Upcoming Event: Women's Golf versus Sea Best Intercollegiate on January 26, 2026
Women's Golf
vs Sea Best Intercollegiate
Monday, May 9
Franklin, Tenn.
Duke University
vs
NCAA Regional Championship
Photo by: Lindy Brown, Duke Communications
Solid Opening Day for Blue Devils at NCAA Franklin Regional
5/9/2022 5:57:00 PM | Women's Golf
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – The fourth-seeded Duke women's golf team got off to a hot start on Monday in the NCAA Franklin Regional as the Blue Devils carded a 1-under-par, 287, tying for the overall lead with Alabama at the 6,450-yard, Par-72 Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
The Blue Devils featured eight early birdies in the morning from sophomore Phoebe Brinker, junior Erica Shepherd and sophomore Anne Chen. Duke led with a 7-under score halfway through the opening nine holes. Brinker was as low as 3-under, Chen was 2-under and Shepherd was 5-under on the front nine, before the Blue Devils made the turn at 5-under as a team.
Duke and Alabama hold the share of the lead with 36 holes remaining at the regional. Vanderbilt (288), Texas A&M (289), Wake Forest (292), UTSA (293), and Oregon State (293) round out the top seven teams. Following Wednesday's third round, the top four teams will advance to the NCAA Championship.
"I am really happy with the effort today," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "They stayed patient. It was a really gusty day. It was amazing how it was going from zero wind to 15 mph – just changing back and forth. I thought they handled the wind changes. These greens are really fast and firm. They had to be patient and I think they did a great job."
At the end of Monday's round, Shepherd and Chen paced the Blue Devils with a 1-under, 71, score, while freshman Rylie Heflin carded an impressive even-par, 72, in her NCAA debut. Shepherd and Chen are tied for sixth, while Heflin is tied for 11th and Brinker is tied for 19th.
Polly Mack of Alabama leads the individual action with a 7-under, 65, while Hollie Muse of East Tennessee State is second with a 66.
A native of Greenwood, Ind., Shepherd's front nine was very impressive as she birdied five holes over a span of six from No. 12-17. She opened the day with a putt from off the green for birdie, then drained a 22-footer for birdie on No. 13 and then a 5-footer on No. 14 to get to 3-under. After a 2-putt par from 42 feet, Shepherd sank back-to-back 5-footers for birdie to get to 5-under.
She missed the fairway on No. 18 and suffered her first bogey of the day, while adding another bogey on No. 1 and a double-bogey on No. 3 to drop back to 1-under. Shepherd rebounded on the par five fourth hole with a 2-putt birdie, but missed the green on No. 7 and had a bogey. She closed with a par on No. 8 and a key up-and-down par on No. 9 to finish with her 10th round this season of even or under par. Shepherd hit 10 fairways, 11 greens and rolled 28 putts on the day.
"I started off really hot," said Shepherd. "My putter was really rolling. I had a few really good thoughts going and I like to think about stuff with my swing and my putting in order to play the best golf. So, I had that. The wind picked up and the course was really hard. So, I stayed steady on my back nine and did the best I could. The team finished a great day strong and I am super proud of that."
After opening with a par on No. 10, Chen hit her sand wedge from 91 yards to eight feet for birdie and then hit her 9-iron on No. 13 from 135 yards to 12 feet and sank her second birdie of the day. She had a bogey on No. 15, before parring the final three holes on her first nine holes. Chen, who hails from Sugar Land, Texas, made the turn at 1-under, 35. After turning in two pars and then a bogey on No. 3, Chen two-putted for birdie on No. 4 and then rolled in a 35-foot par on No. 5 to remain at 1-under. She hit her 7-iron from 155 yards to six feet and sank her fourth birdie of the day on No. 6. Chen closed the day with two pars to finish with her team-best 12th round of even or under par on the season. She hit 10 fairways, 13 greens and had 31 putts on day one.
Seeing action in her first NCAA action, Heflin had a slow start with four bogeys over her first seven holes. She started chipping away at her score on the 321-yard, par-4 17th as she drained a 7-footer for birdie. Heflin, a product of Avondale, Pa., hit her 54-degree wedge from 90 yards on No. 18 to two feet for birdie to make the turn with a 2-over, 38. After suffering a bogey on No. 2, Heflin collected her second collegiate eagle on the 477-yard, par-5 fourth hole. She hit her 5-iron from 190 yards to 20 feet and rolled in the eagle putt to get her to 1-over for the day. After a bogey on No. 5, she closed the day with birdies on No. 7 and No. 9 as she sank a 3-footer on the seventh hole and a 10-footer on the ninth. Heflin hit 14 greens, nine fairways and had 32 putts. It marked her fourth round of even or under par on the season.
