Gone are the days of a superstar for the Blue Devils.
For the past two years, Duke was fueled by top-heavy lineups that included former greats Jenny Chuasiriporn and Beth Bauer. Their respective departures in 1999 and 2000 changed everything about the women's golf team-everything except its remarkable knack for winning.
No. 1 Duke no longer has a dominant player consistently at the top of the leaderboard, but it has nonetheless steamrolled its competition this season with one of the most pared lineups in college golf. In its latest display of team talent, Duke erased a two-stroke deficit on the final day of play to storm back for a five-stroke victory over Georgia yesterday at the Lady Gamecock Classic. More remarkable than the comeback, however, was that no Blue Devil finished more than eight strokes apart from any teammate after three days of intense golf.
"The thing I liked most about this [weekend] was that we moved our pack of scores closer together," said coach Dan Brooks, whose players ranged from a team-low 220 by sophomore Kristina Engstrom to 228 by freshman Leigh Anne Hardin. "We need to think in terms of a pack. That's the neatest thing about our team-we can talk about any person on this team winning any given tournament."
The Blue Devils overpowered Georgia by seven strokes in the final round of golf, soaring to the tournament title behind Engstrom's team-best score of 71. Duke finished the par-72 course at the University Club in Blythewood, S.C. with a three-day total of 887.
All five Blue Devils placed in the tournament's top 14, but only Engstrom challenged for the individual title. Engstrom fired her best round of the tournament yesterday to shoot her up to third in the final standings. She has yet to win an individual championship this season, but Engstrom's coach said that may change in the near future.
"Kristina is really starting to reap some of the benefits of her hard work on her short game," Brooks said. "She almost won this weekend, and I think we'll see a win from her soon."
Duke trailed by four strokes after the first day, but the Blue Devils gradually trimmed Georgia's advantage.
Behind terrific second rounds from junior Candy Hannemann and senior Kalen Anderson, Duke cut Georgia's lead in half heading into the final round. The Blue Devils then demonstrated why they still hold the nation's top ranking as they finished with the second-lowest total in the history of the Lady Gamecock Classic.
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