Duncan keeps rolling, paces Blue Devils

Coming off an individual tournament victory in Georgia last weekend, freshman Lindy Duncan led the Blue Devils to another top-five finish at the Bryan National Collegiate in Duke’s final tuneup before the ACC Championship.

Behind Duncan’s third-place finish, No. 5 Duke shot two sub-300 rounds as a team to finish in a tie for third at the Players Course at Bryan Park Golf and Enrichment Center in Greensboro, N.C this weekend.

Duncan, the ACC Women’s Golfer of the Month for both February and March, continued her stellar play and remained near the top of the leaderboard all weekend.

Going into the weekend, it looked like Duncan would have company at the top of the leaderboard, as senior Alison Whitaker led the way on Friday with a 1-under par 71. The back nine would prove to be her demise, however, as over the final two rounds, Whitaker came into the clubhouse at 9-over after the turn—a common theme for the Blue Devils. Excluding Duncan, who played the back at 2-under over the weekend, Duke’s remaining four players played the final nine at 29-over par.

As a team, however, the Blue Devils weren’t able to replicate the type of performance they had a week ago at the Liz Murphey Classic, a tournament Duke won by 21 strokes.

“Our standards are just really high,” head coach Dan Brooks said. “We know we can do the things we did [at the Liz Murphey Classic], and that’s what we expect of ourselves.”

The Blue Devils will return to Greensboro on April 16 to challenge for the ACC Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.

“We’re a great team at the hardest stuff,” Brooks said. “What we need to do is just sharpen up on the things that we know we can make better—through hard work.”