Duke Finishes 7th at John Hayt Invitational

Sunday, March 1

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

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Day Three at John Hayt Collegiate Invitational

Duke Finishes 7th at John Hayt Invitational

3/1/2015 8:35:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA -- Freshman Adam Wood and senior Turner Southey-Gordon posted under-par rounds Sunday to lead Duke to the second-best round of the day with a one-over 289 at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational. The final round surge propelled the Blue Devils to a seventh place finish with a 54-hole score of 904 (+40) at Sawgrass Country Club.

"I am very pleased with how the guys came out today and played," said head coach Jamie Green. "We are looking at every 18-hole round as a new tournament. We used yesterday afternoon to sharpen some of the things that we felt were going to help us score better today. I give credit to every single one of these guys. They were out in a driving rain after yesterday's round to get every little bit of improvement and preparation for today's round and it paid off."

Texas captured the team title with an eight-over 872 to best host North Florida by six strokes. Oklahoma State placed third with an 883 with UCLA (885) and Alabama (893) rounding out the top five. Beau Hossler (Texas) claimed individual medalist honors with a four-under 212. He was the lone player in the field to post an under-par tournament.

"It was really important for the team to get the rust off early, and tying with Alabama on the last two days and posting multiple red numbers by guys on the team was important to doing just that," said Wood. "We wanted to get off on the right foot and this last round can be a real springboard for us this spring."

Wood began the day on the back nine with seven straight pars before suffering his lone bogey of the round on No. 17. The Zionsville, Ind., native moved into red figures with birdies on No. 1 and No. 3 and added a birdie on the par 5 eighth hole en route to his team leading fourth under-par round of the season. Wood's two-under 70 was tied for the best individual round of the day and moved him 14 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for seventh with a four-over 220. He leads the Blue Devils with four top 20 and two top 10 finishes on the year.

"I hit the ball well from tee to green and putted quite well from 10 feet and in," continued Wood. "That combination made the round less stressful and patience helped me get a few birdies on my final nine holes."

Southey-Gordon got off to a strong start with birdies on No. 10 and No. 11. He dropped a stroke with a bogey on No. 12 before rattling off five straight pars. Southey-Gordon added birdies on No. 18 and No. 1 to get to three-under but slipped back to even-par following a double-bogey on No. 5 and a bogey on No. 7. He recovered for a birdie-par finish to cap off a one-under 71. The left-hander from Canada closed out the tournament tied for 53rd with a 16-over 232.

Sophomore Alexander Matlari also had a strong day despite getting off to a tough start. After two bogeys over his first three holes, Matlari collected birdies on No. 14, No. 16 and No. 17 to move to one-under on the day. He continued suffered a pair of bogeys just after the turn to dip back to one-over before closing out the tournament with five consecutive pars for a one-over 73. Matlari finished tied for 34th with an 11-over 227.

Jake Shuman, a freshman from Needham, Mass., posted a three-over 75 to finish tied for 62nd. After playing the opening six holes at two-over, Shuman birdied No. 16, No. 17 and No. 18 to make the turn at one-under. He remained at one-under after going bogey-birdie-par before running into trouble. Shuman suffered a double-bogey on No. 4 and bogeys on No. 5 and No. 6 but settled in with three straight pars to close out the day.

Junior Motin Yeung struggled throughout the day en route to an 84. He was 10-over on the back nine before settling in for seven pars and two bogeys over the final nine holes of play.

"The weather that we have had has made it a little tough to do a whole lot of work out on the golf course," said Green. "We went down to Florida and shook off some rust and by the end of the week I was pretty pleased as I know they are with our play. We are on a good track moving forward."

Duke returns to action March 13-15 at the Bandon Dunes Championship in Bandon, Oregon.

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