Siebers Advances to Fourth Round at NCAA Championship

Sunday, May 28

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Duke University

Round 3 at NCAA Championship

Siebers Advances to Fourth Round at NCAA Championship

5/29/2023 12:35:00 AM | Men's Golf

Round 3 Results (PDF)Round 4 Tee Times (PDF)Live Scoring

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Duke men's golf junior Ian Siebers advanced to the final round of stroke play at Grayhawk Golf Club as an individual after a third-round 1-over, 71. Siebers currently sits with a 54-hole score of 4-over, 214. With his finish as one of the top nine individuals not on an advancing team, Siebers moves on to the fourth and final round of stroke play on Monday.

The Bellevue, Wash., native is currently tied for 32nd place on the individual leaderboard.

The Blue Devils' team season concluded after turning in their best team round of the week on Sunday but finishing outside of the top-15 on the team leaderboard. Duke shot an 8-over, 288, in the third round and bowed out of the championship with a 54-hole score of 38-over, 878.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke started on No. 10 and went on to finish the third round at 8-over, 288, on Sunday afternoon.
Jimmy Zheng subbed into Duke's lineup on Sunday, replacing Ethan Evans for the round.
Ian Siebers paced the Blue Devils for the second consecutive day, signing for a 1-over, 71. The junior opened with a bogey but used birdies on No. 15 – a 45-footer – and No. 17 to get under-par. Siebers made the turn at even-par after a dropped shot on the difficult 18th but steadied himself and made three pars in a row before rolling in a birdie on the par-5 fourth. Three dropped shots over the next four holes pushed Siebers to 2-over for the round and into the mix for a potential playoff for an individual spot in the fourth round. He proceeded to hit the fairway on No. 9 with his drive and then hit his nine iron to 10 feet, setting up his birdie putt. The junior calmly rolled in fourth birdie of the day and secured his spot in Monday's fourth round with a 54-hole score of 4-over, 214.
Zheng highlighted his round with five total birdies, finishing tied for third-most on the team for the event. The junior's putter was hot early as he rolled in birdie putts on No. 12, 15 and 16 to quickly get to 3-under. Playing No. 18 – the hardest hole on the course – for the first time, Zheng made triple bogey and made the turn at even-par. An up-and-down front nine included two more birdies sandwiched in between bogeys and a closing double-bogey to finish his round at 2-over, 72.
Luke Sample also carded a 2-over, 72, in the third round. His opening nine holes consisted of two bogeys and seven pars, making the turn at 2-over. The New York, N.Y., native alternated bogey and birdie for the next four holes but made par on the par-3 fifth to break the pattern and went on to roll in a birdie on No. 6 to get back to 1-over. A single dropped shot over his last three holes of action moved Sample back to 2-over for the day and ended his tournament at 15-over, 225.
Kelly Chinn signed for a 3-over, 73, on Sunday and finished his tournament at 9-over, 219. Chinn started his afternoon with a birdie on No. 10 but dropped to 1-over after two bogeys over the span of the next four holes. A birdie on No. 15 got the sophomore back to even before making the turn at 2-over. Chinn played the next six holes at 1-under after a birdie on No. 4, the lone par-5 on the front nine. Two more bogeys coming in wrapped up his 3-over, 73, for the day.
Also for Duke, William Love finished at 4-over, 74, in the third round and at 14-over, 224, for the event.

QUOTES

"We obviously had much higher goals as a team to make the cut and make match play and potentially win this thing, since anybody can really do that when they're here. But, obviously fell a little bit short as a team. I could've played a little better myself, but it felt good to make a birdie on the last to secure myself the opportunity to play the fourth round. Just going to go out there with a 'nothing to lose' mindset and just have fun with it." – Duke junior Ian Siebers on the three rounds of stroke play and his upcoming fourth round on Monday
"I asked [Coach Heintz] walking up to the tee … where I was at [on the leaderboard]. I really had no idea and I thought maybe I might have been just outside [of the individual cutline]. But he said it was in my control and he'd tell me the situation after the tee shot. Hit a great tee shot and then as we were walking up to the ball he just said where I was at. Basically, a birdie would get me in, a par would be a little bit messy depending on the playoff situation tomorrow. It was definitely nice to hit that nine iron in there close. … The whole process was great. Coach Heintz is a great, steady presence to have out there walking with me." – Siebers on his birdie on the last hole
"By and large, we were close. At the end of the day, that's the only way to put it. We didn't really push past the margin that we needed to, to try and be safe. We still needed to make some birdies coming in. But at least we were in the hunt. And in order to do that, it was a challenge mentally and physically. The heat, the guys responded extremely well top to bottom. ... they were right there and just did not quit. At the end of the day, that's the message. There was no quit. They gave it everything, as cliche as it is, they gave everything they had down to the last couple of holes." – head coach Jamie Green on Sunday's final team round
"It was a learning experience. Even if it doesn't affect our play on this golf course in the future, that situation that they guys were in, knowing we don't have any seniors on the team and all of these guys are going to be returning and some of them will have multiple chances to go to national championships –the environment is a bit different. The field is very large. The morning and afternoon wave are different. All of those things are items to put back in your memory bank and create stronger armor as we get back here. Because I know this team will." – Green on how playing at Grayhawk can help the team in future seasons

NOTES

Duke has now had at least one individual advance to the fourth round of stroke play in three consecutive NCAA championship appearances. Chandler Eaton (2019) played the fourth round as an individual, while the Blue Devils advanced as a team in 2018.
The Blue Devils' 38-over finish is the second-best score to par in program history at an NCAA championship held on a par-70 course and eighth-best team score to par of any 54-hole score at the NCAA championships.
Duke finishes the season with the second-best scoring average in a single season (285.05) in program history, trailing only the 2018-19 season (283.74).

UP NEXT

Ian Siebers tees off in the fourth round on Monday afternoon at 3:01 p.m. ET. He is slated to play alongside Dylan McDermott (Colorado) and Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira (Arkansas).
Live scoring is available on Golfstat.

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