Upcoming Event: Women's Golf versus Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational on October 17, 2025
Women's Golf
vs Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational
Sunday, May 23
Scottsdale, Ariz. (Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club)
Duke University
vs
NCAA Championship
Photo by: Lindy Brown, Duke Communications
Blue Devils Remain in Second at NCAAs in Arizona
5/23/2021 9:11:00 PM | Women's Golf
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – As senior Jaravee Boonchant celebrated her 22nd birthday Sunday, the second-ranked Duke women's golf team remained in second place at the NCAA Championship with the Blue Devils carding a 5-over, 293. Duke owns a 54-hole ledger of 866 and will head into the final round of stroke play slated for Monday, May 24 at the 6,399-yard, par 72 Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club.
The Blue Devils will tee off Monday beginning at 2:38 p.m., off hole No. 1 along with Stanford and Texas. Following the fourth round, the top eight teams will move on to match play on Tuesday, May 25. Since match play started in 2015, Duke has advanced in four of the five tournaments.
Duke was one of 15 teams to advance to Monday's final round of stroke play. Stanford continues to lead with a three-day total of 846, while Duke (866), Oklahoma State (868), Texas (870), Ole Miss (875), Arizona State (877), Wake Forest (880), Florida State (881), Arizona (882), Oregon (883), LSU (884), South Carolina (887), Baylor (891), Auburn (892) and UCLA (895).
"We feel pretty good," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "This was our least quality day, but it was still a quality day. The attitudes were great, they worked hard and they learned as they went along. We ended up playing better on the back than we did on the front. We got under par on the back side. So, we have good momentum for tomorrow."
For the second straight day, Duke opened action at 6:30 a.m., local time and had a hot start with five birdies over its first three holes to get to 4-under-par as a team. The Blue Devils went through a rough patch dropping several shots, before making the turn.
Duke regrouped on the back carding nine birdies and finishing 3-under over its final nine holes. All five Blue Devils were at even par or better on the back, including a 3-under-par ledger by sophomore Erica Shepherd.
Continuing her solid play Sunday was junior Gina Kim as she posted an even-par, 72, and is tied for third, individually with a 3-under, 213. She will be looking to card her second straight top-10 finish at the NCAA Championship as she placed tied for 10th as a freshman in Fayetteville, Ark. Kim is seven strokes behind individual leader, Rachel Heck, of Stanford (206).
A product of Chapel Hill, N.C., Kim had a very colorful first six holes of the day on the scorecard as she opened with a bogey, but responded to collect back-to-back birdies on No. 2 and No. 3 to get to 1-under-par. She got going on the 360-yard, par-4 second as she hit her 54-degree wedge from 92 yards to 12 feet and rolled in the birdie. Kim added a 15-foot birdie on No. 3.
She would go on to bogey three straight holes to fall back to 2-over. Kim settled down and went on to play the final 12 holes at 2-under-par. She connected on a 24-foot birdie on No. 9 and also rolled in a 13-foot birdie on No. 17. Kim hit 11 fairways, 10 greens and had 28 putts.
Kim's 15 birdies on the week are tied with Heck and UCLA's Emma Spitz for the individual lead, while also leading the field in par-4 scoring with a 3.87 (-4) ledger.
Freshman Phoebe Brinker is one of three freshmen in the top six of the individual leaderboard as the Blue Devils head into Monday's final round (Heck and Ashley Menne of Arizona State). Brinker has carded a 73, 70 and signed for a 72 Sunday, while owning a 54-hole score of 215.
After bogeying the first hole, Brinker sunk a 10-footer for birdie on No. 2 and then registered a 30-foot birdie on No. 3 to get in the red. She got in trouble on the 182-yard, par-3 fifth hole and finished with a double-bogey. Brinker, who is from Wilmington, Del., regrouped and went on a stretch where she was 3-under over a span of 10 holes. She notched a downhill 10-footer for birdie on No. 8 and then collected one of only 12 birdies on the day at the 359-yard, par-4 10th, which was playing as the toughest hole Sunday. Brinker hit a knock down 8-iron from 150 yards to seven feet and drained the putt. She added her fifth birdie of the day on No. 11 with a 10-footer. Brinker closed with bogeys on No. 16 and No. 18 to finish with a 72. She hit all nine greens on the back, while finishing with a team-best 15.
