GREENSBORO - Beth Bauer earned the nation's No. 1 ranking by playing consistent golf.
With eight top-five finishes, the freshman had been a threat in every tournament, and yet had never come away with a win.
This weekend, that finally changed.
Bauer shot an even-par 216 to beat teammate Jenny Chuasiriporn by three strokes as top-ranked Duke cruised past second-place Florida State by 12 shots and won the ACC Championship, the Blue Devils' fourth straight, at the Grandover East Golf Course in Greensboro.
"It's been a great week," Bauer said after scores of 71-73-72 carried her to the win on the par-72 course. "I came in very confident, and I think we all played really well.
"It took patience. You had to accept pars, and that's what won this tournament."
With constant winds and difficult greens, every other player except Bauer shot over par overall for the three days. Bauer and Chuasiriporn opened the tournament Friday with a 71 each, and only two other players shot under par in any individual round. It was Bauer's consistency that prevailed in the end.
"It's Beth's first win, but I'm surprised she hadn't won yet," coach Dan Brooks said.
Freshman Candy Hannemann started slowly with a 75-78, though an even round of 72 yesterday moved her up from ninth place and into a three-way tie for sixth.
Chuasiriporn followed her strong first round with a pair of two-over 74s and wasn't thrilled with her play. The satisfaction, however, of winning the team title in each of her four years was enough.
"I don't think I made a lot of my birdie putts that I needed to," Chuasiriporn said. "But winning for the team is really special. It's really neat to see our team come together at this point. Now we have two big events."
Those two events are the NCAA Regionals and Championships, the event to which Duke has been pointing all year. Now, with nothing between them and the NCAAs, the Blue Devils can begin looking toward their ultimate goal.
"My message to the team is that we don't need to start doing something different," Brooks said. "We just need to turn everything up a little. I really like where we are. I don't think we've peaked yet."
Both Brooks and Chuasiriporn mentioned the short game as an important aspect Duke needs to work on over the next few weeks. All season long, the Blue Devils have been moving in and out of the No. 1 spot, and finally they can approach the point where they'll try and settle the issue for good.
"I wish I could say we were there right now," Chuasiriporn said. "We need to have everyone playing better. We're good, but we need to get better."
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