PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – What an impressive way to open the spring slate for the Duke women's golf program as the Blue Devils claimed the team title at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge against nine top 10 teams and one of the best fields of the season.
Following a solid 11-under-par, 273, Monday, the Blue Devils held an eight-stroke lead heading into the final round. Duke carded a one-under-par, 283, and collected a seven-stroke victory at the 6,017-yard, par 71 Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
In 10 appearances at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, it marked the first team title for the Blue Devils and the 137th career victory for Duke head coach
Dan Brooks, which continues to lead all NCAA Division I head coaches.
"Today was even more fun than yesterday," commented Brooks. "Seventeen birdies on the back nine. Although we shot lower yesterday, our golf seemed just as good today. The flag locations were tougher today. Everyone contributed important rounds for the event. Ana (Belac) was a rock out there. Miranda's (Wang) winter work on her swing really paid off, almost getting the individual win. Megan (Furtney) shot even for the event on a very interesting and difficult course she'd never seen before. I'm real proud of this team."
Duke carded rounds of 291, 273 and 283 for a five-under, 847, which broke the previous Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge tournament record by nine strokes. Southern California (854), Texas (855), UCLA (858), Arizona State (859), Kent State (868), Stanford (869), Wake Forest (870), Auburn (872) and Oregon (876) rounded out the top 10 teams.
The Blue Devils got off to a slow start Tuesday and fell into a tie for first, but never trailed. After moving back to even par for the tournament and six-over-par to start the morning, Duke came through big on the back nine with 17 back nine birdies to seal the victory.
The Blue Devils featured junior
Miranda Wang and senior
Ana Belac in the top five of the individual leaderboard as Wang was tied for second and Belac placed tied for fifth.
Wang carded the best finish of her Duke career along with the best 54-hole ledger as a Blue Devil as she carded a five-under-par, 208, with rounds of 74, 66 and 68. A product of Beijing, China, Wang opened her day on hole No. 2 with a bogey, but then collected birdies on No. 6 and No. 8 to move into the red. She then had a bogey on No. 9, birdie on No. 11 and bogey on No. 12. Wang then collected four straight birdies from holes 14 through 17 to get to four-under-par. She went on to finish the day with a bogey on No. 1 to shoot a three-under-68.
She led the field with a total of 17 birdies. Wang hit 13 greens, 10 fairways and added 28 putts on the final day.
Auburn's Kaleigh Telfer won the individual title with a six-under-par, 207, one stroke ahead of Wang and Arizona State's Olivia Mehaffey (208).
Turning in her second top 10 finish at the Northrop Grumman, Belac carded rounds of 74, 66 and 70 on her way to finishing tied for fifth with a 210. She notched two pars over her first two holes and then had three bogeys over a span of four holes, while also collecting a birdie on the par five fifth.
Belac, who is from Portoroz, Slovenia, made the turn at two-over-par, 37, and then had her irons working on the back. She hit it stiff on the 355-yard, par four 11th and sank the four-foot birdie, while also connecting on a three-foot birdie on No. 14. Belac added another birdie on the par five 16th and would finish with a one-under-par, 71. She hit 11 greens, 10 fairways and had 27 putts.
"I'm really proud how everyone contributed to the win," said Belac. "It shows how solid everyone on the team is. Obviously, it's awesome to start the season with a win, but I think for a team as ambitious as ours, it just adds to the motivation to work even harder for the remaining of the season."
Megan Furtney, a native of St. Charles, Ill., was competing in her second collegiate event and posted her first top 15 finish of her short time as a Blue Devil. Over the three days, she notched three straight rounds of even-par, 71, to finish with an even-par, 213.
In the final round, she opened her morning on No. 4 and collected six straight pars. After a double-bogey on No. 10, Furtney collected two six-foot birdie putts in a row to get back to even par. She then suffered a triple-bogey on the 404-yard, par four 13th, but once again rebounded strong. Furtney reeled off a birdie on the 404-yard, par four 14th as she nearly drove the green and then got up and down for birdie.
On the 140-yard, par three 15th, Furtney hit her 9-iron to seven feet and rolled in the birdie and then two-putted for birdie on the par five 16th to finish off her third straight birdie to move back to even for the day. Furtney closed with a bogey on No. 18, hit her 9-iron from 123 yards to six feet for birdie on No. 1 and parred the final two holes to finish with a 71. She hit 12 greens, eight fairways and rolled 28 putts in the final round.
