Blue Devil junior Laetitia Beck continued to move up the leaderboard throughout the duration of the three-day tournament, ultimately landing tied for seventh place as she paced Duke for a ninth-place finish overall at the Bryan National Collegiate tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
But despite Beck’s strong performance, Duke head coach Dan Brooks was not satisfied with his team’s play.
“I’m not very excited about that [ninth place finish],” Brooks said. “I know we are a better team than that…. Our third day performance, now that is the caliber of team we are. Why we only did that on one day of the tournament is a question on my mind…. But I am confident that we will regroup and do it at Arizona State I hope.”
Beck found herself in 15th place after two rounds and finished the tournament tied for seventh place with a three-over par 219. After shooting a three-over par on day two of the tournament, Beck closed out the tournament with a one-under par 71.
“I didn’t watch a lot of her this weekend because as a coach I have to pick and choose [who I’m following along the course],” Brooks said. “She was looking good and feeling good, so I let her go. She had a good tournament and she’s striking the ball really well.”
The Blue Devils finished the tournament 25 shots behind Virginia, which placed first out of 17 teams. Duke turned in its best performance Sunday, shooting a two-over par 290 after shooting 297 and 307 on the first two days, respectively. The Cavaliers were paced by Brittany Altomare, who finished the tournament in second-place with a four-under par total score of 212, one shot behind winner Emilie Burger of Georgia.
“Hats off to Virginia,” Brooks said. “They played really well at the start of the tournament and they really held pretty strong.”
Duke closed out the tournament shooting two-over-par as a team in the final round, which tied for the tournament’s second-best team performance. Only Wake Forest shot better than the Blue Devils Sunday with a one-over par 289.
The Blue Devils lacked a key component of their team this weekend as they competed without standout senior Lindy Duncan. Duncan, the reigning National Player of the Year, is preparing to play in the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Classic next week.
“[Lindy’s absence] certainly has an affect,” Brooks said. “It certainly didn’t cause us to finish as far back as we did, however. But missing her was certainly a factor… it’s a numerical reality. She shoots really low numbers and we didn’t have those low numbers this weekend.”
Duke freshman Celine Boutier also turned in a strong performance for the Blue Devils, finishing tied for 40th. Junior Alejandra Cangrejo finished tied for 44th, senior Courtney Ellenbogen finished tied for 47th and senior Stacey Kim finished 61st.
Duke will head out west next to compete in the PING ASU Women’s Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. April 12-14. The tournament will mark the Blue Devils’ fourth tournament of the spring season and the last before the ACC Championships the following weekend.
“I am optimistic. We are a solid team and we didn’t compete through the month of March. We will be going into Arizona State having a tournament under our belt.” Brooks said. “I think we will be in better shape.”
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