Winning never gets old, especially for the Duke women's golf team, as it captured the Puerto Rico Classic to win its first tournament of the spring season.
The Blue Devils won their sixth consecutive tournament, which featured ten of the nation's top-25 teams, by 23 strokes.
"Considering the weather we've had I couldn't be more proud," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We had all six players and I think they all did well. I think the team would agree that we can do better, but given our winter I think we played pretty well."
Duke finished with a three-day total of 862 strokes, dominating the first position and leaving its opponents in a battle over the secondary places. Georgia finished second with 885 just ahead of Oklahoma which finished with 888.
The team was led by sophomore Liz Janangelo, who entered the final round ahead by two strokes, but shot a 73 to finish second. Southern California's Veronica Felibert won the individual title, shooting a 69 yesterday to finish with a three-round total of 213, two strokes ahead of Janangelo.
"I felt I was a little rusty coming off the break," Janangelo said. "It's hard with the snow and all, but other than that it was a pretty good showing for the first tournament of the season."
Senior All-American Virada Nirapathpongporn shot a 72 Tuesday to tie for third. The Blue Devils' best final round was turned in by freshman Anne Grzebien, who tied for 13th after a four-under 68.
Brittany Lang tied for fifth with a three-day total of 217 and junior Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh returned from a hip injury that kept her out of the fall season to tie for 20th.
In a win that most would consider dominating, Brooks and several team members felt that they have lots of work to do before they get to where they want to be.
"We just want to keep our streak alive," Janangelo said. "There is more pressure that we put on ourselves than what other people put on us. We have high expectations and know that we are capable of winning every tournament that we play in."
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