Boonchant, the birthday girl, turned in a 75 in the third round and is tied for 16th with a 218. She opened her day with a birdie on No. 2 as she hit her 50-degree wedge from 99 yards to three feet and finished off the putt. Boonchant, who hails from Bangkok, Thailand, suffered a double-bogey on No. 4, but came back to tap-in for birdie on No. 7 to get back to even. She had a tough stretch from 8-10 as she turned in three consecutive bogeys. Boonchant closed with six pars, one birdie and one bogey to finish off the day. Her birdie came on the 374-yard, par-4 14th as she hit a half 9-iron to four feet from 119 yards. Boonchant hit 11 fairways, 10 greens and had 30 putts.
After notching two straight rounds of 73, Shepherd was shaky on the front nine shooting 5-over, 41. She made a slight adjustment at the turn and it worked as the All-ACC selection played her final nine holes bogey-free at 3-under-par. A native of Greenwood, Ind., Shepherd drained a 12-footer on No. 12 and then a 15-foot birdie on No. 17. She headed to the par-5 No. 18 and had 220 yards from the green and hit her 5-wood to 40 feet. Shepherd two-putted for birdie to close the day with a 74. She hit 11 fairways, 12 greens and registered 32 putts. Over the three days, Shepherd is tied for 34th with a 220.
Chen, who is from Sugar Land, Texas, also had a slow start to her third round, but played her final 12 holes at 1-under-par to finish with a 75. She was four-over-par through six holes, but turned it around on the par-5 seventh as she hit her 3-hybrid from 220 yards to 16 feet for eagle and two-putted for birdie. After a double-bogey on No. 10, Chen collected a 17-foot birdie on No. 11 and then hit her 54-degree wedge to seven feet for birdie on No. 17. She finished the day hitting 14 greens, 13 fairways and rolling 35 putts.
"We have teed off at 6:30 a.m., the last two days," said Brooks. "We have this afternoon to rest and we don't play until later tomorrow, so we're going to get a little more sleep."
The Golf Channel will feature extensive coverage of the NCAA Championship beginning Monday with 5-9 p.m. (ET) action. On Tuesday for match play, the coverage will be from 12-2:30 p.m., and 5-9 p.m. Wednesday's championship will be aired from 5-9 p.m.
#GoDuke
Notes:
• Duke has played the par-5 holes at 4.73 (-16) to lead the field through 54 holes
• The Blue Devils' 4.10 (+15) on par-4 holes ranks second
• As a team, Duke's 52 birdies lead the field
• Phoebe Brinker owns a 4.50 scoring average (-6) on the week on par-5 holes to rank fourth
• Duke is in the top-2 in stroke play for the second straight NCAA Championship heading into the final round as the Blue Devils were first in 2019 in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Blue Devils will tee off Monday beginning at 2:38 p.m., off hole No. 1 along with Stanford and Texas. Following the fourth round, the top eight teams will move on to match play on Tuesday, May 25. Since match play started in 2015, Duke has advanced in four of the five tournaments.
Duke was one of 15 teams to advance to Monday's final round of stroke play. Stanford continues to lead with a three-day total of 846, while Duke (866), Oklahoma State (868), Texas (870), Ole Miss (875), Arizona State (877), Wake Forest (880), Florida State (881), Arizona (882), Oregon (883), LSU (884), South Carolina (887), Baylor (891), Auburn (892) and UCLA (895).
"We feel pretty good," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "This was our least quality day, but it was still a quality day. The attitudes were great, they worked hard and they learned as they went along. We ended up playing better on the back than we did on the front. We got under par on the back side. So, we have good momentum for tomorrow."
For the second straight day, Duke opened action at 6:30 a.m., local time and had a hot start with five birdies over its first three holes to get to 4-under-par as a team. The Blue Devils went through a rough patch dropping several shots, before making the turn.
Duke regrouped on the back carding nine birdies and finishing 3-under over its final nine holes. All five Blue Devils were at even par or better on the back, including a 3-under-par ledger by sophomore Erica Shepherd.
Continuing her solid play Sunday was junior Gina Kim as she posted an even-par, 72, and is tied for third, individually with a 3-under, 213. She will be looking to card her second straight top-10 finish at the NCAA Championship as she placed tied for 10th as a freshman in Fayetteville, Ark. Kim is seven strokes behind individual leader, Rachel Heck, of Stanford (206).
A product of Chapel Hill, N.C., Kim had a very colorful first six holes of the day on the scorecard as she opened with a bogey, but responded to collect back-to-back birdies on No. 2 and No. 3 to get to 1-under-par. She got going on the 360-yard, par-4 second as she hit her 54-degree wedge from 92 yards to 12 feet and rolled in the birdie. Kim added a 15-foot birdie on No. 3.
