After leading the Landfall Tradition for the first two rounds, No. 5 Duke collapsed on the final day of action—with four Blue Devils shooting an 80 or worse.
Alejandra Cangrejo, Kim Donovan, Courtney Ellenbogen and Stacey Kim were unable to find the 70s Sunday as Duke shot 28-over for the day and squandered a five-shot lead it had attained Saturday.
In shooting 891 over the three days, the Blue Devils were unable to defend their title at the tournament played annually at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, N.C. Duke finished fourth, and UCLA won with a three-day total of 880. North Carolina finished second with a score of 885. and Texas and Virginia rounded out the top five with the Blue Devils.
Duncan was Duke’s top player Sunday after shooting a 76 and finishing in a tie for third. The sophomore still couldn’t escape the uniform poor play that characterized Duke, though, and the 76 followed her first two rounds of 74 and 66. Duncan mustered only one birdie Sunday and missed half the greens. She also needed 28 points to get through the Pete Dye Course.
Duke was without one of its best players, freshman Laetitia Beck, who competed last week in the World Amateur Team Championship for her home country of Israel. She finished tied for 126th with a score of 315 after an up-and-down four rounds.
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