Duke Advances to NCAA Championship

Saturday, May 16

Lubbock, Texas

All Day

Duke University

Day Three at NCAA Regional Championship

Duke Advances to NCAA Championship

5/16/2015 6:39:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

LUBBOCK, TEXAS -- The Duke men's golf team capped off the NCAA Lubbock Regional with a two-over 286 to finish third and advance to the NCAA Championship (May 29 - June 3) with an eight-under 844. Freshman Adam Wood and sophomore Max Greyserman paced the Blue Devils Saturday with two-under 69s at the Rawls Course (par 71, 7,349 yards).

"T.D. [Luten] and I could not possibly be happier for our guys," said head coach Jamie Green. "They earned every single shot out there for three days. You talk about working hard, building and getting better but at the end of the day you do all that so you can go out there and have fun. The guys went out there with a mindset that they were going to enjoy this. Even though the ACC Championship wasn't what we wanted, the reality of it was these guys know they can play and they can play at the highest level."

Texas claimed medalist honors with a 22-under 830, four shots better than host Texas Tech (834). Duke secured a third-place finish with Auburn placing fourth at seven-under (845). Purdue and Houston tied for fifth at five-under (847) to enter a playoff for the final spot in the NCAA Championship out of the Lubbock Regional. Houston's Kevin Pilgrim carded a birdie on the first playoff hole (No. 18) to push the Cougars past Purdue in the playoff.

"It has been our goal all season to give ourselves a chance to advance to the NCAA Championship," said Wood. "We played some tremendous golf over the past few days and I couldn't be more proud of my teammates. It truly was a team effort."

Blair Hamilton (Houston) and Clement Sordet (Texas Tech) shared individual medalist honors at eight-under, while Wood and Turner Southey-Gordon finished in the top 20 for the Blue Devils.

Wood got off to a strong start with a birdie on No. 1 and added another birdie on the par 4 fourth hole to move to two-under. The right-hander out of Indiana suffered back-to-back bogeys at the turn to slip back to even-par on the day. As winds picked up late in the round, Wood carded a birdie on No. 15 and sank a 16-foot birdie putt on No. 17 to add to Duke's cushion. His tap in par on No. 18 capped off his team-leading 10th round of under-par golf on the year. Wood closed the tournament tied for 11th with a two-under 211.

"There were a couple scoreboards I could see coming down the stretch," Wood continued. "We had a little cushion but we needed to finish strong. I was patient on the back nine and had birdie chances on No. 15-18. I had the mentality of finishing strong and was able to make a couple of those."

Greyserman carded his best round of the year with a two-under 69. He opened with a birdie on No. 1 and made the turn at two-under following a birdie on No. 9. The Short Hills, N.J., native added a birdie on the par 4 12th hole to continue his climb up the leaderboard. Greyserman bogeyed No. 14 but recovered with an 11-foot birdie putt on No. 15 to get back to three-under. Following his second bogey of the day, Greyserman closed out with pars on No. 17 and No. 18. He finished tied for 50th with a five-over 218.

Junior Motin Yeung delivered a two-over 73 in the final round to finish tied for 39th at 216 (+3). He got off to a terrific start with seven pars and birdies on No. 4 and No. 9 on the front nine. Yeung had two bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine but recovered to pars his final three holes to help keep Duke inside the top five of the team leaderboard.

Jake Shuman and Southey-Gordon battled throughout the day en route to rounds of 75 and 76. Neither player carded a birdie in the round but both players were instrumental in Duke advancing to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2011. Southey-Gordon finished tied for 11th with a two-under 211, while Shuman tied for 22nd with an even-par 213.

"It [the wind] was tough for everybody," said Green. "We knew that the longer the tournament went on the more the wind was going to pick up. It was a healthy 25 miles per hour over that last couple holes and when there are no trees to block it that is a huge factor. We made a couple of bogeys coming in but even a bogey wasn't a terrible thing toward the end. It is a 54-hole event and you count that first hole just as much as the 54th. The reality is all of our guys played their hearts out."

Duke moves on to the NCAA Championship, May 29-June 3, at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. The Blue Devils are one of five ACC teams (Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech & Virginia) to advance to the NCAA Championship.

NOTES
*** Duke matched its lowest NCAA Regional 54-hole score in relation to par with an eight-under 844.

*** Duke posted its lowest 54-hole tournament score of the season at the NCAA Lubbock Regional.

*** Wood and Southey-Gordon both finished in the top 15, marking the fifth time Duke has had a pair of players finish 15th or better in NCAA Regional play.

*** Wood is now tied for second in the Duke freshman record books with 10 under-par rounds ... his 15 rounds of even-par or better golf and eight top-20 finishes are also second at Duke among freshmen.

*** Duke will play in the NCAA Championship (May 29 - June 3) as a team for the 21st time in program history.

*** Jamie Green is leading a team into the NCAA Championship for the seventh time in his coaching career.

*** Wood finished among the tournament leaders in par 4 scoring (-1), par 5 scoring (-4) and birdies (12).

*** Yeung was tied for fifth with 38 pars, while Southey-Gordon (37) and Shuman (36) also ranked among the tournament leaders.

*** Shuman led the Blue Devils in par 5 scoring (-5), while Wood and Greyserman were both four-under on the par 5s at the Rawls Course.