After the first day of competition at the Landfall Tradition, Oklahoma State trailed Duke by just two strokes. But from there, the rout was on.
The No. 4 Blue Devils made the weekend trip down I-40 to Wilmington, N.C., and came away big winners. Duke shot an impressive nine-under-par 855—the only team to break par—to capture their second tournament victory of the fall season by 11 strokes.
Duke shot a one-under 287 Friday before posting matching rounds of four-under-par Saturday and Sunday. The other 17 teams to make the cut and compete on all three days combined for just nine rounds under par total.
The Blue Devils entered the weekend as the highest-ranked team in the field, and lived up to their billing.
“You just keep playing hard and see how it falls at the end,” Duke head coach Dan Brooks said. “I’m sure everybody was aware on the team that winning was a strong possibility, but we still needed to work hard and do our thing."
They took first at the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C., two weeks ago, and they were fourth in the season-opening Annika Intercollegiate in Orlando, Fla., in late September.
Notre Dame finished second with a two-over 866 in Wilmington, and Oklahoma State ended up third with a three-over 867.
Sophomore Leona Maguire and senior Celine Boutier led the way individually, finishing just two strokes off the lead in a four-way tie for fourth place. The duo each shot 213 for the tournament, three strokes under par. Michigan State’s Sarah Burnham ended up first overall with a five-under 211, and South Carolina’s Katelyn Dambaugh and Central Florida's Ashley Holder had the next best individual scores at 212.
Maguire, the reigning National Player of the Year and first-place finisher at the Tar Heel Invitational two weeks ago, was consistent throughout the weekend, shooting a one-under 71 Friday, an even-par 72 Saturday and a two-under 70 Sunday. For the tournament, Maguire had eight birdies—two on Sunday—three bogies and a double-bogie on the second hole during Saturday’s round, but could have shot even lower in the red numbers.
“She said [Sunday] that she really just didn’t have anything fall in. We’ve had some really good ball-striking on this team, and I think it’s just a matter of being patient," Brooks said. "You can’t force putts, so you just have to be patient. Eventually they will start to drop."
Boutier struggled Friday with a three-over 75, but she put up back-to-back rounds of three-under par golf to make her way into the top four. The Montrouge, France, native finished with an impressive five birdies Sunday, but two bogies during the round prevented her from moving further up the leaderboard.
“From what I could tell, she just had a few more putts fall. I don’t think she played her easiest golf this tournament," Brooks said. “If there’s anything about the team in general that we need to do, that would be to get better at putting.”
Junior Sandy Choi shot a four-under 68 Friday—the best round of the weekend for the Blue Devils—and held on to finish tied for 10th overall with a cumulative score of one-over 217.
Freshman Virginia Elena Carta and sophomore Gurbani Singh tied for 19th at three-over-par. Carta shot 71 Saturday—her first round under par as a collegian—and Singh hit par on both Saturday and Sunday.
Competing as an individual, sophomore Lisa Maguire shot 232 to finish 74th overall.
Next on the schedule for Duke is a trip down to Atlanta, where it will compete in the two-day East Lake Cup Nov. 2-3. The tournament will feature the four national semifinalists from last year─reigning national champion Stanford, Baylor, Southern California and Duke—in a rare chance to compete in early-season match play.
“We like playing against the best as often as possible,” Brooks said. “It gives you a chance to feel what you’ll be feeling at Nationals. The more times you can do that, the better. The better the teams, the more we like it."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.