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George Shutt Memories - No. 4
7/6/2020 1:30:00 PM | Women's Golf
DURHAM, N.C.-- Over the last 16 years, George Shutt has traveled thousands of miles to follow the Duke women's golf program. He has become a staple in women's college golf not only with the Blue Devils, but as a supporter of NCAA golf.
Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked nearly 3,000 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.
#GoDuke
Memory No. 4 – The 2008-09 Season
One of the tournaments played in Orlando was the NGCA match play. Coach Brooks was unable to attend due to an illness (I met Jan Dowling, the new assistant coach for the first time). Next to the last day when 36 holes of match play were required, not everyone finished and had to come back the next morning. The two Duke players left on the course were Kim Donovan with two holes remaining and Amanda Blumenherst with a couple of holes left.
Kim was tied with her opponent and needed to win her match to get to the finals. Starting at 7:30, it was very cold as I recall. She came through by winning the 17th to go one up and finished 18 with a par to win the match. Duke then went on to win the tournament.
My other memory was Alison Whitaker, who remained unbeaten in match play and over the two rounds of match play only lost two holes. Early on the first day of match play, it was very foggy and Alison, whom I was following, asked if I would walk down the fairway to "spot" the tee shots. To this day I never can figure out how if she could not see where the ball landed how she thought I could see it coming when I could not see her hit the ball (Just another funny thing that I recall).
During the tournament, I believe this was the one, I got to meet Kim's parents, Steve and Susan. My next trip was to see the team play in Parrish, Fla., for a two-day 54-hole event. Having lived in Florida for almost 20 years, I had never even heard of Parrish, Fla. It was however an older golf community and the hospitality was great as the teams stayed on the property in homes of host families. The first day consisted of two rounds and the second day one round.
What I remember most was that it was very windy that inflated the scores, but most of all I remember that many of the greens were surrounded by residents of the community not standing or sitting, but in their golf carts. On some of the more exciting holes the carts were two deep.
My first trip in the Spring was back to the UCF Challenge outside Orlando. This year seemed hexed with strong winds and none of the teams scored well. But if I thought that was windy, the SunTrust Lady Gator tournament in Gainesville, Fla., at the home of the University of Florida was even windier. Their golf course was originally designed by Donald Ross on a relatively small parcel of land. As such, the course is "wide open." At the end of the three rounds, Duke was tied with Auburn for the lead at +73. (Duke lost a one hole playoff.)
The ACC Championship was played at Sedgefield in Greensboro again. The only thing that sticks in my mind is that Amanda Blumenherst lost in a playoff for low score to Natalie Sheary. Then back to Gainesville again for the NCAA Regional. All I recall is that it was again very windy, but Duke qualified for Nationals. I believe they finished like fifth or sixth place.
For Nationals, Duke traveled to the Caves Valley Golf Course located in Owings Mill, Md. It was and still is one of the most beautiful courses that I have been so fortunate to see. As is usual when traveling to an unknown course, I attempt to arrive a day early to visit the course to get my bearings. I did so again and the first person I see is a dapper man dressed in a three-piece suit with a Duke golf cap. Since I was also wearing a Duke cap, I was greeted with, "Welcome, I am happy to see another Dukie." It was Dennis Satyshur who is the director of golf at Caves Valley and played football at Duke around 1980. My other memory was watching the finish at the 18th hole, which ends by not being able to always see the incoming shot to the hole. It is surrounded by banks and has a small creek that can come into play. This would be the last hole ever played as a Duke team member by Amanda Blumenherst and Jennie Lee. This fact was even more felt by these two that had meant so much to Duke women's golf and I was not sure that they would be able to make their last putts as it was so emotional for both of them.
#GoDuke
Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked nearly 3,000 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.
#GoDuke
Memory No. 4 – The 2008-09 Season
One of the tournaments played in Orlando was the NGCA match play. Coach Brooks was unable to attend due to an illness (I met Jan Dowling, the new assistant coach for the first time). Next to the last day when 36 holes of match play were required, not everyone finished and had to come back the next morning. The two Duke players left on the course were Kim Donovan with two holes remaining and Amanda Blumenherst with a couple of holes left.
Kim was tied with her opponent and needed to win her match to get to the finals. Starting at 7:30, it was very cold as I recall. She came through by winning the 17th to go one up and finished 18 with a par to win the match. Duke then went on to win the tournament.
My other memory was Alison Whitaker, who remained unbeaten in match play and over the two rounds of match play only lost two holes. Early on the first day of match play, it was very foggy and Alison, whom I was following, asked if I would walk down the fairway to "spot" the tee shots. To this day I never can figure out how if she could not see where the ball landed how she thought I could see it coming when I could not see her hit the ball (Just another funny thing that I recall).
During the tournament, I believe this was the one, I got to meet Kim's parents, Steve and Susan. My next trip was to see the team play in Parrish, Fla., for a two-day 54-hole event. Having lived in Florida for almost 20 years, I had never even heard of Parrish, Fla. It was however an older golf community and the hospitality was great as the teams stayed on the property in homes of host families. The first day consisted of two rounds and the second day one round.
What I remember most was that it was very windy that inflated the scores, but most of all I remember that many of the greens were surrounded by residents of the community not standing or sitting, but in their golf carts. On some of the more exciting holes the carts were two deep.
My first trip in the Spring was back to the UCF Challenge outside Orlando. This year seemed hexed with strong winds and none of the teams scored well. But if I thought that was windy, the SunTrust Lady Gator tournament in Gainesville, Fla., at the home of the University of Florida was even windier. Their golf course was originally designed by Donald Ross on a relatively small parcel of land. As such, the course is "wide open." At the end of the three rounds, Duke was tied with Auburn for the lead at +73. (Duke lost a one hole playoff.)
The ACC Championship was played at Sedgefield in Greensboro again. The only thing that sticks in my mind is that Amanda Blumenherst lost in a playoff for low score to Natalie Sheary. Then back to Gainesville again for the NCAA Regional. All I recall is that it was again very windy, but Duke qualified for Nationals. I believe they finished like fifth or sixth place.
For Nationals, Duke traveled to the Caves Valley Golf Course located in Owings Mill, Md. It was and still is one of the most beautiful courses that I have been so fortunate to see. As is usual when traveling to an unknown course, I attempt to arrive a day early to visit the course to get my bearings. I did so again and the first person I see is a dapper man dressed in a three-piece suit with a Duke golf cap. Since I was also wearing a Duke cap, I was greeted with, "Welcome, I am happy to see another Dukie." It was Dennis Satyshur who is the director of golf at Caves Valley and played football at Duke around 1980. My other memory was watching the finish at the 18th hole, which ends by not being able to always see the incoming shot to the hole. It is surrounded by banks and has a small creek that can come into play. This would be the last hole ever played as a Duke team member by Amanda Blumenherst and Jennie Lee. This fact was even more felt by these two that had meant so much to Duke women's golf and I was not sure that they would be able to make their last putts as it was so emotional for both of them.
#GoDuke
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