No. 1 Blue Devils in 2nd after Day 1

No. 1 Duke opened its spring season with a performance befitting its ranking, shooting a collective 4-over-par to finish one stroke out of first place after the first day of play at the Wildcat Invitational- in Tuscon, Ariz.

The Blue Devils find themselves in a four-team tie for second behind Arizona State-the lone leader and the team that beat Duke in its last competitive tournament. Duke shot a 2-over on the front nine holes and put up the same score on the back nine in its first round of tournament golf since the fall.

"Everyone seems pretty pleased, even if we had some rough spots," junior Amanda Blumenherst said. "[We're] just getting used to the whole mindset of playing competitive golf again."

Blumenherst appeared to have no rust in her game, recording the lowest score for the Blue Devils, a 3-under 68. That score placed her atop the individual leaderboard for the first day. The two-time defending National Player of the Year also had Duke's highlight of the day when her putt from the fringe on the second hole dropped in for an eagle.

"It was just so exciting," Blumenherst said. "It was great-a wonderful momentum builder and a great start of the season."

The rest of the Blue Devils followed Blumenherst's lead, as the trio of Jennifer Pandolfi, Jennie Lee and Alison Whitaker all finished in the top 30. Pandolfi shot a 1-over to end the day tied for 14th, and Lee and Whitaker both recorded scores of 72. Freshman Kim Donovan played individually, but impressed head coach Dan Brooks with her score of 77.

Brooks noted that the team had some difficulty on the greens, but attributed that roughness to the long break in the schedule.

"Short games will sharpen up," Brooks said. "You get better at putting and chipping and that sort of thing just by being in competition. You just look for the basic fundamental stuff to be there, which I'm seeing, so that ball will start falling in."