Duke Finishes Eighth At Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters

Sunday, March 13

Las Vegas, Nev.

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Day Three at Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters

Duke Finishes Eighth At Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters

3/13/2011 10:32:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

LAS VEGAS -- The Duke men's golf team finished above four top 25 teams en route to an eighth place showing at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. The Blue Devils posted a nine-over 297 in the final round to cap the event with a +29, 893.

Sophomores Tim Gornik and Brinson Paolini paced the Blue Devils in the final round with one-over 73s. Gornik began his day with three straight pars before moving to one-under with a birdie on the par 4 fourth hole. He bogeyed No. 6 and made the turn at even-par. Gornik suffered bogeys on No. 12 and No. 13 before getting back to even-par after carding an eagle on the 423-yard par 4 16th hole. He suffered a bogey on the final hole of the tournament to finish tied for 15th with a five-over 221. Gornik was one of nine players to record an eagle at the event.

Paolini closed in a tie for 25th with an eight-over 224 after carding two birdies, 13 pars and three bogeys on Sunday. The Virginia Beach, Va., native was second in the 54-hole event with 38 pars.

Julian Suri, a sophomore from St. Augustine, Fla., had a roller-coaster like round en route to a two-over 74. He played the opening eight holes at even-par with two birdies, four pars and two bogeys before running into trouble. Suri went triple-bogey, bogey, bogey to slip to five-over on the day. He righted the ship with a birdie on the par 3 12th hole and added birdies on No. 14 and No. 16 to climb back to two-over. Suri finished the tournament tied for 36th with a 10-over 226. He had 10 birdies for the event and was second in par-3 scoring at one-under.

Senior Wes Roach claimed his third top-20 finish with a tie for 17th at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. He carded a six-over 77 on Sunday to close with a six-over 222 for the event. Roach carded a team-high 11 birdies for the tournament, including two in the final round.

Yaroslav Merkulov finished tied for 69th with a 239 (+23). He carded an eight-over 80 for the second straight day on Sunday.

Second-ranked Oklahoma State fired a five-under 283 on Sunday to overcome at 10 shot deficit and win the event with a one-under 863. No. 11 Texas A&M placed second with a six-over 870, while No. 23 California finished third with a nine-over 873. Top-ranked UCLA was fourth (+12) followed by No. 28 Arizona State (+25), No. 14 Georgia (+26), host UNLV (+27) and Duke.

Oklahoma State's Morgan Hoffmann claimed the individual title with a 10-under 206, while Texas A&M's Jordan Russell was two shots back.

Duke returns to action March 20-22 at the Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship in Ball Ground, Ga.