The women's golf team had snacked on the proper ingredients for success in its early play this season but had yet to taste victory entering this week's Duke Spring Invitational.
Tuesday, home cooking helped the team savor the fruits of a 14-stroke victory over Furman, the Blue Devils' closest competitor in the 17-team field. Atlantic Coast Conference foes Wake Forest and North Carolina finished tied for third, 17 strokes behind Duke.
The Blue Devils had three golfers finish in the top seven places individually. Senior Pam Soliman led the way for the Blue Devils, finishing in third place. Soliman missed a spot in the two-way playoff between Stephanie Neill of Wake Forest and Kelly McCall of North Carolina by one shot. McCall won the tournament on the second hole of sudden death.
Duke junior Katharina Poppmeier finished alone in fourth place, one shot behind Soliman. Also in the top 10 was freshman Alicia Allison, who notched a seventh place finish, eight shots behind McCall and Neill.
"This was a really nice win for a few reasons," head coach Dan Brooks said. "Even though this is our home course, we haven't played this course with real low scores until now. Hopefully, what we'll get out of it is that hard work pays off. And it's particularly pleasing after our tournament last week in South Carolina."
Last week, Brooks praised his team's gritty performance in finishing second at the Lady Gamecock Classic in Columbia, S.C. He said he particularly liked the toughness his team showed in playing well on the finishing holes of each round.
Combined with better shotmaking this week, that kind of toughness had Duke a dominating 19 strokes ahead going into Tuesday's final round. After the second round of the tournament on Monday, Brooks said he was "not a bit" worried about his squad's chances of capturing its first tournament victory of the season.
"I wanted us to score in the 800s," said Brooks, whose squad couldn't accomplish that feat in Tuesday's windy conditions. "Everybody was feeling too good, swinging too well and we had the momentum. We weren't going to falter enough to lose."
Brooks was somewhat disappointed for Soliman, who was unable to capture her first collegiate title after leading at the completion of the second round. But he was delighted by her strong play after a drive into the trees produced a double bogey on her second hole, dropping her from the lead. Soliman finished her round with 12 straight pars.
"That's what I'm talking about," Brooks said. "It's happening right and left on this team. I want to know what happens after they have a disaster or a problem. That's more important than anything.
"[Soliman] is a remarkable person. She has continued to get better every week she's been in college. It's fun to be a part of that, to watch that.''
Soliman blamed her struggles on a shaky putter and her worst ball-striking day of the tournament. In trying to make it into a playoff, she missed an eight-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and couldn't believe that her 20-foot putt for a birdie three didn't drop at the 18th.
"I'm not too upset with the result because I didn't hit the ball very well today," Soliman said. "I only made one birdie. The putts I missed could've helped, but I'm not disappointed based on the way I hit the ball."
Brooks said he was happy with his team's short game and the patience the players displayed in chipping and putting to save shots. The players were less satisfied, as Poppmeier was even more concerned with her putting than Soliman. Poppmeier hit 17 greens in regulation during her final round, but carded 37 putts for a round of 74 that left her two shots shy of the playoff.
"I have to work on my putting," Poppmeier said. "I think I gave away 100,000 shots on the greens."
A little more satisfied with the team's result, Poppmeier said that the team's improvement reminded her of last year, when Duke roared through the late part of its schedule on the way to a fourth place finish in the NCAA championship. The squad feels it is posed to do the same this season.
"It's already coming together and we still realize that we can play even better," Soliman said. "We're going to play even better at the ACC tournament, the [NCAA] regional and nationals."
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