Kim Leads Individually; Blue Devils in Second Through 36 Holes at ACC Championship

Thursday, April 15

Greensboro, N.C. (Sedgefield Country Club)

Duke University

ACC Championship

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Kim Leads Individually; Blue Devils in Second Through 36 Holes at ACC Championship

4/15/2021 10:56:00 PM | Women's Golf

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Duke University women's golf junior Gina Kim carded back-to-back rounds in the 60s Thursday, firing a seven-under-par, 137, on her way to taking the individual lead at the ACC Championship, which is being played at the 6,132-yard, par-72 Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

Kim, a product of Chapel Hill, N.C., leads the individual action by one stroke over Beatrice Wallin of Florida State (138) with 18 holes remaining of stroke play.

"It was a really long day, but I'm just really glad I was able to stay patient out there," said Kim. "The pins were pretty tough. Greens were playing tough. So, you know I just try to do my best to stay patient and take advantage of any opportunity that came my way. So, it was good overall, and the team did amazing as well. So, I'm looking forward to the rest of the week."

Duke led the team action for most of the 36 holes Thursday, before dropping a few strokes late in the second round. The Blue Devils posted rounds of 286 and 281 on their way to firing a nine-under-par, 567, and trails Wake Forest (565) by two strokes.

"I tell you what, I had the great fortune of being on the Augusta National greens recently and these greens are every bit as good as those greens are," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "They are fast. Sedgefield has done an incredible job of setting up this tournament. These had to be running about 12 or 13. It was a putting contest and I thought our team handled the greens very, very well. I don't think there was one unfair pin, but I think there were some really challenging ones and they handled those holes well. And I mentioned to the team that it's not the worst thing in the world to have a three-putt on a golf course like this, when the greens are like this. We had we had a few, but wow just great set up and great greens."

Following Friday's stroke play round, the top four teams will advance to match play and an individual champion will be crowned. Rounding out the top five teams were Florida State (577), Virginia Tech (583) and Virginia (590). The Blue Devils will tee off beginning at 9:50 a.m., along with Florida State and Wake Forest off hole No. 1 on Friday, April 15.

Duke's second round score of seven-under-par, 281, equals the lowest 18-hole ledger for the Blue Devils in ACC Championship history.

A total of nine golfers shot under par on Thursday with Duke and Wake Forest featuring six of them. The Blue Devils were led by Kim with rounds of 68 and 69 for a seven-under, 137, while freshman Anne Chen made her ACC Championship debut with back-to-back rounds of 71 and is tied for fifth overall. Sophomore Erica Shepherd also appeared in her first ACC Championship and is tied for seventh with a one-under-par, 143, after carding a five-under, 67, in the second round.

Duke opened both the first and second rounds on hole 10 and Kim kicked off her day on fire rolling in birdies on 10 and 12. She then stuck her second shot on the 445-yard, par-5 15th to five feet and rolled in her second eagle of the year to move to 4-under. Kim closed the final nine with a 1-under, 34, to finish the first round with a 68. She hit 13 greens, 11 fairways and rolled 29 putts in the first round.

After a birdie on No. 10 to open the second round, she suffered a double-bogey on No. 11, but came back to birdie No. 13 and No. 15 to get to five-under-par for the tournament and hold the individual lead. Kim played her final 16 holes of the afternoon at 4-under, which included short birdie putts on No. 7 and No. 8 to close the day. She hit 17 greens in the final round, while hitting 10 fairways and having 33 putts.

With her back-to-back rounds in the 60s, Kim joins only Leona Maguire and Brittany Lang as Blue Devil golfers to post two straight scores in the 60s in ACC Championship action.

"You know she's hitting it great and putting it well," said Brooks. "You had to do both. We're on a great golf course. So, you didn't get away with anything and Gina's game is sharp and you have to get your game in great shape and then you have be able to do it when it matters. So, that's what Gina does."

Chen opened her morning with birdies on No. 10 and No. 13, but had three bogeys as well over her first eight holes. Heading into the back nine at 1-over, Chen struck fire birding No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 to get to 2-under. A bogey on No. 8 dropped her back to a 71 in her first postseason round as a Blue Devil.

