Carrying a four-stroke lead heading into Tuesday's final round of the Wildcat Invitational, the women's golf team not only made its case as the early leading contender for the national championship, but also exorcised some demons in the process.
In last year's NCAA Championships, the Blue Devils blew a four-stroke advantage heading into the final round. This time around, however, Duke only increased its late lead against a strong field, defeating tournament host Arizona and Auburn by seven strokes.
After a fall season in which it was only able to capture one tournament title, Duke opened its spring season by winning the Wildcat Invitational after shooting a final-round score of 287, one-under par.
Despite the specter of another final-round disappointment looming in the Blue Devils' minds, coach Dan Brooks did not even have to pump his team up as it prepared for the final 18 holes at the unforgiving Raven golf club in Tuscon, Ariz.
"I'll say something if I feel like I have a team that needs to hear something," Brooks said of the way he approached his team following Monday's 36 holes of golf. "But this team, we did about 30 seconds of a little Orah-rah' and that's about it. This team is not going to need a whole lot of that."
One player who clearly worked out her struggles on her own was senior and defending national individual champion Candy Hannemann, who, after an atrocious first-round score of 82, rebounded with scores of 74 and 69 in the second and third rounds. Hannemann's amazing comeback was especially impressive given that she was playing in her first collegiate team tournament since sitting out several months with a torn achilles' tendon in her right foot throughout the fall.
Hannemann played consistent golf in two individual tournaments over the winter, but even Brooks was surprised by how quickly his star senior was able to turn the tide on what could have been a disastrous return to collegiate golf.
"To be a little bit rusty the first day of our team season was perfectly understandable," Brooks said of Hannemann, who finished with a nine-over-par 225. "She just had a long time out of competition and it can have an effect on you. Candy wants it bad, and it's just one round of golf."
Despite the challenge presented by the 6,119-yard Raven, several Blue Devils handled the golf course with relative ease. Sophomore Virada Nirapathpongporn finished tied for fifth place with a three-under-par 219, while freshman Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh followed close behind with a score of 220, putting her in a tie for ninth place.
Brooks praised his freshman phenom, crediting her respectable score to an indomitable work ethic in the offseason.
"The hardest strides in golf are the mental ones," Brooks said. "She's tended to be a little hard on herself, and she's learning to be not so hard on herself. Those are hard things to adjust because you're really talking about a change in the way you see things, a change in your perspective. That's hard, so I'm really proud of what she's doing."
All in all, Brooks was encouraged by his team's solid start and believes it is in good position to play strong golf throughout the spring.
"I have a feeling for what excellent is for us, and it doesn't just include scores; it includes attitude, shotmaking and an ability to come back from problems," Brooks said. "We really shined in a lot of those areas."
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