June 7, 2004

Duke sophomores Ryan Blaum and Nathan Smith earned PING All-America honors after leading the Blue Devil men's golf team in 2003-04. They became the first Duke teammates to receive All-America accolades in the same year since John Karcher and Jason Widener were honored in 1990.

Smith earned third-team All-America honors after ranking second on the Duke squad with a 72.2 stroke average. The Santa Cruz, Calif., native led the Blue Devils with four top-five finishes, six top-10 showings and 10 top-20 finishes in 12 tournaments. He ranks 33rd nationally in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. Smith shared individual medallist honors at the Cleveland/Augusta State Invitational April 3-4 and tied for 14th at the NCAA East Regional May 20-22.

A native of Coral Gables, Fla., Blaum followed up his 2003 ACC Rookie of the Year campaign with a solid showing in 2004. Despite battling a back injury for most of the spring, Blaum was named to the honorable mention All-America team. He is ranked 25th nationally in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. Blaum led Duke with a 71.5 stroke average and recorded four top-10 finishes and six top-20 finishes in eight tournaments this year. He claimed co-medallist honors at The Nelson in Stanford, Calif., in October and tied for 12th at the NCAA East Regional last month.

Both Smith and Blaum earned All-ACC and All-South Region honors this spring. They are the first Blue Devils to earn All-America honors since Matt Kraus received honorable mention All-America accolades in 2000.

Here is a look at Duke's All-America selections:

1972: Bill Mallon (second team)
1973: Bill Mallon (third team)
1981: Charlie Bolling
1984: Chuck Taylor (third team)
1985: Chuck Taylor (second team)
1990: John Karcher, Jason Widener
1995: Joe Ogilvie (honorable mention)
1997: Jason Buha (second team)
1999: Matt Krauss (honorable mention)
2000: Matt Krauss (honorable mention)
2004: Nathan Smith (third team), Ryan Blaum (honorable mention)