WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana - The defending national champion Duke women's golf team relinquished its reign last Friday as it finished a tough four days at Purdue University's Kampen Golf Course in a tie for 10th place, 28 strokes short of champion Southern California. Duke's cumulative score of 1,225 was its highest in the tournament since 1996, when it shot a 1,260.
"We are disappointed," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We came here to win this and didn't get that done."
To add salt to the Blue Devils' wounds, defending national individual champion Virada Nirapathpongporn turned in a birdie-less 76 on the final day, finishing 11th overall.
Still, the East Region champs had some good news while in Indiana, as both Nirapathpongporn and freshman Liz Janangelo were named to the first-team All-America squad.
Nirapathpongporn's honor is the third of her career, making her the first Duke women's golfer ever to receive first-team status in her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons. Janangelo is just the third Blue Devil ever to be an All-American as a freshman-Nirapathpongporn and current LPGA star Beth Bauer are the others. In addition, junior Leigh Anne Hardin earned honorable mention All-American accolades.
After a disappointing first two rounds left the Blue Devils seemingly out of reach of the national title, they shot a third-round 294, third best overall on the day. Coach Brooks' squad was then in a not-so-distant tie for 8th place.
"I have seen this team over and over play comeback golf and they did it today," Brooks said after the third round.
Janangelo's performance mirrored that of her teammates. After firing an 82 and a 76 in the opening two rounds, the All-American stormed back with two consecutive rounds at even-par 72. Her individual resurgence helped contribute to the team's comeback.
"I wanted the team to play well and we hadn't been playing very good at all..." Janangelo said. "I want to go out there and play my best because that is going to help out the team. My goal was to climb up individually so I could help out the team."
Sophomore Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh's recovered after four straight bogeys on holes six through nine to shoot a back-nine 34, two-under par. She concluded the third round with a birdie putt on 18 to finish with a 74.
"I knew I could do much better than that..." Aazam-Zanganeh said. "I gave everything that I had. It's a tough course and the pin positions are hard especially with the wind so you really need to be focused on every shot and that's what I tried to do today."
Aazam-Zanganeh finished the last day five over par and tied for 55th overall.
Nirapathpongporn started out day three at two-under par with a chip-in birdie on hole No. 4, but a quadruple bogey on No. 9 and a shot in the rocks on No. 13 increased her score to five-over par. She then came back to birdie three of the last four holes to end with a 74 in round three.
"It was up and down and then up again today," Nirapathpongporn said. "I am happy with the way I finished [round three]."
Unfortunately for Nirapathpongporn, the tournament ended on a down note. She fired a birdie-less 76 on her last day to finish tied for 11th.
Indiana native Leigh Anne Hardin ended her homecoming with two straight rounds of 74, en route to a 66th-place individual finish. Senior Kristina Engstrom concluded her Duke career by firing a 79, her best round of the tournament.
Despite Duke's disappointing finish at the championships, the women's golf program has much to look forward to next season, as four of the team's top five players return.
In addition, the Blue Devils will add one of the nation's top recruiting classes in 2004. This should add up to another top-five preseason ranking for Brooks' squad.
"We will come out okay from this," Brooks said. "You never know, sometimes these kind of things make you stronger for the future."
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