TULSA, Okla. - When the women's golf team dreamed of winning its first-ever national championship, it dreamed of the 18th hole, the sun shining and the final putt dropping.
But when the Blue Devils' dreams became reality Saturday, they weren't even on the course. They were inside, playing cards.
With seven holes left in the fourth and final round, severe storms prevented the completion of play. With all the teams huddled in the Tulsa Country Club, NCAA officials announced the Blue Devils the 1999 champions thanks to Duke's eight-stroke lead after three rounds.
The title is Duke's first ever for a women's team, and just the fourth in school history in any sport.
When it became clear that the rain would not stop and that the Blue Devils were indeed champions, there was the usual celebration, but something was amiss. There was an unmistakable sense of uneasiness over the way the tournament ended.
"I was happy, but it was a weird feeling," said second place finisher Candy Hannemann of the moment she realized play would not resume. "I wasn't sure if I should be happy, or just kind of happy. I didn't know what to feel. But after I was with the girls, I realized what we had done. It doesn't matter the way it ended."
The cause for the uneasiness was Arizona State, which through the course of the day had made great strides against the Blue Devils. The Sun Devils had completely cut Duke's lead and the two teams were tied at the turn. Duke rebuilt a two-stroke lead when, at 3:40 p.m., a siren signaled the suspension of play.
The rain never stopped and officials were forced to cancel the final round.
Arizona State coach Linda Vollstedt said everyone on her team believed they would win had the round continued.
"We had momentum going our way, we were only down two strokes with a lot of holes left," Vollstedt said. "They were all playing with confidence and playing great golf. They'll always in their hearts know they could have won.... They will always wonder."
When the rain delay was first called, Dianne Dailey, the chair of the NCAA women's golf committee, announced that if the fourth round could not be concluded, the tournament winner would be the third round leader. Upon hearing this announcement, the Blue Devils became visibly shaken, not wanting the Championships to end in a clubhouse.
"Everyone wanted to finish in a complete way," Jenny Chuasiriporn said. "But when you look at it, we played 60-some holes out of the 72, and we were still leading. I kind of hold onto that."
Hannemann
Hannemann drove the ball long and straight and at times caught fire on the greens. During the third round, Hannemann was paired with Georgia's Shauna Estes and the two fed off each other, combining for 12 birdies on the day.
Hannemann was 4-under at the turn of the third round, but would only finish at 1-under for the day. The freshman was paired with ASU star Grace Park on the final day, and at one point Hannemann tied Park for the individual lead. But Park regained the lead and held a one-stroke advantage when play was cancelled.
"You can't really say what would have happened," said Hannemann of the possibility of her winning an individual title over the course of the cancelled holes. "I had my chances [in the third round]. It's a game of chance.... Anything could have happened out there. I'm just happy we won, and that's all that matters to me right now."
But while Hannemann played some of her best golf of the year, Duke's biggest stars struggled. Freshman phenom Beth Bauer was solid for most of the week, but suffered a disastrous 11-over 82 on the second day. She finished the tournament in 15th place with a 14-over 227.
Chuasiriporn, meanwhile, never really found her touch after her first-round 72. During the second and third rounds she struggled with her alignment and her drive was off. Her slicing woes became so prolific that during the back nine of the third round, the graduated senior put her driver away and only used her 3-wood the rest of the way.
Chuasiriporn finished in a surprisingly low 24th place, shooting a 16-over 229. Still, don't feel too sorry for Duke's star who finished her collegiate career with the championship she coveted for so long.
"This means everything to me," Chuasiriporn said. "It's been a goal for me for so long. And to actually know the last four years have built up to this, its a great feeling. It comes from a lot of hard work and a lot of on-course and off-course cooperation within the team. We did it, and its great to know that."
And while Chuasiriporn, Bauer and senior Filippa Hansson struggled, Kalen Anderson played extremely well. Anderson finished the tournament in 12th place with her 13-over-par performance. Her performance was vital in maintaining Duke's lead, which was all the more important when the fourth round was cancelled.
Dailey said the reason play could not be resumed Sunday was because this past summer, the sport voted not to play on Sundays in consideration of BYU and Campbell-neither of which were in the Championships. Dailey also cited logistical problems such as travel arrangements and consideration for the host school and course, although the club's general manager said he would have worked with the NCAA to allow for a fifth day of play.
The tournament's uneasy finish was fitting, seeing how it began. The Blue Devils were coming off of a disappointing fourth-place finish at the East Regionals and then suffered through a poor final practice round before the Championships last Tuesday.
"[Tuesday] didn't feel exactly right for some reason," coach Dan Brooks said after the first round. "But what we got from [the mediocre practice] was positive, rather than negative. They all came out today with a real kind of determination that I haven't seen for a long time.... In retrospect, I see that [Tuesday] was perfect for today. It made them see that we're just another really good team here."
But on that first day, Duke was anything but just another good team. The Blue Devils jumped out to a blistering start in the first round, firing a tournament-low 4-over 288 and took a quick 12-stroke lead. Duke would come back to the rest of the pack over the next two days, but the Blue Devils still maintained a comfortable eight-stroke lead heading into the final day.
But the Sun Devils, winners of six of the previous eight national champions, would not simply go away. They fired a 294 in the third round to cut the lead to eight. Their impressive fourth round would have surely set up a thrilling competition over the final holes.
But there would be no fantastic finish, just a declared national champion.
"I felt a little funny about it at that time," Brooks said. "But then I realized all that we've done and that fact that we've held the lead throughout this tournament, we were leading when this thing ended, I think we're okay about it. We feel good about this win.... I don't think its tainted at all."
And although the Blue Devils are disappointed their first-ever national championship didn't have the storybook ending they had written in their minds, it is a title they will certainly cherish.
"We all had in our heads the picture perfect endings with a match-ending putt on 18, but that didn't happen," Hannemann said. "It was great the way it was."
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