Amanda Blumenherst came up one stroke short. After she birdied the final hole of the day to tie for the individual lead, a missed putt in the playoff cost the senior a fourth individual title at the ACC tournament.
Just one stroke cost Jennie Lee a spot of her own in that final playoff hole.
And even as a team, the Blue Devils were just a single stroke from a second place finish. Duke came in third behind in-state foes Wake Forest and North Carolina, respectively, carding an 894. The defeat ended the Blue Devils' 13-year streak of ACC crowns.
"I didn't win, so that was tough," Blumenherst said. "I'm just going to keep practicing and hope that things turn out a little bit better in the NCAA tournament."
But it sure didn't seem like things would end that way, especially for Blumenherst, who had never lost at the event.
After making the right read on the green and sinking a six- to eight-foot putt to force a playoff, Blumenherst spoke excitedly to head coach Dan Brooks.
"On the drive back up to the tee, she told me it was just like the putt she made to win the [U.S. Women's Amateur], the same break and length," Brooks said. "That was kind of a neat thing that she was having that reminiscence."
And it was hardly Blumenherst's first important shot. In last year's ACC tournament, Blumenherst's final putt won the Blue Devils both the ACC title and secured the three-time National Player of the Year her third ACC individual championship.
This year's tournament featured similar stakes, but a different outcome.
The wind began to pick up during the playoff hole, and it started to sprinkle lightly. Suddenly, everything seemed to change.
"I had an okay drive, and on my second shot I hit it very well," Blumenherst said. "It was a par-5 and on my third shot, the wind picked up very strong and barely got it on the green, and then I three-putted."
With a chance to tie on a putt that Brooks said resembled the one Blumenherst had made to force the playoff hole, the ball rattled out. The senior was forced to stomach a rare, but nonetheless painful, loss.
Lee's finish was hardly less dramatic. Four bogeys on the final day of play left Lee with a score of 215 on the weekend. A 214 would have brought Lee into the mix on that final, fateful hole.
But it just didn't work out Sunday-one stroke for each player caused heartbreak.
"They're both devastated," Brooks said of his two senior leaders. "These are two competitors, and they're going to feel real bad about not coming out on top."
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