showing of the year and his top finish since placing tied for second at the 2004 Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic.

*** Schachner finished the NCAA East Regional tied for 17th overall. He has placed in the top 20 of each of the last three tournaments.

*** Klaasen birdied three of the four par 5s on Saturday. He finished the tournament with 12 birdies, including six on the par 5s.