After collecting rounds of 72 and 70 the first two days, sophomore
Gina Kim signed for a 78 on the final day. She registered back-to-back birdies on No. 11 and No. 12 on her way to placing tied for 29th with a 222.
Erica Shepherd teed off on No. 5 to start the day and was three-over-par through five holes. The rookie from Greenwood, Ind., came back to drain a five-foot birdie on the 263-yard, par four 12th and then drove the green on No. 14, before two-putting for birdie to get back to one-over. She would go on to finish with a three-over-par, 74, and finished tied for 67th with a 229.
The Blue Devils collected 22 birdies in the final round and closed the three days with a total of 54 birdies to lead the field.
Duke will be off until March 6-8 when the Blue Devils travel to Hilton Head, S.C., to compete in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
Notes:
• Wang led the field with a five-under-par ledger on par three holes
• Belac was five-under-par on the par fives to rank tied for second overall
• Furtney ranked third overall with 13 birdies, while
Miranda Wang led the field with 17
• With her two rounds of even or under par this week, Belac moved into a tie for seventh on Duke's all-time charts with 48 along with teammate
Jaravee Boonchant.
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Duke Results
T5 T2
Miranda Wang Duke 74 66 68 208 -5
T5 T5
Ana Belac Duke 74 66 70 210 -3
T9 T12
Megan Furtney Duke 71 71 71 213 E
T9 T29
Gina Kim Duke 72 70 78 220 +7
T71 T67
Erica Shepherd Duke 77 78 74 229 +16
1 2 3 Team Scores
T4 1 1 Duke 291 273 283 847 -5
9 T4 2 Southern California 296 280 278 854 +2
3 3 3 Texas 290 284 281 855 +3
T7 2 4 UCLA 293 279 286 858 +6
T7 6 5 Arizona State 293 284 282 859 +7
2 T8 6 Kent State 289 294 285 868 +16
10 T8 7 Stanford 298 285 286 869 +17
6 T4 8 Wake Forest 292 284 294 870 +18
1 7 9 Auburn 283 298 291 872 +20
T4 10 10 Oregon 291 296 289 876 +24
T14 11 11 Florida 306 282 295 883 +31
16 14 12 Pepperdine 307 289 290 886 +34
T12 13 T13 Washington 304 291 295 890 +38
11 12 T13 Arizona 302 292 296 890 +38
T12 16 T15 Vanderbilt 304 302 298 904 +52
T14 15 T15 Ohio State 306 297 301 904 +52
Start Finish Player Team Scores
T1 1 Kaleigh Telfer Auburn 66 70 71 207 -6
T3 T2 Olivia Mehaffey Arizona State 70 68 70 208 -5
T5 T2
Miranda Wang Duke 74 66 68 208 -5
T9 4 Emilie Paltrinieri UCLA 73 69 67 209 -4
T5 T5
Ana Belac Duke 74 66 70 210 -3
T9 T5 Amelia Garvey Southern California 69 73 68 210 -3
T3 T7 Emilia Migliaccio Wake Forest 68 70 73 211 -2
T9 T7 Ziyi (Emily) Wang Stanford 72 70 69 211 -2
8 T7 Sophie Guo Texas 72 69 70 211 -2
T1 T7 Emma Spitz UCLA 70 66 75 211 -2
T9 11 Kaitlyn Papp Texas 73 69 70 212 -1
T28 T12 Gabriela Ruffels Southern California 75 71 67 213 E
T15 T12 Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen Oregon 71 72 70 213 E
T34 T12 Alessandra Fanali Arizona State 76 71 66 213 E
T9 T12
Megan Furtney Duke 71 71 71 213 E
T21 T16 Aline Krauter Stanford 74 71 69 214 +1
T19 T16 Momoka Kobori Pepperdine 71 73 70 214 +1
T21 T18 Agathe Laisne Texas 74 71 70 215 +2
T15 T18 Linn Grant Arizona State 71 72 72 215 +2
T15 20 Angelina Ye Stanford 73 70 73 216 +3