"I am really proud of her," said Brooks on the play of Heflin. "She has come a long way. She is a very talented player who is just learning how talented she is. She has done a great job with that."
Coming off winning the ACC Championship last month, Brinker had her game going early in the round as she registered birdies on No. 11, No. 13 and No. 14 to move to 3-under. She had her irons dialed in as she stuck her first two birdie putts to six feet and then 2-putted for birdie on No. 14. After missing a short birdie on the 15th, Brinker hit her tee shot on the par-3 16th into the water and suffered a double-bogey. She added a birdie on No. 17 and double on No. 18 to finish the first nine at even par. Brinker, who is from Wilmington, Del., went on to finish the final nine holes with two birdies, three bogeys and four pars to finish with a 1-over, 73. She hit 13 greens, 11 fairways and rolled 32 putts.
Seeing action in her first NCAA regional, junior Megan Furtney turned in a solid round of 2-over, 74, and is tied for 28th. After carding five pars to open the day, she suffered bogeys on No. 15 and No. 17, before making the turn with a 38. Furtney, a product of St. Charles, Ill., parred the first three holes after making the turn, before notching back-to-back birdies. She two-putted for birdie on No. 4 and then drained a 30-footer for birdie on No. 5 to get to even par for the day. Furtney had two bogeys on the next two holes, before closing with two pars and a 74. She hit 14 greens, eight fairways and had 34 putts.
The Blue Devils registered a team-best 22 birdies on the day and Heflin posted the lone eagle of the day. Shepherd and Brinker's six birdies ranked tied for third.
Duke will tee off on Tuesday in the second round beginning at 9:06 a.m., off hole No. 1 along with Alabama and Vanderbilt.
#GoDuke
Duke Results
- T6 Anne Chen Duke 71 -1
- T6 Erica Shepherd Duke 71 -1
- T11 Rylie Heflin Duke 72 E
- T19 Phoebe Brinker Duke 73 +1
- T28 Megan Furtney Duke 74 +2
1 Team Scores
T1 Duke 287 -1
T1 Alabama 287 -1
3 Vanderbilt 288 E
4 Texas A&M 289 +1
5 Wake Forest 292 +4
T6 UTSA 293 +5
T6 Oregon State 293 +5
8 Boston University 297 +9
9 Brigham Young 298 +10
T10 Kent State 300 +12
T10 Augusta 300 +12
12 Austin Peay State 311 +23
Start Finish Player Team Scores
- 1 Polly Mack Alabama 65 -7
- 2 Hollie Muse * East Tennessee St. 66 -6
- 3 Jennie Park Texas A&M 69 -3
- T4 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 70 -2
- T4 FLair Kuan Boston University 70 -2
- T6 Jayna Choi Vanderbilt 71 -1
- T6 Madde Sund Oregon State 71 -1
- T6 Tess Davenport Vanderbilt 71 -1
- T6 Anne Chen Duke 71 -1
- T6 Erica Shepherd Duke 71 -1
- T11 Rylie Heflin Duke 72 E
- T11 Chayse Gomez Oregon State 72 E
- T11 Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Wake Forest 72 E
- T11 Auston Kim Vanderbilt 72 E
- T11 Hannah Holzmann UTSA 72 E
- T11 Napabhach Boon-In Augusta 72 E
- T11 Emily Price Kent State 72 E
- T11 Natalia Yoko Augusta 72 E
- T19 Emilie Overas Alabama 73 +1
- T19 Zoe Slaughter Texas A&M 73 +1
- T19 Adela Cernousek Texas A&M 73 +1
- T19 Benedetta Moresco Alabama 73 +1
- T19 Ellie Slama Oregon State 73 +1
- T19 Phoebe Brinker Duke 73 +1
- T19 Lila Galeai Brigham Young 73 +1
- T19 Chloe Salort Kent State 73 +1
- T19 Ana Gonzalez UTSA 73 +1
- T28 Megan Furtney Duke 74 +2
- T28 Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio Texas A&M 74 +2
- T28 Celina Sattelkau Vanderbilt 74 +2
