Duke Tied For 17th After Opening Round Of NCAA East Regional

Thursday, May 15

Chattanooga, Tenn.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Klaasen & Blaum Qualify For 2009 U.S. Open

Duke Tied For 17th After Opening Round Of NCAA East Regional

5/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. -- The Duke men's golf team battled through a roller coaster opening round to shoot a two-over 286 at Council Fire Golf Club on Thursday. Junior Clark Klaasen led the Blue Devils with a one-under 70, while freshman Wes Roach fired an even-par 71. Duke will enter tomorrow's second round tied for 17th overall.

"Today was a frustrating day for us," said head coach O.D. Vincent. "We never got anything going as a team. We hung tough, but finished very poorly. We look forward to getting off to a good start tomorrow morning. Driving the ball well here makes all the difference. It is time to step up and play some good golf."

Duke, opening up on the back nine, got off to a solid start and sat at three-under through the six holes. The Blue Devils struggled on Nos. 17 and 18 to make the turn at two-over. They rebounded to posted nine birdies on the opening five holes of the front nine to move to seven-under before leveling off. Again the last two holes of the nine proved troublesome as Duke dropped seven strokes combined on No. 8 and 9.

Klaasen opened with a birdie on the par 4 10th hole and moved to two-under on the day with a birdie on the par 3 14th. After dropping a stroke with a bogey on No. 17, he tacked on birdies on No. 2 and No. 4 to move to three-under for the round. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native carded bogeys on No. 5 and No. 9 to close the day tied for 33rd with a one-under 70.

Roach is tied for 46th after shooting an even-par 71 in the opening round. The Knoxville, Tenn., native birdied No. 11 and No. 15 to move to two-under after six holes of play. He ran into trouble with bogeys on No. 8 and No. 9 to slip back to even-par. Roach recovered to get back to two-under following birdies on No. 3 and N0. 4 but closed with a double-bogey on No. 9 for his third even-par round of the season.

Sophomore Adam Long opened the day with five straight pars before slipping to two-over with bogeys on No. 15 and No. 17. He fought back to even-par with back-to-back birdies on No. 2 and No. 3 and added his third birdie on the front side with a four on the par 5 sixth hole. Bogeys on the next two holes dropped Long back to one-over where he finished the day tied for 60th with a 72.

Senior Michael Schachner and freshman Matthew Pierce each fired two-over 73s in the opening round. Pierce began the day with eight straight pars before carding a bogey on the par 4 18th hole. The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native responded with birdies on No. 2 and No. 5 to get to one-under. Pierce finished double-bogey, bogey to finish the day tied for 78th. Schachner carded a pair of birdies and 12 pars but also had four bogeys en route to his two-over 73.

Duke opens second round play on Friday beginning at 7:18 a.m. on the front side of the Council Fire Golf Club. The Blue Devils will again be paired with Tennessee-Chattanooga and Auburn. Live stats will be provided at www.golfstat.com.

Georgia is the first round leading after firing a 19-under 265. Augusta State is eight strokes back at 11-under, while SMU is third after firing an eight-under 276. Henrik Norlander (Augusta State) and Hudson Swafford (Georgia) are tied for the individual lead at shooting six-under 65s on Thursday.

NOTES

Duke carded four birdies (Schachner, Klaasen, Long & Pierce) on the par 5 second hole
Duke carded eight birdies on the opening four holes of the front nine on Thursday
Duke struggled on the final two holes of both the front and back nines. The Blue Devils played the four holes at a combined 12-over par.
Klaasen now has 10 under-par round this season and 26 for his career. He is tied for eighth all-time at Duke with 26 career under-par rounds.
Long has shot 74 or better in 27 of 31 rounds played this season.
Roach carded a team-high four birdies, including two of Duke's three birdies on par 3s in the first round
The top 10 teams and two individuals not on advancing team gain entry to the NCAA Championships hosted by Purdue May 28-31