She would go on to bogey three straight holes to fall back to 2-over. Kim settled down and went on to play the final 12 holes at 2-under-par. She connected on a 24-foot birdie on No. 9 and also rolled in a 13-foot birdie on No. 17. Kim hit 11 fairways, 10 greens and had 28 putts.
Kim's 15 birdies on the week are tied with Heck and UCLA's Emma Spitz for the individual lead, while also leading the field in par-4 scoring with a 3.87 (-4) ledger.
Freshman Phoebe Brinker is one of three freshmen in the top six of the individual leaderboard as the Blue Devils head into Monday's final round (Heck and Ashley Menne of Arizona State). Brinker has carded a 73, 70 and signed for a 72 Sunday, while owning a 54-hole score of 215.
After bogeying the first hole, Brinker sunk a 10-footer for birdie on No. 2 and then registered a 30-foot birdie on No. 3 to get in the red. She got in trouble on the 182-yard, par-3 fifth hole and finished with a double-bogey. Brinker, who is from Wilmington, Del., regrouped and went on a stretch where she was 3-under over a span of 10 holes. She notched a downhill 10-footer for birdie on No. 8 and then collected one of only 12 birdies on the day at the 359-yard, par-4 10th, which was playing as the toughest hole Sunday. Brinker hit a knock down 8-iron from 150 yards to seven feet and drained the putt. She added her fifth birdie of the day on No. 11 with a 10-footer. Brinker closed with bogeys on No. 16 and No. 18 to finish with a 72. She hit all nine greens on the back, while finishing with a team-best 15.
Boonchant, the birthday girl, turned in a 75 in the third round and is tied for 16th with a 218. She opened her day with a birdie on No. 2 as she hit her 50-degree wedge from 99 yards to three feet and finished off the putt. Boonchant, who hails from Bangkok, Thailand, suffered a double-bogey on No. 4, but came back to tap-in for birdie on No. 7 to get back to even. She had a tough stretch from 8-10 as she turned in three consecutive bogeys. Boonchant closed with six pars, one birdie and one bogey to finish off the day. Her birdie came on the 374-yard, par-4 14th as she hit a half 9-iron to four feet from 119 yards. Boonchant hit 11 fairways, 10 greens and had 30 putts.
After notching two straight rounds of 73, Shepherd was shaky on the front nine shooting 5-over, 41. She made a slight adjustment at the turn and it worked as the All-ACC selection played her final nine holes bogey-free at 3-under-par. A native of Greenwood, Ind., Shepherd drained a 12-footer on No. 12 and then a 15-foot birdie on No. 17. She headed to the par-5 No. 18 and had 220 yards from the green and hit her 5-wood to 40 feet. Shepherd two-putted for birdie to close the day with a 74. She hit 11 fairways, 12 greens and registered 32 putts. Over the three days, Shepherd is tied for 34th with a 220.
Chen, who is from Sugar Land, Texas, also had a slow start to her third round, but played her final 12 holes at 1-under-par to finish with a 75. She was four-over-par through six holes, but turned it around on the par-5 seventh as she hit her 3-hybrid from 220 yards to 16 feet for eagle and two-putted for birdie. After a double-bogey on No. 10, Chen collected a 17-foot birdie on No. 11 and then hit her 54-degree wedge to seven feet for birdie on No. 17. She finished the day hitting 14 greens, 13 fairways and rolling 35 putts.
"We have teed off at 6:30 a.m., the last two days," said Brooks. "We have this afternoon to rest and we don't play until later tomorrow, so we're going to get a little more sleep."
The Golf Channel will feature extensive coverage of the NCAA Championship beginning Monday with 5-9 p.m. (ET) action. On Tuesday for match play, the coverage will be from 12-2:30 p.m., and 5-9 p.m. Wednesday's championship will be aired from 5-9 p.m.
#GoDuke
Notes:
• Duke has played the par-5 holes at 4.73 (-16) to lead the field through 54 holes
• The Blue Devils' 4.10 (+15) on par-4 holes ranks second
• As a team, Duke's 52 birdies lead the field
• Phoebe Brinker owns a 4.50 scoring average (-6) on the week on par-5 holes to rank fourth
• Duke is in the top-2 in stroke play for the second straight NCAA Championship heading into the final round as the Blue Devils were first in 2019 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Players Mentioned
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