Anderson leads Duke to victory

Kalen Anderson carried the Duke women's golf team through a storm Sunday to hold on to the team title at the Liz Murphey Classic in Athens, Ga.-and to claim a first-ever tournament victory for herself.

The No. 1 ranked Blue Devils came into the last day of the three-day tournament with an 11-stroke lead over the eighth ranked host, Georgia. Although 11 strokes seemed a large margin going into play Sunday, the blustery weather added a certain amount of uncertainty to the outcome. Anderson shattered that uncertainty by leading the field with a one-over-par 73 in her final round.

Coach Dan Brooks was thrilled for his senior, who won the tournament with a 74-74-73-221.

"She's a senior and she won her first college tournament, and I just couldn't be happier for her," he said. "She's been an extremely dedicated player for a number of years. If anybody ever deserved a win, she did."

Duke catapulted to the top of the team standings with a 291 on the first day, bolstered by strong individual performances by Virada Nirapathpongporn (72), Candy Hanneman (72), Kristina Engstrom (73) and Anderson (74). The team had an 11-stroke lead at the end of the day-a margin it would hold for the rest of the tournament.

"This was a good win for us," Brooks said. "We were playing in really tough conditions [yesterday]. It took a lot of patience. We were playing on greens that really weren't that good."

The field of 18 that Duke defeated with its 291-303-308-902 included eight teams from Golfweek's top-25, including host Georgia, No. 3 Auburn, No. 9 Texas and No. 15 Northwestern.

Along with Anderson, Hannemann also helped pace the Blue Devils to victory. The Brazilian claimed her sixth top-10 finish of the year, tying Alabama's Paula Carter and Georgia's Reilley Rankin for eighth place with a 10-over-par 226. Nirapathpingporn's final-round 79 hurt her overall score, but she still finished with an 11-over-par 227, earning her a 11th-place in the individual competition.