Duke Completes First Day at NCAA Championship

Friday, May 26

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Duke University

Round 1 at NCAA Championship

Kelly Chinn tees off at NCAA Championship

Duke Completes First Day at NCAA Championship

5/26/2023 11:35:00 PM | Men's Golf

Day 1 Results (PDF)Day 2 Tee Times (PDF)Live Scoring

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Duke men's golf team finished its first round of play in the NCAA Championship, held at Grayhawk Golf Club, on Friday. The Blue Devils, playing in the morning wave on the par-70 course, ended the day at 10-over, 290, and in a tie for 17th place. Kelly Chinn finished with the low round of the day for Duke, using a late birdie on the hardest hole of the course to go 1-over through his first 18 holes of play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke began play on No. 1 and finished its first round at 10-over, 290, on Friday. The Blue Devils are currently tied for 17th place with Alabama, Virginia and Stanford heading into Saturday's second round.
Kelly Chinn signed for a 1-over, 71, for his first round. He started with two consecutive pars before a bogey on the 475-yard, par-4 third. The sophomore bounced back immediately, rolling in a birdie on the par-5 fifth to get back to even-par for his round. A dropped shot on No. 8 put Chinn back at 1-over to make the turn and he slipped to 2-over after a bogey on the 230-yard par-3 13th. The Great Falls, Va., native ended his round with a strong birdie on No. 18 – a 520-yard hole that normally plays as a par-5 but is a par-4 for the championship.
Ian Siebers got into red numbers early into his round after a birdie on No. 5, but made the turn at even-par after a dropped shot on No. 9. As the day moved on and the course continued to increase in difficulty, the junior dropped to 3-over. Similar to his teammate, Siebers finished strong, putting his approach on No. 18 to 10 feet and pouring in the birdie to card a 2-over, 72, on Friday.
An otherwise steady round by William Love faltered towards the end of the day, with the freshman eventually signing for a 3-over, 73. Love started his day with a birdie on No. 3, but returned back to even-par after a bogey on No. 4. The Atlanta, Ga., native then went on to make 10 straight pars, before playing his final four holes at 3-over par.
Ethan Evans started his day slowly, making a double-bogey on No. 3 and a bogey on No. 5. The freshman responded with a birdie on No. 6, a 348-yard par-4, and made the turn at 2-over. With the winds picking up, three dropped shots on the back nine saw Evans go to 5-over, but the Mercer Island, Wash., native became the third Blue Devil to birdie the difficult 18th, after putting his approach shot to just two feet. Evans ended his first championship round at 4-over, 74.
Also for Duke, Luke Sample finished at 6-over, 76, on Friday.

NOTES

In NCAA championship play, Duke has now played on a par-70 course three times. Its 10-over, 290, on Friday is the second-best first-round performance, trailing only the 8-over, 288, the Blue Devils shot in the first round of the 2005 championship.
The 18th hole on the Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club saw a total of just 13 birdies, with Duke making three of those – the most by any team. The closing hole played as the hardest on the course, with an average score of 4.47.
As a team, Duke made 58 pars on Friday – tied for fifth most of any team in the field.

QUOTES

"I feel like we're a strong team and we have some firepower. But we've had our valleys and our hills this year. We definitely had some not-so-great tournaments. So, we've had some things to learn from. Other teams have been consistently very good. And quite frankly, we're right there. That's the one thing I tried to send to [the team]. We don't have many days when nobody has a 'good' day. So, knowing that that one's in the books, that should be a positive." – head coach Jamie Green
"It's been a little while for [assistant coach] Bob [Heintz] and me, but for our players, they don't know anything different. These are guys, even though this is a new college experience for them, they've all played in national championships – US Juniors, US Amateurs. And those tournaments are like this. So, it's not completely foreign to them. And so that's a good thing. Because I think that'll help the next couple of days." – Green on the players' approach to their first NCAA championship appearance
"Today was decent. I hit the ball really solid and definitely had a chance to get under par if some putts fell. As a team, we all know that we can get a really good round out here – it's a tough test but we're ready and excited to get going tomorrow." – Duke sophomore Kelly Chinn