A product of Sugar Land, Texas, Chen came to the 15th at even par, but had a tremendous approach from 182 yards with her 5-iron on the par-5 to leave her with a six-foot eagle putt, which she drained to get her to 2-under. Chen two-putted for birdie on No. 18 to make the turn at 3-under, 34. After a double-bogey on the fourth hole, Chen eagled the 483-yard, par-5 fifth to get back to 3-under as she hit her 5-iron from 182 yards to five feet. She had a couple of bogeys on her way in to finish with a 71.

Chen missed only three fairways all day hitting 25-of-28 attempts.

After opening her day with a 45-foot eagle on the par-5 10th, Shepherd struggled for the next 15 holes with seven bogeys. She sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the 342-yard, par-5 eighth to get her momentum changed heading into the second round. Shepherd, who is from Greenwood, Ind., finished the morning round with a 76, but was lights out in afternoon.

She connected on four birdies over her first nine holes, which included two 30-footers on No. 14 and No. 16. With birdies on No. 1 and No. 3, Shepherd had birdied three straight holes to get to six-under-par. She hit the par-5 fifth in two and two-putted for birdie to get to 7-under. Shepherd missed the green on the challenging par-4 sixth and double-bogeyed to drop her back to 5-under. She came back on the 160-yard, par-3 seventh to roll in a five-footer for birdie, but her drive on No. 9 clipped the trees and landed in the fairway bunker. Shepherd had to punch out from the bunker and could not get up-and-down for par to finish with a career-best 5-under-par, 67, to move into a tie for seventh with a 143.

The round of 67 matches Duke's lowest 18-hole ledger on a par-72 course in ACC Championship action joining Jaravee Boonchant (2), Maguire and Maria Garcia-Estrada.

With two top-4 finishes in her career at the ACC Championship, Boonchant carded rounds of 73 and 74 for a three-over, 147, and is tied for 21st. Boonchant, a native of Bangkok, Thailand, was close to the pin most of the morning in the first round, but couldn't get the putts to drop. She had birdies on No. 15 and No. 17 on her way to finishing with a 1-over-par, 73. Boonchant was 1-under through nine holes with another birdie on No. 15, but struggled on the way in with four bogeys and one birdie on No. 5 to finish with a 74.

Seeing action in her first ACC Championship, freshman Phoebe Brinker signed for two straight rounds of 74 and is tied for 23rd with a 148. She struggled with her driver in round one, but still managed to card two birdies and shoot a 74. Brinker played her final eight holes of round one at 1-under with a birdie on No. 8.

In the afternoon, Brinker opened her round with a six-foot birdie on No. 10 and then stuck her approach to two feet on No. 11 and was 2-under-par. She dropped four shots over a span of six holes, but once again closed strong shooting even-par over her final seven holes. Brinker hit 7 fairways, 11 greens and had 31 putts in both rounds.

As a team, Duke shot 18-under-par on the par-5 holes in the opening day, which included four eagles. The Blue Devils rolled in a team-best 35 birdies as well on the day. Chen led the field with a 7-under ledger on par-5 holes, while Kim was tied for second with a 6-under score. Kim also led the field with 10 birdies, while Shepherd was tied for second with nine.

#GoDuke

Duke Results
2 1 Gina Kim Duke 68 69       137 -7
T8 T5 Anne Chen Duke 71 71       142 -2
T31 T7 Erica Shepherd Duke 76 67       143 -1
T17 T21 Jaravee Boonchant Duke 73 74       147 +3
T24 T23 Phoebe Brinker Duke 74 74       148 +4

1 2 Team Scores
T2 1 Wake Forest 288 277       565 -11
1 2 Duke 286 281       567 -9
T2 3 Florida State 288 289       577 +1
5 4 Virginia Tech 294 289       583 +7
7 5 Virginia 297 293       590 +14
6 6 North Carolina 296 299       595 +19
4 7 Clemson 293 304       597 +21
T8 T8 Miami 301 299       600 +24
10 T8 Louisville 304 296       600 +24
T8 10 North Carolina State 301 315       616 +40
12 11 Notre Dame 313 304       617 +41
11 12 Boston College 307 312       619 +43