T21 T21 Alyaa Abdulghany Southern California 76 69 72 217 +4
T28 T21 Adeena Shears * Ohio State 73 73 71 217 +4
T5 T23 Kory Nielsen Kent State 70 70 78 218 +5
T19 T23 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 73 71 74 218 +5
T34 T25 Hollie Muse Arizona 73 74 72 219 +6
T21 T25 Brooke Sansom Auburn 70 75 74 219 +6
T21 T25 Allisen Corpuz Southern California 76 69 74 219 +6
T28 T25 Emilee Hoffman Texas 71 75 73 219 +6
T28 T29 Mariel Galdiano UCLA 74 72 74 220 +7
T38 T29 Addison Baggarly Florida 81 67 72 220 +7
T9 T29
Gina Kim Duke 72 70 78 220 +7
T38 T29 Clara Manzalini Florida 75 73 72 220 +7
T21 T29 Tze-Han Lin Oregon 70 75 75 220 +7
T43 T29 Malia Nam Southern California 78 71 71 220 +7
T56 T29 Martha Lewis Washington 77 74 69 220 +7
T45 T36 Briana Chacon Oregon 75 75 71 221 +8
T45 T36 Chloe Salort Kent State 73 77 71 221 +8
T28 T36 Letizia Bagnoli Wake Forest 75 71 75 221 +8
T21 T36 Marta Perez SanMartin Florida 74 71 76 221 +8
T45 T36 Karoline Stormo Kent State 74 76 71 221 +8
T38 T36 Karen Miyamoto Washington 76 72 73 221 +8
T58 T36 Caley McGinty Kent State 72 80 69 221 +8
T28 T36 Alexa Melton Pepperdine 74 72 75 221 +8
T43 T44 Mychael O'Berry Auburn 73 76 73 222 +9
T56 T44 Sara Kouskova Texas 75 76 71 222 +9
T15 T44 Therese Warner Arizona 75 68 79 222 +9
T61 T47 Phoebe Yue UCLA 76 77 70 223 +10
T34 T47 Rino Sasaki Washington 74 73 76 223 +10
T45 T49 Pimnipa Panthong Kent State 79 71 74 224 +11
T38 T49 Vanessa Knecht Wake Forest 76 72 76 224 +11
T45 T49 Megan Dennis Pepperdine 81 69 74 224 +11
T38 T49 Annabel Wilson UCLA 76 72 76 224 +11
T45 T53 Marina Escobar Domingo Florida 79 71 75 225 +12
T34 T53 Lauren Peter Ohio State 73 74 78 225 +12
T58 T53 Amy Matsuoka Oregon 78 74 73 225 +12
T61 T56 Megan Schofill Auburn 76 77 73 226 +13
T45 T56 Amanda Linner Arizona State 76 74 76 226 +13
T71 T58 Yukie Sasaki Ohio State 78 77 72 227 +14
T45 T58 Auston Kim Vanderbilt 71 79 77 227 +14
T65 T58 Abbey Carlson Vanderbilt 83 71 73 227 +14
T71 T58 Siyun Liu Wake Forest 82 73 72 227 +14
T58 T58 Louise Yu Vanderbilt 75 77 75 227 +14
T61 T58 Raquel Olmos Arizona State 80 73 74 227 +14
T65 T58 Morgan Baxendale Vanderbilt 75 79 73 227 +14
T61 T65 Kayley Marschke Auburn 74 79 75 228 +15
T65 T65 Kailie Vongsaga Arizona 75 79 74 228 +15
T45 T67 Alice Duan Washington 78 72 79 229 +16
T45 T67 Aneka Seumanutafa Ohio State 74 76 79 229 +16
T71 T67
Erica Shepherd Duke 77 78 74 229 +16
T65 T67 Brooke Seay Stanford 79 75 75 229 +16
T78 T71 Skylar Thompson Ohio State 81 77 72 230 +17
81 T71 Gile Bite Starkute Arizona 80 79 71 230 +17
T45 T71 Sandra Nordaas Arizona 79 71 80 230 +17
T71 T71 Aiko Leong * Southern California 81 74 75 230 +17
T71 T75 Ching-Tzu Chen Oregon 75 80 76 231 +18
T65 T75 Annabell Fuller Florida 78 76 77 231 +18
T71 77 Brittany Kwon Washington 77 78 77 232 +19
77 78 Sifan He Pepperdine 81 75 77 233 +20
83 79 Reese Guzman Pepperdine 84 79 71 234 +21
82 T80 Yuki Yoshihara * UCLA 83 77 75 235 +22
T78 T80 Jayna Choi Vanderbilt 83 75 77 235 +22
T65 82 Alex Wright * Ohio State 78 76 83 237 +24
T78 83 Sofia Seldemirova Ohio State 88 70 83 241 +28
84 - Calista Reyes Stanford D 74 75 - -