There are no guarantees in sports. Just ask the women's golf team.
Ranked fifth in the country and needing just a top-seven finish in the NCAA East Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships, the Blue Devils instead recorded three of their worst rounds of the year to finish 17th in a 19-team field at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington, Ill.
Coming off an Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in Atlanta less than a month before, Duke stumbled out of the gate on the first day, Thursday, May 8, and never recovered. The third-to-last finish was an obvious disappointment for a team with such high expectations of itself going in-especially considering that the Blue Devils were defending East Regional champions and were playing for their fourth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance.
"This is one of those things where you sort of search your soul a little bit afterwards," Duke coach Dan Brooks said. "The bottom line on it for me is that they had good attitudes for the whole time. We talked about winning like we do in everything we play in, but after ending up in 17th place after the first day, it became a tough situation."
The Blue Devils' three-day total of 975 landed them 38 strokes behind regional champion Ohio State and 22 strokes out of the last qualifying position, claimed by Florida. Duke's performance was particularly disappointing relative to some of the other teams in the field; it finished behind both Wake Forest (fifth, 951) and North Carolina (tied for 10th, 964), both conference rivals it had outshot handily three weeks before.
The Blue Devils began the tournament with a first-day total of 327-at that point their worst outing of the year-to place 18th, 22 strokes out of first. The lone bright spot for Duke was sophomore Jenny Chuasiriporn, who shot a 77, four strokes behind the leader and good for a share of 18th place.
"On the first day, I had no reason to think we were doing a whole lot worse than anyone else," Brooks said. "Honestly, it didn't seem too bad to me. We didn't find out until we got in how bad a shape we were in."
Friday brought higher scores for all the teams as 60-degree temperatures and wind gusts of up to 30 mph affected the entire field. The Blue Devils failed to make up any ground on the leaders, however, as they recorded their worst round of the year-a 336. The two day total of 663 dropped Duke 34 strokes behind the leader, despite moving up into 17th place. No Blue Devil finished with a score lower than 83.
"We had such a bad day to start with, it was pretty hard to get refocused," Brooks said. "I don't think we knew too well how to think in that situation. I expected us to bounce back that second day, but the weather just really kept us where we were."
"On some very subtle levels, I think some people lost their focus and maybe panicked a little," Brooks said. "It was a snowball effect."
The final day of competition brought no amazing comeback heroics for Duke. Its final day total of 312 left it two further strokes out of seventh place, despite being its best showing of the competition.
Chuasiriporn was the highest finisher for the Blue Devils at 29th place overall (77-84-78, 239). The result was particularly disappointing for the ACC Player of the Year and nation's No. 3 player.
"She's not going to nationals, she's at home right now and that's a shame," Brooks said. "She's the third best player in the country, but that's how the qualifiers work."
Junior Alicia Allison finished tied for 44th place after a strong third round 76 gave her a total of 243. Next for the Blue Devils was freshman Amie Lehman, who tied for 64th with a total of 246.
Senior Liz Lepanto finished off the last tournament of her college career with a 250, good for a share of 80th place. Freshman Filippa Hansson was the lowest finisher for Duke at 95th place with a 253 total.
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