In its final event of the fall season, Duke was able to redeem itself from three poor stroke-play showings with a much-needed win at the East Lake Cup.
After more than three months off from competition, the Blue Devils are now looking to pick up its spring competition where the team left off in November—with a victory.
No. 16 Duke will head to Palos Verdes, Calif., Sunday through Tuesday to compete in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, a 54-hole stroke play event. Despite enjoying a mild winter and ample time for preparation, the Blue Devils will have to put up a fight against the nation’s top teams at Palos Verdes Golf Club without being at full strength.
Head coach Dan Brooks said that several Duke golfers have been sick in recent weeks, resulting in less-than-ideal practice conditions for players during the break from competition. Illnesses have most severely impacted sophomore Virginia Elena Carta and senior Sandy Choi, and Choi—who is currently battling pneumonia—will miss this weekend’s event.
“For us to wrap up the fall, that win was great and gives us an idea of what we’re capable of,” Brooks said. “And then we come into the spring and have some good weather and, you know, kind of a mix in preparation because again we’ve been dealing with some more sickness…. We’ve had some flu-like symptoms this spring and Sandy’s had pneumonia and, you know, it’s been quite a mix.”
As the Blue Devils attempt to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish in the tournament, junior Leona Maguire is poised to lead the team after three top-three finishes in the fall. The Cavan, Ireland, native has been a national standout since arriving in Durham two years ago, but is still showing signs of improvement as she currently holds a season-scoring average of 69.3, a full 1.4 strokes better than last year’s fall scoring average.
Notably, Maguire will compete in her first event since announcing that she will remain at Duke rather than pursue LPGA Tour status for the 2017 season. The junior nearly decided to compete in the final stage of the tour’s qualifying school—which could have resulted in her leaving Duke to take advantage of a newly-earned tour card—but the All-American ultimately chose to forego that option and compete for the Blue Devils until she graduates.
“The thing that makes me feel better than anything above all else is that she made a great life choice and you know, that’s just a wonderful feeling," Brooks said. "I’m very happy for her and I think she will be the beneficiary of this great decision for the rest of her life."
Elena Carta will tee it up for her fifth start of the season, which has featured two top-15 results but has so far lacked the superb play that Carta displayed throughout last season, which ended in an individual national championship. The Udine, Italy, native finished tied for 17th in last year's Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge and enters the tournament as the only Duke player to win both of her matches at the team's November showing in Atlanta.
The competition will allow Duke to jump right in to highly-competitive play, as the 16-team field features 11 ranked teams, including No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 Southern California and No. 5 UCLA. Also participating will be No. 14 Arizona State and senior Monica Vaughn, who used a final-round 65 last year to overcome a five-shot deficit and win the tournament’s individual title
Blue Devil junior Gurbani Singh struggled at Palos Verdes Golf Club during her last outing there—shooting in the 80s two out of three days—but returns to the California coast riding the momentum of a tie for sixth place in her last stroke play start, the Tar Heel Invitational. The strong performance at that event included rounds of 70 and 68, allowing the New Delhi native to lower her season scoring average to 72.5, more than two strokes lower than her scoring average from last year.
Maguire's twin Lisa Maguire will play in this three-day contest for the third time in her career, although the junior has struggled in this event and holds a tournament scoring average of 80.5 in six rounds. Her lowest total score this season came at October’s Windy City Collegiate Championship, where Maguire posted rounds of 74, 73 and 74 en route to a tie for 32nd.
Rookie Ana Belac will complete the lineup after starting twice in the fall and netting 75.3 strokes per round and will be the only Duke player competing without prior experience at the challenging Palos Verdes Golf Club.
“It’s a great golf course and it’s a wonderful way to get started because it’s a really good course,” Brooks said. “I’m not going to be expecting them to be as sharp as they’ll be in May. We’re going to go in there and do the best we can.”
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