As 2024 comes to a close, The Chronicle’s sports department is reviewing the biggest moments from this year in Duke athletics.
At No. 10: In a surprise come-from-behind finish, Duke women’s golf claimed first place at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational for the first time since 2018. The momentum from the win, led by individual first-place finisher Andie Smith, helped the team end their fall campaign with a strong finish.
As the sun rose Oct. 11, the Blue Devils had yet to find their groove.
In the team’s season opener — the ANNIKA Intercollegiate Sept. 9-11 — Duke modeled relative consistency but fell far short of the high bar set by South Carolina; the Gamecocks left Lake Elmo, Minn., 27 strokes ahead of the rest of the field. Then, in the Windy City Collegiate Classic, the Blue Devils faced challenging winds and struggled to a 10th-place finish in a 15-team field.
Duke had highlights each time, but the team was still looking for forward momentum as it entered the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational.
“I had high expectations, just because in these first two tournaments, we’ve had shining moments — and a lot of shining moments — but we didn’t get it all together,” head coach Dan Brooks said Sept. 11.
In Chapel Hill, the Blue Devils found their groove. First, it was junior Andie Smith. She alone led the field in birdies and finished the tournament five strokes ahead of her competitors. Then, as the rest of the team got hot, Duke’s scores went low. The Blue Devils catapulted to first in a come-from-behind victory.
“I think staying patient out here was the key. It’s a very challenging golf course, especially around the greens, and really taking one hole at a time … is the key to success out here and scoring well,” Smith said after the tournament.
Duke’s momentum built with each day, as the effects of the Tobacco Road tournament — featuring Wake Forest, North Carolina and N.C. State — slowly sank in. The shift wasn’t immediate, though. In fact, the first round yielded an unwanted result: The Blue Devils hit +12 and shared a four-way tie for sixth place. As the second round began Oct. 12, the team had work to do to keep the top spot in its sights.
“We didn’t have a good first day, and we had a lot of climbing out to get this done,” Brooks said. “… I was very impressed by their patience.”
Duke stayed patient, and the team’s scores followed. A 4-over finish in round two helped the Blue Devils move up one spot to fifth place. Still, they trailed first-place Michigan State by seven strokes with 18 holes left to play.
By Oct. 13 — the day of the final round — Duke was hot. The team was steadily accelerating and climbing fast towards first place. In her last four holes, Smith sank three birdies. Her contribution was matched by an even-par round from sophomore Katie Li and a career-low, career-first bogey-free round from freshman Carla De Troia.
“I was very impressed by how they learned the golf course as we went along and how they stayed solid,” Brooks said. “It wasn’t a roller coaster for them the last two days — it was very calm golf, and calm golf wins.”
Smith’s back-to-back-to-back birdies on Nos. 1 to 3 solidified Duke’s claim to the top spot. They also mirrored similar back-to-back action from the individual first-place finisher on Nos. 12 to 14 the previous day, as she carded record-low rounds each day of the tournament.
“I kind of had an idea of where it was close enough that it mattered [in the third round], both individually and for the team, and if there was a time to get it together and play the way I know how to play … it was then,” Smith said.
The Blue Devils had found their groove and claimed their first win of the season. The team’s momentum and potential — demonstrated in its shining moments — showed what it could do when hot.
As Duke set its sights on the last tournament of its fall campaign, the Landfall Tradition, the team still hadn’t cooled off. The Blue Devils kept their momentum from Chapel Hill and shot a fiery 9-under first round and -5 in round two to maintain first place through 36 holes.
Although Duke slipped in its final round, shooting 13-over and dropping to second place, just one stroke separated the Blue Devils from back-to-back team wins — an achievement last accomplished in 2018.
The come-from-behind momentum of the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational earned the Blue Devils their first team crown of the season, and it almost helped them to snag a second one.
“It’s been a good fall. Those results from the first two weren’t exactly what we wanted, but if you look beyond the results at the behaviors and the work ethic and the attitudes, then we’re right on track,” Brooks said.
As Duke got hot, it reminded competitors that the program still has much to show as its highly anticipated season continues in 2025. The Blue Devils will start their spring slate at the UCF Challenge Feb. 2-4.
Read more
Duke women’s golf slips in final round, finishes second at Landfall Tradition
Women’s golf struggles to 10th-place finish on tough Windy City Collegiate course
Katie Li leads Duke women’s golf to tied 5th-place finish in ANNIKA Intercollegiate season opener
Blast from the past: How two international students catapulted Duke women's golf to success
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Ryan Kilgallen is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.