Duke Falls to Georgia Tech in Semifinals

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…