Closing out the individual portion of the season, Duke relied on a late Sunday comeback to finish as runner-up to Alabama at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic this past weekend.
Shooting a collective seven-under par on the final day, the Blue Devils were sparked by the play of freshman Laetitia Beck. The Caesarea, Israel native finished with a three-under final round and took third overall. With Beck leading the charge, Duke moved up two spots on the final day to come away with its best result of the season.
“Today was nice to watch,” head coach Dan Brooks said. “It was great to have our best performance be on our last day because we really fought for it…. And [Laetitia] played great. She had everything going well.”
As a result of tough wind conditions on the course, the No. 4 Blue Devils began the tournament with poor rounds on Friday and Saturday. Shooting three-over and eight-over respectively, Duke entered the final day in fourth place. But as the winds died down on Sunday, the Blue Devils stepped up their game. They hit greens with much greater consistency, and birdies began to fall. Duke shot 16 birdies as a team on Sunday, three more than the previous two days combined.
Notable efforts this weekend came from both Beck and fellow freshman Aleja Cangrejo. Beck’s third-place finish ties her best result on the season. For Cangrejo, her 15th-place finish marks her best result in a Duke uniform. And her opening 70 is just the fifth time this season she has shot below par in a round.
Unfortunately, for the Blue Devils, sophomore Lindy Duncan registered her worst weekend of the season. Despite winning the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic last year after shooting three-under par, Duncan shot 18-over for the tournament, a full 10 strokes worse than her previous worst score this year.
While Duncan’s poor play may have cost Duke a shot at winning this weekend, the result proves the depth of the Blue Devil roster, Brooks said. Even without their sophomore star, Duke still competed with the best in the nation.
“Lindy’s scores are always a very significant part of our team performance,” Brooks said. “The fact that she didn’t have a good weekend and [we] still finished runner-up… bodes well for the future.”
Looking ahead to the ACC and NCAA championships, the Blue Devils will look to collectively perform in a more consistent fashion. As exemplified by this weekend, Duke rarely has all its players performing up to their potential at the same time. Although it is important to see strong individual performances, the Blue Devils will try to perform better overall.
“We’ve had everybody contribute now including this tournament, but we need to have everybody contribute on the same days,” Brooks said. “I think when that happens we will perform well at tournaments. We have enough talent, we just have to get it all together.”
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