Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked many miles and supported collegiate golfers and head coaches throughout the years.
We checked in with Shutt and asked him to look back at some of his great memories, while following the Blue Devils and GoDuke.com will debut them each week during the 2020 summer.
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2012-13
The fall season started once again at Yeamans Hall. I was walking up a fairway on the back nine and spotted Kalen Anderson (South Carolina coach and former Duke player/coach) frantically waving for me to come to her. As I arrived, she pointed to this golf cart about halfway down the fairway. She whispered, "That is Bill Murray." As he rode by us (she in her Gamecock gear and me in Duke colors, he turned and looked at her and said, "Watch out for that guy from Duke." She answered just as quickly, "Proves he has good taste."
Another great memory occurred at the Fall Preview in Athens, Ga. At the time, my younger daughter and her family lived in Suwanee, Ga. I was staying with them and took my 10-year-old grandson with me. At the end of the round, Coach Brooks called him over and introduced him to the team. Several times during the round, I spotted him talking to coach or walking along with Lindy Duncan's Mom. Lindy had noticed him and gave him a golf ball. (He is a freshman in college this year and still has that golf ball on his desk at college). I found out later that one of the reasons he stayed close to her Mom was that she had a stash of snacks in her tote bag. On the way back to his home we discussed his day and what he liked about it. At one point I asked him who he enjoyed meeting the most and without hesitation, he said, "Coach."
What a weekend at the Tradition at Landfall in Wilmington. As far as I know, it was the only the second time it has not been played on the Dye Course but moved to the Nicklaus course. Duke was a couple of shots out of first place after the first round.
The second round started with a "bad weather" forecast. To get an early start, tee times were assigned as a shotgun start. By mid-morning, the rain was coming sideways. I normally walked ahead of the group I was watching. After about 15 minutes or so, I knew that play had been suspended but did not hear a horn.
Walking back in pouring rain, I spotted Lindy and a member from another team looking for me. At that point Duke was a couple of shots ahead. After an hour or so delay, play for the day was postponed until the following day. It stormed and rained throughout the night and due to the weather, the rest of the tournament was canceled and the team leading after the first round was declared the winner. This storm will be remembered by many millions of people. Its name was Sandy. As I left Wilmington on Sunday morning to return to Orlando, it was still pouring rain. I headed almost due West to get to I-95 roughly 70 miles away. About five miles east of I-95, I ran out of rain and the sun was shining.
The first tournament that I attended in the Spring was the ACC Championship in Greensboro again at the Sedgefield Country Club. I don't recall too much about the conditions, but do remember that Duke handily won the championship again and that four of the Duke players were in the top 10 in scoring and that Lindy, Laetitia Beck and Aleja Cangrejo were in the top five.
The NCAA Championship was memorable in many ways back in Athens, Ga. Duke was peaking at the right time with wins both at the ACC Championship and the NCAA Regional Championship. The team had a good round the first day finishing in second place, then Southern California set an NCAA record in the second round with a 12-under as I recall. Duke played very well in the next two rounds but could not overcome that low score but still finished in second place 17 shots behind Southern California but 21 shots in front of Purdue. Most exciting moment was watching Lindy Duncan play her last round for Duke University finishing with birdie, birdie, eagle. Respectfully, the holes were a par three, a par four and a par five. With that finish she was two-under-par for second place.
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September 05, 2020 at 06:26PM
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George Shutt Memories - No. 8 - Duke University - GoDuke.com
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