The top-ranked Blue Devils cruised to a 27-stroke victory at the Stanford Intercollegiate over the weekend and made their mark on the record books. The tournament win was the 92nd of head coach Dan Brooks' 22-year Duke career, and he now stands alone as the winningest coach in Division I history.
"When I reflect on it, I am most excited about the great student-athletes that I've been associated with," Brooks said. "I am blessed to be associated with an excellent school to coach at and with the student-athletes that choose to come and play for us."
Duke also set the school record for the lowest 54-hole and single-round scores, and senior Liz Janangelo set the mark for the best individual three-day tournament score. The Blue Devils notched a school-record 271 Sunday to finish the tournament with an 18-under-par 834, and Janangelo fired a 202 over the three-day event. All three records had been set at the ACC Championships in 2004 when former Duke golfer Brittany Lang shot a 204, and the Blue Devils closed out the tournament with a 273 to finish with a three-day total of 838.
"It was a great thing that we were able to travel all the way across the country and play so well," Brooks said. "Had we been allowed to play longer, we would have kept going further under par."
The Blue Devils knocked off five top-ten and twelve top-thirty opponents in Palo Alto, Calif., including No. 2 UCLA, which finished runner-up to Duke at the NCAA Championships last season and opened up the 2005 fall campaign ranked No. 1 in the country. The Bruins finished nine shots off Duke's pace this weekend.
Janangelo sat in first place individually after the first two rounds and pulled away from the competition Sunday by shooting a six-under 65. Janangelo started her Duke career with six tournament victories during her freshman and sophomore years, but the senior failed to capture an individual title during last year's run to the national championship.
"It felt great to get this win," Janangelo said. "Everything just clicked this weekend. I've been working really hard to get my game back to this level, and it was nice to get the weight of winning a tournament off my shoulders."
Freshman Amanda Blumenherst and Junior Anna Grzebien also turned in excellent tournaments and finished in a tie for second place at 4-under par.
Grzebien caught fire at the end of last season, winning the ACC Championship and NCAA individual titles, but the junior had to sit out during the summer to rest an ailing wrist. In the team's first three tournaments, Grzebien has had no trouble riding last year's momentum-the junior has notched a seventh-place finish to go with her two runner-up performances.
With three rounds at-or-below par at the Stanford Intercollegiate, Blumenherst has completed her first nine rounds and first three tournaments with no above-par rounds.
"It's very exciting, I'm playing really solid golf," Blumenherst said. "I've just been taking it one shot and one hole at a time and staying with my game."
While not finding quite as much success as her classmate, freshman Jennie Lee finished in 16th place and carded two consecutive rounds at even-par 71 after shooting 4-over in the tournament's opening round.
"She's been playing great for us," Brooks said. "She had to take a lot of putts over the weekend, had a few more fallen in, she easily could have shot in the 60s."
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