- T28 Hailee Cooper Texas A&M 74 +2
- T28 Hunter Nugent UTSA 74 +2
- T28 Nicole Polivchak UTSA 74 +2
- T28 Camryn Carreon UTSA 74 +2
- T28 Hanako Kawasaki Boston University 74 +2
- T28 Allysha Mae Mateo Brigham Young 74 +2
- T28 Mikayla Bardwell * Tennessee 74 +2
- T38 Virunpat Olankitkunchai Wake Forest 75 +3
- T38 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 75 +3
- T38 Kaley Campbell Austin Peay State 75 +3
- T38 Chloe Holder Augusta 75 +3
- T38 Annick Haczkiewicz Brigham Young 75 +3
- T43 Mimi Rhodes Wake Forest 76 +4
- T43 Angelica Moresco Alabama 76 +4
- T43 Riley Cooper Austin Peay State 76 +4
- T43 Alice Fan Boston University 76 +4
- T43 Adeline Anderson Brigham Young 76 +4
- T43 Mayka Hoogeboom Kent State 76 +4
- T43 Dorota Zalewska * Chattanooga 76 +4
- T50 Kelsey Webster Oregon State 77 +5
- T50 Christy Chen Boston University 77 +5
- T50 Payton Carter * Murray State 77 +5
- T50 Tara Bettle * UNCG 77 +5
- T54 Isabella van der Biest Alabama 78 +6
- T54 Kerstin Fotu Brigham Young 78 +6
- T54 Taylor Dedmen Austin Peay State 78 +6
- T57 Issy Taylor Oregon State 79 +7
- T57 Louise Yu Vanderbilt 79 +7
- T57 Noramol Nuchsila Kent State 79 +7
- T60 Jennifer Gu Kent State 81 +9
- T60 Kennedy Carroll Augusta 81 +9
- T62 Nicole Page Augusta 82 +10
- T62 Erica Scutt Austin Peay State 82 +10
- T62 Annie Kim * Houston 82 +10
- 65 Victoria Takai Boston University 85 +13
- 66 Shelby Darnell Austin Peay State 87 +15
The Blue Devils featured eight early birdies in the morning from sophomore Phoebe Brinker, junior Erica Shepherd and sophomore Anne Chen. Duke led with a 7-under score halfway through the opening nine holes. Brinker was as low as 3-under, Chen was 2-under and Shepherd was 5-under on the front nine, before the Blue Devils made the turn at 5-under as a team.
Duke and Alabama hold the share of the lead with 36 holes remaining at the regional. Vanderbilt (288), Texas A&M (289), Wake Forest (292), UTSA (293), and Oregon State (293) round out the top seven teams. Following Wednesday's third round, the top four teams will advance to the NCAA Championship.
"I am really happy with the effort today," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "They stayed patient. It was a really gusty day. It was amazing how it was going from zero wind to 15 mph – just changing back and forth. I thought they handled the wind changes. These greens are really fast and firm. They had to be patient and I think they did a great job."
After carding a 1-under 287, the Blue Devils are tied for the overall lead at the NCAA Franklin Regional ??
— Duke Women's Golf (@DukeWGOLF) May 10, 2022
?? https://t.co/TqHXkUETUv pic.twitter.com/0x37DmoIts
At the end of Monday's round, Shepherd and Chen paced the Blue Devils with a 1-under, 71, score, while freshman Rylie Heflin carded an impressive even-par, 72, in her NCAA debut. Shepherd and Chen are tied for sixth, while Heflin is tied for 11th and Brinker is tied for 19th.
Polly Mack of Alabama leads the individual action with a 7-under, 65, while Hollie Muse of East Tennessee State is second with a 66.
A native of Greenwood, Ind., Shepherd's front nine was very impressive as she birdied five holes over a span of six from No. 12-17. She opened the day with a putt from off the green for birdie, then drained a 22-footer for birdie on No. 13 and then a 5-footer on No. 14 to get to 3-under. After a 2-putt par from 42 feet, Shepherd sank back-to-back 5-footers for birdie to get to 5-under.
