After narrowly missing out on what would have been a superb second-place finish as a team, the No. 6 Blue Devils took solace in watching junior Lindy Duncan overcome the elements and outlast the competition on her way to the individual title.
Duke, after holding second place in the team standings for much of the final round, slid to seventh place in the final few holes of the Mason Rudolph Fall Preview at the 6,451-yard, par-72 Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
The Blue Devils shot a combined 17-over par Sunday to finish with a three-day total of 887.
Duncan, meanwhile, carded a bogey-free final round in windy conditions to come from behind and take the individual title, the third of her collegiate career. Duncan put up a four-under par 212 total over three days to force a playoff with Alabama’s Jennifer Kirby, and then clinched the victory with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
“After I won, I kind of couldn’t believe it but at the same time I could believe it,” Duncan said. “My game has been coming along and really getting better the last couple of years.”
Duncan opened the tournament with a 75, and then closed strong with a 69 and 68 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“The last two days I felt like I was physically a little bit better and also mentally a little bit sharper,” Duncan said. “I felt more focused and more determined.”
Duncan and Kirby replayed the 504-yard, par-five 18th hole in the playoff, where the Blue Devil fought the wind on her first two shots to leave herself an optimal 100 yards to the pin. From there, Duncan put away the victory with her approach, hitting a pitching wedge to just inches from the hole. After Kirby missed her birdie putt, Duncan tapped in to finalize the victory.
“I am very proud of her and how she has learned how to make herself be patient,” head coach Dan Brooks said. “It is not her natural nature to be patient.”
The Blue Devils, despite putting up the second-best team round of the tournament on Saturday and starting the final day in fifth place, finished the tournament 14 shots off the lead. No. 1 UCLA claimed the team title with a nine-over-par total of 873.
The eventual seventh-place finish disappointed Brooks, though he said his team showed mental strength throughout the tournament and credited them with playing “some really good golf.”
“When you have second in your hands and then it slips away right at the end, that’s when it’s hard,” Brooks said. “You don’t get to have all of that toughness that you saw come to fruition.”
Sophomore Laetitia Beck was the only other Blue Devil to put up an under-par round. Beck shot 70 on Saturday but finished the tournament tied for 26th at seven-over-par, the team’s next best individual finish after Duncan.
“I wish my family could have been there,” Duncan said. “I have been working at this for many, many years.”
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