Women's golf

[devildeac]

2nd round regional: Duke 3 strokes behind 1st place Florida. 3rd round underway now. Go Devils.

[roywhite]

http://www.golfstatresults.com//public/leaderboards/team/static/team1195.html

Duke WG team finished 2nd, 1 shot back of Florida, and Amanda Blumenhurst finished tied for 2nd on the individual side. On to the National Championship tournament, for a possible three-peat!

[msdukie]

http://www.golfstatresults.com//public/leaderboards/team/static/team1195.html

Duke WG team finished 2nd, 1 shot back of Florida, and Amanda Blumenhurst finished tied for 2nd on the individual side. On to the National Championship tournament, for a possible three-peat!

Possible 4-peat: 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007.

[roywhite]

Possible 4-peat: 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007.

Thanks for the correction. Seems to me the team is not quite at the level of the past few years; it will take a great performance to win another championship. If anyone is capable of leading such an effort, it's Amanda Blumenhurst. What she has accomplished is remarkable.

[DukeFencer]

I'm not up to doing the research right now but I think in most of those years we didn't win the regional championship? or at least maybe 2 of the last 3? The year that they did win the regional, there was a little bit of an "uh oh, this isn't our normal path to the national championship!" going around.

[Mike Corey]

Thanks for the correction. Seems to me the team is not quite at the level of the past few years; it will take a great performance to win another championship. If anyone is capable of leading such an effort, it's Amanda Blumenhurst. What she has accomplished is remarkable.

She will go down as one of the most accomplished athletes in ACC and NCAA history.

[Inonehand]

I'm not up to doing the research right now but I think in most of those years we didn't win the regional championship? or at least maybe 2 of the last 3? The year that they did win the regional, there was a little bit of an "uh oh, this isn't our normal path to the national championship!" going around.

1999: 4th in region
2002: 1st
2005: 2nd
2006: 2nd
2007: 1st

[roywhite]

The quest for the 4-peat begins today. Championships held in Albuquerque, NM. A good site to follow updated scores:

http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=1191

[duketaylor]

Go DUKE women!!!! I know Dan's very confident with this team as he should be. Very nice and gracious young ladies they are; I met them last year. GO DUKE!!!!

[roywhite]

Not a good 1st day. Currently in 17th place with +11 for the day; nobody had a particularly good round, even Amanda Blumenhurst finished +3.

Other teams:
Southern Cal 1st -4
UCLA, Auburn, and Arizona State are near the top.
Wake was +5, and UVa +8

The good news is that the tournament goes 4 rounds (regionals were 3 rounds).

[msdukie]

We finished in 18th place (out of 24), 15 strokes back after Day One. We are capable of overcoming this.

[duketaylor]

Just an ugly team round, I expect a nice bounce-back today. GO DUKE!!!!

[juise]

Duke is 2 under through ~3 holes, tied for 11th (+9) in the tournament... which is 11 strokes back of Arizona State (-2, -4 on the day).

[juise]

Duke is 1 under through ~7 holes, tied for 11th (+10) in the tournament... which is 9 strokes back of USC (+1, +5 on the day).

[roywhite]

Duke currently at +5 for the day with players having completed between 13 and 16 holes; it is one of the better scores of the day, they have closed the gap on 1st day leader Southern Cal to 8 strokes.

Conditions have been difficult, and play was suspended due to high winds over an hour ago. Not sure when or if play will resume based on this advisory for the Albuquerque area:

"Winds will quickly increase by early afternoon today across all
of northern and central New Mexico. Expect southwest winds of 35
to 45 mph with gusts ranging between 50 and 60 mph. Winds will
likely peak between mid afternoon and early evening."

[johnb]

They did resume play, but wind is messing with scores. For example, Wake Forest had been at the top of the leader board. They started late in the day, and after 5 holes, their 5 players are a combined 18 over par.

[Clipsfan]

It looks like Duke had some trouble finishing as the shot +12 on the day and are at +23 overall. They're 15 back from the leaders (both SoCal schools), which isn't insurmountable but will be tough to make up over the next 2 rounds.

[duketaylor]

Looks as if many teams didn't finish; that could be good or bad, depending on tomorrow's forecast (more wind, or not, the Devils played a decent round, they need Mother Nature to continue to howl to even it out). We shall see. GO DUKE!!!

[bill brill]

according to the info sent on wednesday's round, the wind made things a mess. they stopped it with the wind blowing 48 mph. restarted it three hours later and duke barely got finished. amanda blumenherst, nation's no. 1, was three-underf after 13 and three-putted twice in the last five holes. she is tied for 13th as the third round begins at 1 p.m. mst, 6 shots out of lead. jennie lee shot 35-44. she hit the par-3 second hole, her 11th hole, and then five-putted. amanda's quotes were that the players couldn't ground their putters for fear of the ball blowing and creating a penalty. none of the duke team has had less than 32 putts in either round. at the halfway point, duke has moved to seventh but it would be hard to catch usc and ucla, which are 15 shots ahead. that's the breaks. having to count a 79 (take ur pick, lee or pandolfi) makes it impossible to charge.