She missed the fairway on No. 18 and suffered her first bogey of the day, while adding another bogey on No. 1 and a double-bogey on No. 3 to drop back to 1-under. Shepherd rebounded on the par five fourth hole with a 2-putt birdie, but missed the green on No. 7 and had a bogey. She closed with a par on No. 8 and a key up-and-down par on No. 9 to finish with her 10th round this season of even or under par. Shepherd hit 10 fairways, 11 greens and rolled 28 putts on the day.
"I started off really hot," said Shepherd. "My putter was really rolling. I had a few really good thoughts going and I like to think about stuff with my swing and my putting in order to play the best golf. So, I had that. The wind picked up and the course was really hard. So, I stayed steady on my back nine and did the best I could. The team finished a great day strong and I am super proud of that."
After opening with a par on No. 10, Chen hit her sand wedge from 91 yards to eight feet for birdie and then hit her 9-iron on No. 13 from 135 yards to 12 feet and sank her second birdie of the day. She had a bogey on No. 15, before parring the final three holes on her first nine holes. Chen, who hails from Sugar Land, Texas, made the turn at 1-under, 35. After turning in two pars and then a bogey on No. 3, Chen two-putted for birdie on No. 4 and then rolled in a 35-foot par on No. 5 to remain at 1-under. She hit her 7-iron from 155 yards to six feet and sank her fourth birdie of the day on No. 6. Chen closed the day with two pars to finish with her team-best 12th round of even or under par on the season. She hit 10 fairways, 13 greens and had 31 putts on day one.
Seeing action in her first NCAA action, Heflin had a slow start with four bogeys over her first seven holes. She started chipping away at her score on the 321-yard, par-4 17th as she drained a 7-footer for birdie. Heflin, a product of Avondale, Pa., hit her 54-degree wedge from 90 yards on No. 18 to two feet for birdie to make the turn with a 2-over, 38. After suffering a bogey on No. 2, Heflin collected her second collegiate eagle on the 477-yard, par-5 fourth hole. She hit her 5-iron from 190 yards to 20 feet and rolled in the eagle putt to get her to 1-over for the day. After a bogey on No. 5, she closed the day with birdies on No. 7 and No. 9 as she sank a 3-footer on the seventh hole and a 10-footer on the ninth. Heflin hit 14 greens, nine fairways and had 32 putts. It marked her fourth round of even or under par on the season.
"I am really proud of her," said Brooks on the play of Heflin. "She has come a long way. She is a very talented player who is just learning how talented she is. She has done a great job with that."
Coming off winning the ACC Championship last month, Brinker had her game going early in the round as she registered birdies on No. 11, No. 13 and No. 14 to move to 3-under. She had her irons dialed in as she stuck her first two birdie putts to six feet and then 2-putted for birdie on No. 14. After missing a short birdie on the 15th, Brinker hit her tee shot on the par-3 16th into the water and suffered a double-bogey. She added a birdie on No. 17 and double on No. 18 to finish the first nine at even par. Brinker, who is from Wilmington, Del., went on to finish the final nine holes with two birdies, three bogeys and four pars to finish with a 1-over, 73. She hit 13 greens, 11 fairways and rolled 32 putts.
Seeing action in her first NCAA regional, junior Megan Furtney turned in a solid round of 2-over, 74, and is tied for 28th. After carding five pars to open the day, she suffered bogeys on No. 15 and No. 17, before making the turn with a 38. Furtney, a product of St. Charles, Ill., parred the first three holes after making the turn, before notching back-to-back birdies. She two-putted for birdie on No. 4 and then drained a 30-footer for birdie on No. 5 to get to even par for the day. Furtney had two bogeys on the next two holes, before closing with two pars and a 74. She hit 14 greens, eight fairways and had 34 putts.
The Blue Devils registered a team-best 22 birdies on the day and Heflin posted the lone eagle of the day. Shepherd and Brinker's six birdies ranked tied for third.
Duke will tee off on Tuesday in the second round beginning at 9:06 a.m., off hole No. 1 along with Alabama and Vanderbilt.
