Lake Buena Vista, Fla. -- As expected, Duke's No. 1 women's golf team earned the school's sixth straight ACC championship yesterday at the Disney Resort's Palm Course. But the three-stroke margin of victory had coach Dan Brooks more nervous than last year, when his team rolled to a 34-stroke win.
The Blue Devils opened up a 21-stroke lead after the second round, led by scores of 69 and 71 by Virada "Oui" Nirapathpongporn. But Duke faltered yesterday under windy conditions and Wake Forest closed to within just a stroke going to the final hole.
"My hat goes off to Wake," Brooks said. "They played a great round. They've got a lot of great athletes on their team and it showed. We had some windy conditions and they played well though I don't think any team can make up 21 strokes without a little help from the other team."
The Demon Deacons got their help as the Blue Devils struggled with the putter all afternoon. The lead kept narrowing on the back nine and the title was not decided until the pairing reached the final hole, a long par-4 that played dead into the wind yesterday.
Freshman phenom Nirapathpongporn was 5-over on her round at this point, after scorching the course for 4-under after the first two days. Despite struggling yesterday with her swing, the Thailand native smashed a 7-wood into the wind and put herself 25 feet from the cup to lock up the victory for Duke.
"It was 185 [yards], with the wind in my face, so I gripped down on my seven wood," she said. "I didn't know how I stood team-wise or individually, and it was the best shot I hit all day."
For good measure, the freshman drained the difficult 25-footer, which helped her to a two-stroke victory in the individual race.
Nirapathpongporn was a bright spot among an otherwise up-and-down day for the Blue Devils. Treating the weekend as a tune-up for the upcoming NCA's next month, Brooks was more concerned with the team's adjustment to the grain of the Bermuda greens than demolishing the field.
"I think we've learned a little about Bermuda," the coach said. "We've learned not to let it frustruate us. A lot of players won't have adjusted enough to the grain for the putts. Some putts won't go in, the key is to not get frustruated by that."
The swagger the team showed was evident in the relaxed mood of the players yesterday afternoon, despite almost blowing a huge lead to lesser competition.
Part of the reason may be that the women simply know that, if pressed, they could have played much better.
Junior Candy Hannemann, who finished fifth at 9-over par, said the attitude toward the big lead Saturday may have contributed to some loose play.
"It's really hard," she said. "You have a 21-shot lead and they start playing well, but it's hard to get motivated."
With the exception of yesterday, Nirapathpongporn played some of her best golf of the year, wielding a brilliant short game that made up for some erratic iron play.
With the guidance of Brooks, she has worked on improving her iron play and hitting more greens.
That improvement did not come yesterday, but the freshman was nonetheless able to navigate the relatively flat Palm Course and its subtly raised greens.
"I made it a little tough on myself, but I just kind of gritted it out," Nirapathpongporn said. "I'm proud of how I hung in there, I was able to hit my best two shots at the very end and that's the way it should be."
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