[devildeac]

according to the info sent on wednesday's round, the wind made things a mess. they stopped it with the wind blowing 48 mph. restarted it three hours later and duke barely got finished. amanda blumenherst, nation's no. 1, was three-underf after 13 and three-putted twice in the last five holes. she is tied for 13th as the third round begins at 1 p.m. mst, 6 shots out of lead. jennie lee shot 35-44. she hit the par-3 second hole, her 11th hole, and then five-putted. amanda's quotes were that the players couldn't ground their putters for fear of the ball blowing and creating a penalty. none of the duke team has had less than 32 putts in either round. at the halfway point, duke has moved to seventh but it would be hard to catch usc and ucla, which are 15 shots ahead. that's the breaks. having to count a 79 (take ur pick, lee or pandolfi) makes it impossible to charge.

that is so sad to hear. tough breaks:(

[Clipsfan]

UCLA started out on fire today and is -4 through the first 4-5 holes. Duke is +3 so far today and 22 strokes back overall.

[duketaylor]

Doesn't look good for the 4-peat, bad start again today. Awesome run though and golf's a quirky game, anything can still happen. Either way a great season and I applaud the women and Dan Brooks. GO DEVILS!!

[Clipsfan]

20 back entering the final round doesn't look good at all. I'm now just pulling for UCLA to beat USC :)

[wumhenry]

Go DUKE women!!!! I know Dan's very confident with this team as he should be. Very nice and gracious young ladies they are; I met them last year. GO DUKE!!!!
I met one shortly after this year's graduation exercises; she shared an apartment with my daughter and another coed this past year. She is, indeed, very nice and gracious. I also met her father, who doesn't golf!

[Ben Cohen]

Not so fast. Duke has started the fourth round 5-under, after junior Jennie Lee birdied her first two holes and then aced No. 12. Lightning has stopped play again, but now the Blue Devils are in third place, 15 behind USC and only nine strokes behind UCLA.

The Chronicle has a reporter out in Albuquerque, and she's going to be keeping us updated on its new blog once play is resumed and she can get off the bus in the middle of the course.

Be sure to follow along (http://www.dukechroniclesports.com), and bookmark the page (http://www.dukechroniclesports.com) for live blogs for the lacrosse Final Fours, as well.

[johnb]

After three holes, Jennie Lee is 4 under for the day. If she keeps up this pace, she'll shoot a 48 for 18.

[roywhite]

After three holes, Jennie Lee is 4 under for the day. If she keeps up this pace, she'll shoot a 48 for 18.

Hole-in-one on the third! Way to go, Jennie. edit: I now see your post above, Ben.

Great start for today!

[SoCalDukeFan]

USC won, UCLA second, Duke 3rd.

No 4 peat.

Duke did have the best final day, 7 under.

Congrats to Dan Brooks and the players.

SoCal

[ricks68]

Duke had the lowest score of any day on the final day of competition.

[fitimi1]

Just returned home after being in Albuquerque. What a weird 4 days. The weather started out being the hottest day of the year hitting the mid 90's with steady wind of about 25 miles per hour. Wind picked up on Wednesday with golf balls rolling off greens prior to stoppage. Several times ball moved after grounding the putter resulting in penalties. Hard to see downtown due to blowing sand. Front moved through Wednesday night bringing cold rain, sleet and snow to higher elevations. Thunderstorms in afternoon again with steady winds approaching 35 miles per hour. Half way decent on Friday until sleet followed by stoppage due to lightening about 2:30 resulting in 55 minute delay. Decent but "cool" and windy after that but did not finish until around 8PM.

Girls were absolutely great and gracious as always. Did not easily give up their crown when conditions could have resulted in big let down. As one example, Alison Whitaker was the "talk" among all the volunteers on Friday. Thursday night when the play was suspended due to darkness, her playing companions chose to finish the hole. She chose to come back at 7AM on Friday morning to sink her punt for a birdie.

Earlier in this thread, there were several mentions about Coach Brooks. One of my personal highlights was having the priviledge of meeting his parents as well as his "old" coach. After just several minutes of conversation, it became readily apparent where his "pedigree" comes from.

This team will be back.

[devildeac]

Just returned home after being in Albuquerque. What a weird 4 days. The weather started out being the hottest day of the year hitting the mid 90's with steady wind of about 25 miles per hour. Wind picked up on Wednesday with golf balls rolling off greens prior to stoppage. Several times ball moved after grounding the putter resulting in penalties. Hard to see downtown due to blowing sand. Front moved through Wednesday night bringing cold rain, sleet and snow to higher elevations. Thunderstorms in afternoon again with steady winds approaching 35 miles per hour. Half way decent on Friday until sleet followed by stoppage due to lightening about 2:30 resulting in 55 minute delay. Decent but "cool" and windy after that but did not finish until around 8PM.

Girls were absolutely great and gracious as always. Did not easily give up their crown when conditions could have resulted in big let down. As one example, Alison Whitaker was the "talk" among all the volunteers on Friday. Thursday night when the play was suspended due to darkness, her playing companions chose to finish the hole. She chose to come back at 7AM on Friday morning to sink her punt for a birdie.

Earlier in this thread, there were several mentions about Coach Brooks. One of my personal highlights was having the priviledge of meeting his parents as well as his "old" coach. After just several minutes of conversation, it became readily apparent where his "pedigree" comes from.

This team will be back.

Great report/stories. Thanks for sharing those with the board!