#GoDuke
Duke Results
- T6 Anne Chen Duke 71 -1
- T6 Erica Shepherd Duke 71 -1
- T11 Rylie Heflin Duke 72 E
- T19 Phoebe Brinker Duke 73 +1
- T28 Megan Furtney Duke 74 +2
1 Team Scores
T1 Duke 287 -1
T1 Alabama 287 -1
3 Vanderbilt 288 E
4 Texas A&M 289 +1
5 Wake Forest 292 +4
T6 UTSA 293 +5
T6 Oregon State 293 +5
8 Boston University 297 +9
9 Brigham Young 298 +10
T10 Kent State 300 +12
T10 Augusta 300 +12
12 Austin Peay State 311 +23
Start Finish Player Team Scores
- 1 Polly Mack Alabama 65 -7
- 2 Hollie Muse * East Tennessee St. 66 -6
- 3 Jennie Park Texas A&M 69 -3
- T4 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 70 -2
- T4 FLair Kuan Boston University 70 -2
- T6 Jayna Choi Vanderbilt 71 -1
- T6 Madde Sund Oregon State 71 -1
- T6 Tess Davenport Vanderbilt 71 -1
- T6 Anne Chen Duke 71 -1
- T6 Erica Shepherd Duke 71 -1
- T11 Rylie Heflin Duke 72 E
- T11 Chayse Gomez Oregon State 72 E
- T11 Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Wake Forest 72 E
- T11 Auston Kim Vanderbilt 72 E
- T11 Hannah Holzmann UTSA 72 E
- T11 Napabhach Boon-In Augusta 72 E
- T11 Emily Price Kent State 72 E
- T11 Natalia Yoko Augusta 72 E
- T19 Emilie Overas Alabama 73 +1
- T19 Zoe Slaughter Texas A&M 73 +1
- T19 Adela Cernousek Texas A&M 73 +1
- T19 Benedetta Moresco Alabama 73 +1
- T19 Ellie Slama Oregon State 73 +1
- T19 Phoebe Brinker Duke 73 +1
- T19 Lila Galeai Brigham Young 73 +1
- T19 Chloe Salort Kent State 73 +1
- T19 Ana Gonzalez UTSA 73 +1
- T28 Megan Furtney Duke 74 +2
- T28 Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio Texas A&M 74 +2
- T28 Celina Sattelkau Vanderbilt 74 +2
- T28 Hailee Cooper Texas A&M 74 +2
- T28 Hunter Nugent UTSA 74 +2
- T28 Nicole Polivchak UTSA 74 +2
- T28 Camryn Carreon UTSA 74 +2
- T28 Hanako Kawasaki Boston University 74 +2
- T28 Allysha Mae Mateo Brigham Young 74 +2
- T28 Mikayla Bardwell * Tennessee 74 +2
- T38 Virunpat Olankitkunchai Wake Forest 75 +3
- T38 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 75 +3
- T38 Kaley Campbell Austin Peay State 75 +3
- T38 Chloe Holder Augusta 75 +3
- T38 Annick Haczkiewicz Brigham Young 75 +3
- T43 Mimi Rhodes Wake Forest 76 +4
- T43 Angelica Moresco Alabama 76 +4
- T43 Riley Cooper Austin Peay State 76 +4
- T43 Alice Fan Boston University 76 +4
- T43 Adeline Anderson Brigham Young 76 +4
- T43 Mayka Hoogeboom Kent State 76 +4
- T43 Dorota Zalewska * Chattanooga 76 +4
- T50 Kelsey Webster Oregon State 77 +5
- T50 Christy Chen Boston University 77 +5
- T50 Payton Carter * Murray State 77 +5
- T50 Tara Bettle * UNCG 77 +5
- T54 Isabella van der Biest Alabama 78 +6
- T54 Kerstin Fotu Brigham Young 78 +6
- T54 Taylor Dedmen Austin Peay State 78 +6
- T57 Issy Taylor Oregon State 79 +7
- T57 Louise Yu Vanderbilt 79 +7
- T57 Noramol Nuchsila Kent State 79 +7
- T60 Jennifer Gu Kent State 81 +9
- T60 Kennedy Carroll Augusta 81 +9
- T62 Nicole Page Augusta 82 +10
- T62 Erica Scutt Austin Peay State 82 +10
- T62 Annie Kim * Houston 82 +10
- 65 Victoria Takai Boston University 85 +13
- 66 Shelby Darnell Austin Peay State 87 +15
Players Mentioned
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
/ Women's GolfKarcher-Ingram Golf Center Facility Tour
Friday, October 03
Anna Grzebien Hall of Fame Feature
Saturday, November 02
Duke Athletics: A Tour of Campus
Saturday, October 19
Welcome to Duke
Saturday, October 19
