Blue Devils in Second at ACC Championship

Friday, April 22

New London, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at ACC Championship

Merkulov Posts Top 10 Finish at Monroe Invitational

Blue Devils in Second at ACC Championship

4/22/2011 9:55:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

NEW LONDON, N.C. - Freshman Yaroslav Merkulov and sophomore Julian Suri each fired under-par rounds on Friday to lead Duke into second place at the ACC Championship with a one-over 289. Merkulov posted a three-under 69, while Suri shot a one-under 71 at Old North State Club (par 72, 7,102 yards) in the opening round.

Georgia Tech grabbed the first round lead at the ACC Championship with a seven-under 281 for an eight stroke lead over Duke (289, +1). Clemson is in third (290, +2) with Wake Forest (293, +5) and Florida State (294, +6) rounding out the top five. Virginia and N.C. State (295, +7) are tied for sixth and followed by North Carolina (297, +9), Virginia Tech (299, +11), Maryland (304, +16) and Boston College (314, +26).

Individually, Georgia Tech's Paul Haley and Kyle Scott share the tournament lead at 4-under par 68. Merkulov and Wake Forest's John Varol are each one shot back at three-under (69).

"Anytime you get some weather like we did, and it was coming down pretty hard there, you have to be patient," said head coach Jamie Green. "These guys play in a lot of it during the spring so it's nothing new. College golf is a lot of rain suits and a lot of umbrellas, I am proud of them for keeping their heads up - you have to be patient when you have days like that. Certainly Georgia Tech did, you have to give your hats off those guys - they have two guys at four-under par and they're riding them a little bit, and they also have five guys in the top-20. I think our players are capable of that, but we just didn't quite do it today."

With heavy rains falling, Merkulov got off to a fast start with birdies on the par 5 first and par four second holes. After missing a short par putt on No. 3, he rolled in a lengthy birdie putt on the par 5 fourth hole to move back to two-under on the day. Merkulov converted eight straight pars before carding a birdie on the par 4 13th hole. The Penfield, N.Y., native suffered his second bogey on the day on No. 15 before capping off his round with a routine birdie on the par 5 18th hole. Merkulov now has a team-high eight under-par rounds this season and enters tomorrow's second round tied for third overall.

"For Yaroslav [Merkulov], who played terrific in the fall and had a little slower start to the spring - it probably paid dividends that he played a lot of junior golf in Rochester, N.Y., because today was a lot like one of those days up there I'd bet," said Green. "He played terrific. He got under-par early and he kept it under. He made a lot of great par saves and to shoot three-under par today on that golf course was pretty strong."

Suri also began his day with a birdie on the par 5 first hole before falling back to over par following bogeys on No. 2 and No. 4. The St. Augustine, Fla., native bounced back with six straight pars and got back to even-par with a birdie on the par 5 11th hole. Suri moved into red figures with a birdie on No. 13 and closed the with five straight pars for a one-under 71. He is tied for eighth overall and has been under-par in four of his last five rounds played.

"Julian [Suri] struggled a little bit here last year. I know he had retribution a little bit on his mind and it showed today - he was very focused," added Green. "He didn't play great on the front nine but he played solid and he put himself in position to get into the red on the back nine and did just that. I'm really proud of the way he played."

Sophomore Brinson Paolini is tied for 14th after shooting on one-over 73 on Friday. He started slowly with a bogey on No. 1 but bounced back with birdies on No. 5, No. 7 and No. 9 to make the turn at two-under. After opening with four straight pars on the back nine, Paolini suffered bogeys on No. 14, No. 15 and No. 17 to slip to one-over. He lipped out a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to end the day with three birdies, 11 pars and four bogeys. Paolini, who finished tied for fourth at the 2010 ACC Championship, has not shot worse than one-over in four career rounds at Old North State Club.

"Brinson had kind of an up and down round - I know he would have liked to finish a little bit better but I have no doubt that he'll be there by the end of the week," said Green. "I think as long as we get some depth over the next two days - if we can get four or five guys playing at the level even close to where I know they're capable of, I think we can cover that gap with Georgia Tech and see what we can do the rest of the way."

Senior Wes Roach and sophomore Tim Gornik battled inconsistent swings and tough weather conditions en route to rounds of 76 and 78, respectively. Roach suffered four front nine bogeys before settling in to play the back nine at even-par. He is tied for 35th overall at four-over. Gornik's day was sabotaged by a pair of double-bogeys on par 5s that left the native of Slovenia tied for 45th heading into the second round of play.

Second round action begins tomorrow at 8:00 am with Maryland and Boston College in the first wave. N.C. State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech are in the second wave which starts at 8:40 am. The third wave consists of Wake Forest, Florida State and Virginia at 9:40 am. The fourth wave features of Georgia Tech, Duke and Clemson at 10:40 am.

"As far as the rest of the way goes, I just tell our guys 'you just can't play defense," Green said. "So many times in this game you can't do anything about the other players that are out there with you. You just can't get caught up in changing your game plan. You really have to stick to what you know you're capable of doing, what your strengths are, if our guys play to their strengths on each hole of this golf course, they're going to make a lot of birdies and you can cover some ground. I've seen quite a lot of tournaments here on this golf course over the years as an assistant coach and now a head coach and seen some fireworks happen and we just have to be patient and diligent enough to let those fireworks be ours."