For a program with six national championships and three previous individual NCAA champions, it takes a spectacular performance to make history these days.
But freshman Virginia Elena Carta delivered just that this week in Eugene, Ore., to cement her name in the record books.
Carta dominated the NCAA championship field Friday through Monday at the par-72 Eugene Country Club en route to an individual championship, finishing with a four-day total of 16 under par after a final-round 69 to win by eight shots— the largest margin of victory in NCAA championship history. Carta easily broke the previous 72-hole NCAA championship individual scoring record of 12 under par.
“It means a lot. I’ve been working hard all year long and I’m so excited and I’m so glad I won this championship,” Carta told the Golf Channel after the final round. “I have to thank my team, my coaches, they’ve been just great and supportive.”
With her victory, Carta joined Candy Hannemann (2001), Virada Nirapathpongporn (2002) and Anna Grzebien (2005) as Blue Devil individual champions, becoming the first Duke freshman and eighth freshman in NCAA history to capture medalist honors at the event.
The Udine, Italy, native also shattered the 54-hole NCAA championship record by posting 13 under par following Sunday's third round of 66. The previous record was 9 under par.
“She is strong, she hits it straight [and] she is flying it high onto these greens," Duke head coach Dan Brooks told GoDuke.com. "She’s got the whole game.”
The championship was Carta's first career individual title after her only previous top-five finish was a tie for second at the LSU Tiger Golf Classic in March. However, Carta peaked late in the season, and with this week's finish concluded her first season with five consecutive top-10 performances.
Carta and her teammates will now prepare for the match play team portion of the championship as one of the top eight teams following a difficult final round in which the Blue Devils shot 8 over par. After posting a four-day total of 6 over par, Duke earned the No. 6 seed and will face third-seeded Southern California Tuesday morning.
The Blue Devils used strong rounds Saturday and Sunday to advance to match play for the second straight year. In the second and third rounds, Duke had just one over-par round count toward the team’s total score while it jumped 19 spots up the leaderboard and was tied for second after 54 holes.
Early on, though, it looked like Duke might not even make it to the final day of stroke play.
During the opening round, the Blue Devils fired their second-highest score of the year with an 11-over-par round of 299, putting the team in a tie for 21st and on the outside looking in at the top-15 position it needed to make the cut ahead of Monday’s round.
Beyond Carta’s 69 and sophomore Leona Maguire’s even-par 72, no other Duke golfer shot lower than 78 Friday.
The team responded to the slow start well, as every Blue Devil bested their first-round score during the second 18 holes, good enough for a team score of 5-under-par 283. Junior Sandy Choi and sophomore Gurbani Singh improved their day-one totals by a combined 16 strokes after posting rounds of 71 and 74, respectively, while Carta continued to pace Duke with a round of 68 and was tied for third after 36 holes.
The Blue Devils built upon that momentum in the third round, and claimed the tournament’s Sunday-low score of 280— the team’s best total since September.
Carta shot a 66—also the event’s low round of the day—and hoisted herself above the rest of the field, finishing the round with a comfortable six-stroke lead. Backed by five birdies, Singh shot her best round of 2016 with an even-par 72, and Choi and Maguire posted 1-under-par rounds.
The team slipped down the leaderboard four spots Monday as Duke’s score of 296 tied for the highest number of any match-play qualifying team. The Blue Devils only posted a single red number on the back nine—Choi birdied the par-5 17th hole—and both Maguire and Singh carded five bogeys-or-worse en route to rounds of 78 and 77, respectively.
“We wanted to get the No. 1 seed," Brooks said. "I think we are a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get that, but we are in match play so it could be a lot worse. We are going to do our best and get after it.”
Despite the team's shortcomings, Carta kept her nerves and excitement at bay and shot her fourth consecutive round in 60s, highlighted by several long-distance putts and a hole out from a greenside bunker on the fourth hole.
“I was really, really nervous,” Carta said. “I woke up at three this morning, I could not fall asleep again. I was still nervous ‘till the 17th hole, I think that was the only moment where I could relax.”
Making her final career start for Duke, Celine Boutier—who posted the worst Duke score three out of four days—continued her recent struggles and failed to shoot a score better than 77. The senior is nearly-perfect in match play, however, as she holds career record of 9-1.
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