Blue Devils Tied For Seventh After Opening Round Of ACC Championship

Friday, April 17

New London, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Duke To Compete In River Landing Intercollegiate This Weekend

Blue Devils Tied For Seventh After Opening Round Of ACC Championship

4/17/2009 9:30:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

NEW LONDON, N.C. -- Senior Clark Klaasen fired a two-under 70 and sophomore Matthew Pierce shot a one-under 71 to lead Duke into a seventh place tie after the opening round of the ACC Championship. As a team, the Blue Devils shot a two-over 290 at the par 72, 7,100 yard Old North State Club at Uwharrie Point.

"We were a little up and down in today's round," said head coach Jamie Green. "Certainly there were some highlights with Clark [Klaasen] and Adam [Long] making eagle, throw in some birdies and I think we played enough under-par holes to have a better day. Unfortunately, we played a couple of holes that we wish we could have back. But the reality of it is that this is a three-round tournament not just one."

Georgia Tech grabbed the first round lead on the final hole when Cameron Tringale sank an eagle putt to put the Yellow Jackets at seven-under for the day. N.C. State is one shot back at six-under, while Clemson (-2), Florida State (-1), Maryland (+1) and Virginia Tech (+1) round out the top five.

Virginia Tech's Drew Weaver and Tringale share the individual lead at five-under (67). N.C. State's Matt Hill is one shot back at four-under. Klaasen is tied for sixth after firing his sixth under-par round of the season, while Pierce is one of eight players tied for ninth.

Klaasen got off to a great start with a birdie on the par 3 third hole and a an eagle on the 557-yard par 5 fourth hole. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native holed out from the fairway on No. 4 to move to three-under. Following a bogey on No. 5, Klaasen carded five straight pars before suffering his second bogey of the day on No. 11. He added a birdie No. 13 to get to two-under before closing the day with five straight pars.

"It was a good round. Anytime you are two-under and in sixth place individually out here after one round it is good," said Klaasen. "I hit the ball really well today and gave myself a lot of chances to attack pins and gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities. Obviously, starting out three-under through four was really important. After that I couldn't really get anything going, but I was solid all day."

Pierce posted his sixth under-par round in his last seven rounds with the one-under 71. He birdied the par 4 second hole to get to one-under before giving a stroke back with a bogey on No. 4. The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native parred six straight holes before getting back under-par with a birdie on the par 5 11th hole. He parred the next five holes before slipping back to even-par with a bogey on No. 17. On the par 5 18th hole, Pierce saw his second shot from just over 200 yards out hit on the front edge of the green before carrying through and into small valley on the right side of the lakeside green. He landed the short chip on the downhill slope and watched it filter down to six feet from the hole before sinking the putt to cap of the round.

Junior Adam Long carded a one-over 73 on Friday and is tied for 24th. Following three pars to open the day, he had back-to-back bogeys to slip to two-over. Long birdied the par 4 sixth hole and parred the final three holes of the front side to make the turn at one-over. The St. Louis, Mo., native bogeyed No. 10 to fall to two-over before getting the stroke back with a birdie on No. 15. Long suffered a double-bogey on the par 4 16th hole to move to three-over and missed the green on the challenging par 3 17th hole. He sank a tough 12-footer on No. 17 to save par and regain some momentum heading into the final hole. After hitting the fairway on No. 18, Long hit his approach to about 15 feet of the cup and capped off his day by making the eagle putt to fight back to one-over for the round.

Wes Roach, a sophomore from Knoxville, Tenn., is tied for 42nd after shooting a four-over 76. He finished the day with two birdies (No. 10 & No. 13), 10 pars and six bogeys. Roach had seven pars and a pair of bogeys on the opening nine to make the turn at two-over. He birdied No. 10 to get back to one-over but suffered a bogey on No. 11 to give the stroke back. Roach got back to one-over with a birdie on No. 13 but again had a bogey on the following hole. He also had bogeys on No. 16 and No. 17 to slip to four-over on the day.

Senior Michael Quagliano shot a five-over 77 and is tied for 49th. The Ardsley, N.Y., native started slow with a bogey on No. 1 and slipped to six-over after going double-bogey-triple-bogey on No. 5 and No. 6. He rebounded to par the next 11 holes before carding his lone birdie of the day on the par 5 18th hole.

Duke will begin teeing off at 9:10 a.m. in second round action on Saturday. The Blue Devils will be paired with North Carolina and Virginia. Saturday and Sunday rounds will be featured on ACC Select, beginning at 2:00 p.m. each day. Live scoring is also available at www.golfstat.com.

"The guys will regroup, get a little bit more work done on the range or putting greens today and get out here a little earlier than expected tomorrow," added Green. "We know there are a lot of birdies to be made over the final two rounds. The greens are perfect so it is really just about putting yourself in position and being able to convert. I know we will be looking forward to doing that tomorrow."

ACC Tournament Notes

*** Pierce has played four consecutive rounds of under-par golf ... he is tied for the team lead along with Klaasen and Long with six under-par rounds on the year.

*** Klaasen carded the only eagle of the day on the 557-yard par 5 fourth hole ... he is tied for the tournament lead in par 3 scoring at one-under ... Klaasen has been under-par in six of his 10 ACC Championship rounds at Old North State Club.

*** Quagliano is tied for sixth through one round with 14 pars ... he was tied for fourth in par 3 scoring at even-par.

*** Duke's two eagles in the opening round were the most by a team in the opening round. Georgia Tech, Maryland and N.C. State each had one eagle on the day.

*** Long posted his 27th consecutive counting team score of the season

*** Duke's two-over 290 snapped a string of three consecutive under-par rounds at Old North State Club ... the Blue Devils have now shot under-par in six of the last eight rounds at the course.