WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana - The defending national champion women's golf team ended day two of the NCAA championships tied for 11th after struggling to conquer the increased difficulty of Purdue University's golf course due to 30 mile per hour winds.
"We had a couple of off days," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We're going to fight all the way to end. We're going to fight like we're going to win this tournament. We might run out of holes, but we're going to fight right to the end."
The Blue Devils are currently 24 strokes behind tournament leader Southern California, who is 32 strokes over par after 36 holes.
Senior Kristina Engstrom teed off first in the opening round in a foreshadowing of what was to comeâ??she finished the front nine 11 over par, battling a nagging rain and gusty wind.
The conditions eased a bit once the back nine came around, allowing Duke to make a slight comeback.
Virada "Oui" Nirapathpongporn, defending national individual champion, led after day one by shooting even par.
"I knew I came out here with goals and all I wanted to focus on, and [I] went out there, stuck to my goals and focused on my task at hand. The weather, everybody is facing the same conditions. So, I went out and stuck to my own game and that I think is the key."
Day two ended differently with Oui shooting a second round 79, pushing her into a tie for 8th, four strokes behind Oklahoma State sophomore Annie Thurman.
"I started out all right," Oui said. "I wasn't hitting the ball exactly how I wanted to, so it was a little difficult trying to get up and down and with the wind continuing the blow hard, it got tiring. It was hard to keep it up when you're not hitting it quite right how you usually do. With the wind, you have to battle the wind and for 18 holes, it was tough."
The Blue Devils will now look toward the next two days in hopes that the winds and subsequently the scores will go down.
"We take full responsibility for the two days of playing golf not as quality golf we are able to play," Brooks said. "We know that we've got it in us. There's golf left."
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