Harmon Finishes in Second, Spartans Finish in Third at Duke

Oct. 18, 2004

DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore Matt Harmon (Grand Rapids, Mich.) finished in a tie for second after he lost a four-player playoff on Monday (Oct. 18) at the par-72, 7,005-yard Duke Golf Club. Although Harmon lost the second-round lead, the tie for second is his third career top-five finish and his second consecutive top five.

Harmon's three-round total of 6-under 210 (67-71-72) is a new career low, beating his previous career low of 216 at last year's Duke Classic. Harmon posted his first career top five last year at Duke, finishing in a tie for fourth.

"Because he played well here last year, he really knew what to work on and he worked hard," Head Coach Mark Hankins said of Harmon's performance. "He put in the most time this week and I think it showed."

North Carolina's Martin Ureta won the four-player playoff, defeating Duke's Ryan Blaum on the fourth playoff hole. Harmon was eliminated from the playoff after he pared the first playoff hole, unable to match birdies by Ureta and Blaum.

As a team, the Spartans shot 288 in the final round, but dropped one spot and finished in a tie for third with Washington. With a three-round total of 876 (291-297-288), Michigan State could not keep up with the final day performances of the top-three teams, as Duke, North Carolina and Washington all shot under par on Monday.

"I'm happy with the results. We actually played a pretty good round today and on a pretty decent golf course; the other teams just played better," Hankins said. "It's not like we played bad, we just didn't play great."

Duke won its home tournament, setting a new tournament record in the process. The No. 24 Blue Devils shot a four-under-par 860, 13 shots better than North Carolina and 16 shots ahead of MSU and Washington.

"We finished third to Duke on their home course and to North Carolina, who has been playing well lately. We'll take that," Hankins said.

The Spartans showed individual improvement compared to Sunday's afternoon round, with each player besides Harmon matching or beating their second-round score. Freshman Ryan Brehm (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) and senior Andrew Ruthkoski (Muskegon, Mich.) shot rounds of one-under 71 on the final day of play.

Brehm posted his second career top 10, finishing in a tie for ninth after shooting a three-day total of 219 (77-71-71). His 71 in the final round matched his second-round performance and is his fifth round of par or better in his first 10 collegiate rounds.

Ruthkoski finished the tournament in a tie for 19th place, putting an end to two scoring streaks. Though he now has four top-20 finishes on the season, Ruthkoski was unable to post a seventh consecutive top 10. Also, with Harmon leading the Spartans in scoring, this marked the first time Ruthkoski has not led the team in scoring since the Alabama Spring Invitational (March 12-14, 2004).

Rounding out the Spartan lineup was senior Jimmy Chestnut (Grand Blanc, Mich.) and sophomore Mitch Pierce (Fenton, Mich.). Chestnut finished in a tie for 34th with a score of 227 (75-78-74), while Pierce rebounded from a tough first day and shot 75 in the final round.

The Spartans return to tournament action and conclude their fall season on Oct. 29-31 when the team travels to UNC-Wilmington to play in the Landfall Tradition.