Losing a national player of the year normally leaves college teams in a shaky position at best. Having tasted victory during that person's reign, the next year's team now must grow accustomed to a slightly less-charmed life.
After leading the Blue Devils to last year's national championship in women's golf, three-time All-American and 1998 U.S. Open runner-up Jenny Chuasiriporn graduated in the spring. However, this year's squad will not suffer the cruel fate that typically befalls a team that lost such an influential member.
"We have a team of leaders," coach Dan Brooks said. "In practice they're all working circles around each other. It's a great thing that nobody has to tell the others to pick it up. The desire to win is that strong. We are firing on all cylinders."
Amie Lehman, one of two seniors, also loves the chemistry of this year's team.
"I feel like there is so much strength and determination on the team this year that we have everything in place to be successful again," she said.
The team started its title defense in the fall with the NCAA's top ranking. In true championship fashion, the Blue Devils captured top honors in the first three tournaments they entered, including the prestigious NCAA Fall Preview, which featured nearly all the teams that are in contention to make a run at the national championship.
In the fall's final two events, the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes and the Arizona Invitational, Duke sniffed victory, but ended up with runner-up finishes. Following
Brooks has noticed the strength of surging squads like the Wildcats, and he realizes it will be a difficult road for his team to repeat last year's championship run.
"There's more depth and talent on the other teams this year," he said. "We are going to have to work a lot harder to finish in the same place we did last year."
To get back into championship contention, the Blue Devils focused some of their attention away from hitting golf balls and more toward working on conditioning.
"We worked really hard this winter," junior standout Kalen Anderson said. "We've been really working on fitness and weightlifting. We're just trying to get in shape so that we can make another run at the championship."
Aside from their determination to return to the NCAA Championships this spring, the Blue Devils possess a highly talented, but youthful, group of players.
Sophomore phenom Beth Bauer leads Duke's balanced attack. As a freshman, Bauer led the team with a 73.2 strokes-per-round average and became the ACC co-player of the year and NGCA national freshman of the year. In her 11 tournaments last season, Bauer posted top-five finishes 10 times and earned herself a final ranking as the third-best golfer in the nation.
Bauer is followed by sophomore Candy Hannemann and Anderson, who will both be crucial to Duke's chances for a repeat. Hannemann
After three years of waiting in the shadows behind Chuasiriporn, Lehman finds herself in the team's leadership position and she should battle for one of the team's five starting spots.
"I don't really feel like I need to be a leader," Lehman said. "Of course, I'd like to think that the other players look up to me a bit, but some of these girls have been kicking my butt since they were fifteen."
Competing with Lehman will be a pair of highly touted freshmen, Kristina Engstrom and Maria Garcia-Estrada. Engstrom hails from Sweden and has been a four-time member of the Swedish national team, while Garcia-Estrada, though spending the last couple years with world-renowned golf instructor David Leadbetter in Florida, plays for her native Spanish national team.
"They're a lot of fun and they're very refreshing," Hannemann said. "I am not nervous about having two freshman starters at all. They're full of talent and they're doing their very best out on the course."
So life without Chuasiriporn does not sound all that ominous anymore. Equipped with a talented core of athletes, this year's installment of the women's golf team has the national title well within their sights.
At the thought of another NCAA championship, Bauer grew giddy and exclaimed, "Oh yeah. We're bringing it home this year, baby!"
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