Duke Falls to Georgia Tech in Semifinals

Sunday, April 23

Pinehurst, N.C

Duke University

Semifinals vs. Georgia Tech

Duke Falls to Georgia Tech in Semifinals

4/23/2023 10:41:00 PM | Men's Golf

PINEHURST, N.C. – The Duke men's golf team fell to Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship match play semifinals at the Country Club of North Carolina, 3-1-1, on Saturday evening. The Blue Devils' Kelly Chinn logged a 2&1 victory while Ethan Evans fought back late to tie his match.

HOW IT HAPPENED

In Duke's first match of the semifinals, Kelly Chinn secured his third match play victory of his career with a 2&1 win over Georgia Tech's Connor Howe. Chinn took an early 1-up lead after a par on No. 2 but found himself 1-down after three pars over the next three holes. The sophomore got the match back to 1-down after a birdie on No. 7 before heading to the back nine 2-down following a par on No. 9. Chinn surged after making the turn, winning three straight holes, capped off by an eagle from just outside 20 feet on the par-5 12th. Chinn closed out the match by going 2-up with a par on No. 15 and then ending the match with a halve on the 17th.
Ethan Evans burst out of the gate in his match against Bartley Forrester, using back-to-back birdies on No. 4 and 5 to help open up a 4-up lead through five holes. Forrester slowly chipped away at Evans' lead, eventually bringing the match back to all-square on No. 14. Evans went 1-down on the next hole after finding water on his tee shot but staved off the end of his match with a par on the long par-3 16th. Needing a win on No. 17, Evans found the bottom of the cup on a 10-foot birdie putt. The freshman halved No. 18 to finish his match tied.
Two Blue Devils dropped their match 2&1 – freshman William Love and junior Ian Siebers.
Love started his match on a high note, holing out from the fairway for eagle on No. 1. Matched up against Christo Lamprecht, ranked ninth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Love went back and forth on the front nine, taking a lead as large as 2-up after a birdie on the par-3 eighth. Lamprecht responded with wins on the next two holes to bring the match back to all-square on No. 10. Love played his final seven holes bogey-free but was unable to overcome birdies by Lamprecht on No. 12 and No. 14.
Siebers found himself in a tightly contested match against Ross Steelman for all 17 holes, bringing the match back to all-square two different times during the front nine with birdies on No. 2 and No. 7. A par on the par-5 12th put Siebers 2-down and after a tee shot that found the water on No. 15, the junior faced a 3-down deficit with three to play. Knowing he needed wins on each of the next three holes, Siebers picked up a win on No. 16 after a strong two-putt par on No. 16 but watched his birdie putt slide by the hole on No. 17.
Luke Sample took on Hiroshi Tai in a matchup between the two lowest individuals on each team in the stroke play portion of the ACC Championship. Sample found himself 1-down after two long birdie putts by Tai through the first three holes and made the turn 2-down after conceding No. 7. Sample was unable to overcome Tai's consistent play on the back-nine, dropping holes 10 and 14 while making par. The sophomore poured in a birdie putt on No. 15 in an effort to extend the action, but Tai matched the effort and closed out the match with a birdie of his own.

NOTES

Duke made its first appearance in the match play portion of the ACC Championship since the league switched to the mixed format in 2021.
The Blue Devils are now 1-1 in match play events this season.

QUOTES

"Match play brings the best out of me. I love match play. I love just going out there and competing against one guy. I think that really helped me focus on being confident and my game. That really helped me keep it going." – sophomore Kelly Chinn on his 2&1 victory.
"Georgia Tech isn't just good, they're also experienced. Without a senior on our team, and you're looking at a guy like Ian [Siebers], the only junior in the lineup, and we hadn't been in a match play college environment that was high level. And when you play against a team like Georgia Tech, we always say it – we can't play defense against them, they can't play defense against us. If we really had to break it down, we probably were just a little less sharp in the afternoon than Georgia Tech. The fact that we got it down to those last couple of holes and they mattered and Ethan [Evans] made birdie to keep things going – again, that's a freshman that didn't play very well in the afternoon. For him to step up and be there in the mix and fist pump, those are good vibes to be taking into the postseason." – head coach Jamie Green

UP NEXT

Duke turns its attention to the NCAA Championship regionals, with selections being announced on Wednesday, May 4. The six regional hosts are Auburn, Clemson, Michigan State, UNLV, Oklahoma and San Jose State.

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