Start Finish Player Team Scores
2 1 Gina Kim Duke 68 69       137 -7
1 2 Beatrice Wallin Florida State 67 71       138 -6
T17 3 Siyun Liu Wake Forest 73 67       140 -4
T4 4 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 70 71       141 -3
T8 T5 Anne Chen Duke 71 71       142 -2
T4 T5 Charlotte Heath Florida State 70 72       142 -2
T17 T7 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 73 70       143 -1
T31 T7 Erica Shepherd Duke 76 67       143 -1
T8 T7 Nataliya Guseva Miami 71 72       143 -1
T31 T10 Alyssa Montgomery Virginia Tech 76 68       144 E
T12 T10 Keera Foocharoen Virginia Tech 72 72       144 E
T12 T10 Lauren Beaudreau Notre Dame 72 72       144 E
3 T10 Monika Vicario North Carolina State 69 75       144 E
T17 T10 Amelia Williamson Florida State 73 71       144 E
T27 T10 Emilia Migliaccio Wake Forest 75 69       144 E
T31 T16 Celeste Valinho Virginia 76 69       145 +1
T4 T16 Becca DiNunzio Virginia Tech 70 75       145 +1
T4 T18 Savannah Grewal Clemson 70 76       146 +2
T17 T18 Jennifer Zhou North Carolina 73 73       146 +2
T8 T18 Lauren Hartlage Louisville 71 75       146 +2
T17 T21 Jaravee Boonchant Duke 73 74       147 +3
T31 T21 Hana Ryskova Louisville 76 71       147 +3
T24 T23 Jennifer Cleary Virginia 74 74       148 +4
T12 T23 Ivy Shepherd Clemson 72 76       148 +4
T24 T23 Phoebe Brinker Duke 74 74       148 +4
T12 T26 Mimi Rhodes Wake Forest 72 77       149 +5
T39 T26 Sara Byrne Miami 77 72       149 +5
T17 T26 Kayla Smith North Carolina 73 76       149 +5
T17 T26 Nicole Adam North Carolina 73 76       149 +5
T8 T30 Riley Smyth Virginia 71 79       150 +6
T31 T30 Emily Mahar Virginia Tech 76 74       150 +6
T43 T30 Margot Bechadergue Louisville 78 72       150 +6
T24 T33 Callista Rice Clemson 74 77       151 +7
T31 T33 Virginia Bossi Virginia 76 75       151 +7
T12 T33 Nathalie Irlbacher Boston College 72 79       151 +7
T31 T33 Beth Lillie Virginia 76 75       151 +7
T27 T33 Kristyna Frydlova Miami 75 76       151 +7
T39 38 Annabelle Pancake Clemson 77 75       152 +8
T43 39 Alice Hodge Florida State 78 75       153 +9
T52 40 Natalia Aseguinolaza North Carolina 80 74       154 +10
T27 T41 Abby Heck Notre Dame 75 80       155 +11
T43 T41 Bibilani Liu Boston College 78 77       155 +11
T49 T41 Angel Lin Boston College 79 76       155 +11
T39 T41 Crista Izuzquiza North Carolina 77 78       155 +11
T39 T45 Jessica Spicer Virginia Tech 77 79       156 +12
T27 T45 Lea Klimentova North Carolina State 75 81       156 +12
T31 T45 Isabel Amezcua North Carolina State 76 80       156 +12
T55 T45 Julia Bordeaux Notre Dame 83 73       156 +12
T49 T49 Alexandra Swayne Clemson 79 78       157 +13
T43 T49 Daniella Barrett Miami 78 79       157 +13
T49 T49 M. Agustina Gomez Cisterna Louisville 79 78       157 +13
T52 T52 Ananya Barthakur Boston College 80 80       160 +16
T43 T52 Taylor Roberts Florida State 78 82       160 +16
T43 54 Leah Temple Lang Boston College 78 83       161 +17
T55 T55 Claire Albrecht Notre Dame 83 79       162 +18
T55 T55 Anna Backman Miami 83 79       162 +18
58 57 Natalie Ambruester North Carolina State 85 79       164 +20
54 58 Ryann Sinclair North Carolina State 81 85       166 +22
59 59 Madelyn Jones Notre Dame 87 83       170 +26
60 60 Mairead Martin Louisville 88 89       177 +33