DURHAM, N.C. - The Kansas State men’s golf team concluded its fall season with a fifth-place finish at the Duke Golf Classic held at the par-72, 7,111-yard Duke Golf Club in Durham, N.C.

K-State shot its worst round of the tournament, firing a 298 to finish the tournament at 882, two strokes behind fourth-place Tulsa.

The Wildcats had a very consistent showing from top to bottom, with no golfer finishing lower than 30th-place. Texas Tech was the next closest school to K-State in terms of consistency, with its fifth golfer finishing in 39th-place.

“We played pretty solid top to bottom, but we didn’t have anyone shoot a low score to put us over the top,” head coach Tim Norris said.

The Duke Golf Classic marked the end of a very successful fall, in which K-State never finished below than fifth-place. The Wildcats notched one victory at the Purina, two second-place finishes (Badger, Inverness), one third-place finish (Jim Colbert) and the fifth-place showing at Duke.

“It’s been a progression from season to season and if we play to our potential this spring, we can build on what we did this fall,” Norris said. “If this is our worse finish of the season than we did a pretty good job as far as damage control.”

Sophomore Ben Kern paced the Wildcats with a 73-73-74220 to finish in a tie for 14th. The tournament also marked the end of a streak that saw Matt Van Cleave and Aaron Watkins finish all five fall tournaments in the top 5. Van Cleave was the Wildcats second-best performer, posting a 77-71-74222 to finish in a tie for 20th. Watkins checked in with a disappointing 75-74-75224 to finish in a tie for 27th.

Rounding out the lineup for the Wildcats were Tim Moody and A.J. Elgert. Moody fired a 73-76-75224 to tie with Watkins for 27th. Elgert had a disappointing final round score of 80, which dropped him from 9th to 30th.

Taking home the team title was North Carolina which shot a 292-284-292 on its home course and finished one-stroke ahead of second-place Illinois and three strokes ahead of third-place Duke. Dustin Bray of North Carolina took medalist honors as he carded a 71-65-71207 to finish five strokes better than Toledo’s Justin Bertsch.

The Wildcats will jump start their spring season Feb. 16-17 at the Matlock Collegiate Classic in Lakeland, Fla. For complete results of the Duke Golf Classic, please visit Kansas State’s website at www.kstatesports.com.

Men’s Collegiate Golf Duke Golf Classic

Durham, N.C.

Duke Golf Club

Par:72; Yardage: 7,111

Team Scores: 1. North Carolina 868. 2. Illinois 869. 3. Duke 871. 4. Tulsa 880. 5. Kansas State 882. 6. Toledo 885. 7.Michigan State 890. 8. UNC-Wilmington 896. 9. Texas Tech 898. 10. Virginia Tech 905. 11. Furman 908. T12. Old Dominion 913 T12. Florida Southern 917. 14. Coastal Carolina 917. 15. Virginia Commonwealth 932

Top Individuals: 1. Dustin Bray, (UNC) 71-65-71207, 2. Justin Bertsch (Toledo) 69-69-74212, 3. Patrick Nagle (Illinois) 72-71-70213, T4. Matt Harmon (Mich. St.) 72-66-78216, T4. Nathan Smith (Duke) 75-70-71216/

Wildcat Individuals: T14. Ben Kern, 73-73-74220, T20. Matt Van Cleave, 77-71-74222, T27. Aaron Watkins, 75-74-75224, T27. Tim Moody, 73-76-75224, T30. A.J. Elgert, 73-72-80225.

K-StateSports Men's Golf

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