Evans Earns Bid to NCAA Championship; Duke Finishes in Seventh

Wednesday, May 15

Baton Rouge, La.

Duke University

Round 3 at Baton Rouge Regional

Evans Earns Bid to NCAA Championship; Duke Finishes in Seventh

5/15/2024 6:50:00 PM | Men's Golf

Final Results (PDF)

BATON ROUGE, La. – Duke men's golf sophomore Ethan Evans earned a bid to the NCAA Championship on Wednesday as the low individual on a non-advancing team, finishing in a tie for second place at 6-under, 210, at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

As a team, the Blue Devils saw their season come to a close following a 3-over, 291, in the third round and a seventh-place finish overall at 9-over, 873, at the University Club.

HOW IT HAPPENED: ROUND THREE

Duke started its round on the 10th tee and shot a 3-over, 291, for the third consecutive round.
Ethan Evans shot even-par, 72, in the third round and finished in a tie for second overall at 6-under, 210. The sophomore played the back-nine at 1-over following a lone bogey on No. 14 and finished his round strong with a birdie on the par-4 ninth to move back to even-par. His closing birdie was highlighted by an approach shot from 180 yards that rolled to within two feet for an easy tap-in.
Luke Sample paced the Blue Devils on Wednesday, firing a 2-under, 70, and finished in a tie for 20th overall at 2-over, 218. Sample got into red figures on his third hole of the day, the par-4 12th, but dropped a shot with a bogey on No. 15 to make the turn at even-par. The junior then went on to roll with four birdies on the front-nine, including three in a four-hole stretch to start the front-nine. Two bogeys, on holes No. 5 and 9, closed out the 2-under effort on Wednesday.
Daniel Choi, who re-entered the lineup in place of Bryan Kim on Wednesday, signed for a 2-over, 74, in the third round. Choi started with a birdie on No. 10, but eventually made the turn at 2-over after a bogey on three separate holes on the back-nine. The sophomore played the front-nine at even-par, connecting for birdie on holes No. 4 and 6, while dropping shots on No. 2 and 8.
Ian Siebers carded a 3-over, 75, in the third round. The senior bogeyed two holes on the back-nine, but immediately erased both blemishes with a birdie on the ensuing holes. Siebers' third birdie of the round came on the par-5 third, but two bogeys and a double-bogey led to an overall 3-over round.
William Love rounded out Duke's efforts in the final round with a 5-over, 77. Love had four birdies to help offset five bogeys, but also tallied a double-bogey on both the back and front-nine en route to his 5-over day.

NOTES

Ethan Evans logged a second-place finish for the second time in his career, joining his tie for second at The Hayt earlier this season.
Evans' second-place finish ties for the best finish at an NCAA Regional in program history, matching Jason Buha (1997) and Adam Long (2010).
Evans led the field with 42 pars across the three rounds, setting a new career-high for pars in a tournament.
The sophomore shot 1-under on par-4's and finished under-par on par-4's for the second time this season and third time in his career.
Luke Sample ended the event at even-par on the par-3's and has finished at even-par or better on those holes in three of his last four events.
William Love led the Blue Devils in total birdies, with 12, and has tallied double-digit birdies in six of his eight tournaments this season.

QUOTES

"This was a really good experience. Obviously, I wanted to win individually. My main goal was trying to help get the team through but unfortunately, it didn't happen today. I feel like we just couldn't make enough birdies. There were a lot of birdies out there but for whatever reason, we just couldn't seem to get it going at any time. But there are a lot of positives from this week and I'm excited to compete at the National Championship." – Duke sophomore Ethan Evans
"I think [playing individually] gives me some freedom – I think when you're playing for a team, there's certain things you've got to do to be smarter about what you're trying to do. As an individual, you're just trying to go out there and win. Obviously, the winner gets some benefits and exemptions, so I think that's going to be the main goal. Now that it's kind of individual golf for the rest of the summer, go back [home], do some work on individual game and then show up freed up and ready to make a run." – Evans on his preparation for the National Championship
"Certainly, you want to evaluate the three rounds and think of the things that you could do a little bit better. And that goes on the coaching and playing sides. But you also don't want the weight of disappointment to define you. I think that's what we've got to make sure doesn't happen. We've got to remind ourselves that there's good shots and quality plans and good emotions that they had, because they had a good enough year to get here, and they were good enough to be in position." – Duke head coach Jamie Green

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