2017 Women's Golf NCAA Championship

[sagegrouse]

The Duke women tee off this afternoon at 1:36 CT at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, IL -- just west of Chicago. Four other ACC teams join Duke in the 20-team field -- UNC, Clemson, FSU and Miami. Scoring link is here.

Four days of stroke play, Friday through Monday, determine the individual champion and qualifies the top eight teams for the championship bracket. The quarterfinals are Tuesday, and both semis and finals are on Wednesday. For the final two teams there are seven rounds of golf in six days. Oh, yum!

Duke's top-ranked player is Leona Maguire, ranked the world's number one amateur golfer. She is joined by defending NCAA champion Virginia Elena Carta (#17 in the world), freshman Ana Belac, senior Sandy Choi, and Leona's twin, Lisa Maguire.

Let's go Duke!

Sage Grouse
'Who would be playing today except for the two feet of snow that has fallen on Steamboat in the past 36 hours'
"Uh, no. The ski mountain closed in April"

[Bluedog]

Thanks for starting this thread. The team definitely has a chance to make some major noise in this tourney as they seem to always do. Looking forward to a strong outing! Note that it has dropped literally 40 degrees in temperature from yesterday in Chicagoland...It's a chilly 45 with rain expected on and off throughout the day (stopping around 5pm). And thunderstorms hitting tomorrow, but then a very golf-friendly Sunday and Monday in the 60s and 70s with sun and some cloud cover. So, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some delays today/tomorrow. I assume if that occurs they just extend the day of the final round(s) or do they legimitately try to fit even MORE rounds of golf into the packed schedule?

[sagegrouse]

Scores look like they will be high today. About one-half the teams are out on the course, and everyone is at least +6 -- teams on holes 7-10 (the teams get spread out in the course of play) are +9 to +14. Scoring is the best four of five scores on an 18-hole basis (not hole-by-hole).

[flagellaman]

Why didn't Gurbani Singh play in ACC championship and also not playing in NCAA?

[sagegrouse]

Why didn't Gurbani Singh play in ACC championship and also not playing in NCAA?

I dunno. Gurbani played in the ACC's and in the Northwestern Quad, but did not play last week at the Albuquerque Regionals.

[flagellaman]

Ugh sorry I stand corrected. She did play ACC and not the NCAA regional.

[sagegrouse]

Rough start for the ladies. We have played 18 holes and are, collectively, 15 over par. Bogey city. Taking our best four players, we are at +11 with our team having played two, three, four or five holes.

The leader from this AM's round is Ohio State at +23.

I guess the afternoon round won't be any easier for the teams.

[sagegrouse]

Just piling on I guess. Collectively, we parred the first four holes played (Lisa 2, Sandy and Virginia 1). Since then, we have bogeyed every single hole played (including one double bogey). we will need a major rally to qualify for the playoffs or compete for the individual championship.

[SoCalDukeFan]

Just piling on I guess. Collectively, we parred the first four holes played (Lisa 2, Sandy and Virginia 1). Since then, we have bogeyed every single hole played (including one double bogey). we will need a major rally to qualify for the playoffs or compete for the individual championship.

and the weather seems to be awful for golf. Lots more golf to go. This is a very good team. Hopefully the weather will improve.

SoCal

[sagegrouse]

We have a great team... but we are in a big hole, tied for 19th among the 24 teams, with a score of +37 after 18 holes. The afternoon weather was mid-forties and "felt like" mid-30's according to Weather.com. Leona Maguire leads the Duke team with a +5, but parred the last ten holes after struggling over the first few holes. Everyone else scored in the 80's. The median score for the 132-player field was 80, +8.

I am looking for a big comeback today, where the morning weather will be 55-60, which is, at least, golf weather. The challenge is to make the top eight teams and qualify for the team matches on Tuesday and Wednesday. The leader, hometown Northwestern, is at +13, no doubt benefiting from winter golf rounds on the shores of Lake Michigan. The current eighth-place team is UNC at +26. The margin Duke must make up is 11 shots, which isn't a huge amount, except for the other teams in the field playing as hard as they can. Time to crank it up, ladies!

The ACC has five teams among the 24 in the tournament:
UNC +26
Miami +28
Clemson +33
Duke +37
FSU +37

The 72-hole match play tournament, in addition to selecting the best eight teams for the playoffs, crowns the individual champion. The leaders this morning are at even par -- August Kim from Purdue and Elodie Van Dievoet from Michigan. Leona Maguire is tied for 19th, five shots back. Duke's Virginia Elena Carta is defending champion, but trails by 11 shots as play begins on Saturday.

[duketaylor]

My rally cap is on, both for the women and Lax men!! GO DEVILS!!

[sagegrouse]

Posted:

We are currently in a weather delay. Once severe weather has cleared the area, tee times will be determined.

Ugly weather map.

[SoCalDukeFan]

The second round was rounded out and the stroke portion shortened to 54 holes.

So there is less golf to be played and less opportunity for the Blue Devils to make up for yesterday.

Weather looks much better for tomorrow.

SoCal

[sagegrouse]

The second round was rounded out and the stroke portion shortened to 54 holes.

So there is less golf to be played and less opportunity for the Blue Devils to make up for yesterday.

Weather looks much better for tomorrow.

SoCal

Lots of Duke tweets and pictures on the NCAA web site. Need to scroll.

[duketaylor]

Bad luck with the weather, just sucks. Now have to play even better next two days, but not outta reach. This team is very good and can win it all!!
Very possible to get to match play. Will not be an individual champ like last year (I don't think). No worries, win the team NC!!! Get to match play!!

[Bluedog]

Weather is supposed to be good today, but winds are picking up to about 17mph this afternoon, so hopefully it will serve Duke well having an 8:36 tee off time and avoiding those winds (although it will be a bit cooler, 10-14 mph winds so maybe not much different). Ground to make up but definitely possible. Let's go Duke!

[grossbus]

Any reports?

[sagegrouse]

Any reports?

Sure. Duke is having an OK round, going with one-half of the field. Our stalwarts are +6 through nine holes (minus a couple), which is one of the better rounds. No change in position, but if we play around +10 for the day, we will pass some teams that haven't teed off as yet.

Our first player off the tee, Virginia, made a "snowman" on the first hole -- +4 -- but has since made two birdies to finish the first nine at +2.

Yesterday's leader, Northwestern, is also the low score for today -- minus three (-3) for the front nine and a 13-shot lead on the rest of the field. The second-best score this AM is South Carolina at +2 and then Stanford and Duke at +6.

[grossbus]

We may be done.

Heading down the list, not up.

[Rich]

Seems we are now 22nd out of 24 teams with #2 seed Alabama dead last. Cold weather seems to have affected many of the warm weather schools.

Leona Maguire only bright spot as she's moved up 15 spots and is now tied for 4th.

Team and individual leader board can be found at http://www.ncaa.com/di-w-golf-leaderboard-2017.