DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Boilermakers, Bruins and thunderstorms threatened all day, but nothing could stop the Blue Devils' march to their third straight national title.
No. 2 Duke battled rainy and windy conditions to post a 2-over 290 and pulled away from playing partners UCLA and Purdue late in the round to capture the NCAA Championship by 15 strokes Friday. The Blue Devils' third consecutive title tied the NCAA record, set by Arizona State from 1993 to 1995, and put them one behind the Sun Devils with five championships in program history.
"There's no better way to end your college career than this," said the team's lone senior, Anna Grzebien, who posted a team-best final round of 2-under 70. "It would have been kind of a downer if I went out without another championship. But it just means the world to me to go out on this high note."
After trailing by five strokes following Day One, Duke took control of the tournament in the second round by posting a 1-under 287, the only under-par team round the whole week on the challenging LPGA International Legends Course. The Blue Devils then carded solid rounds of 293 and 290 over the next two days to carve out their own place in history-even if that wasn't their main concern.
"The neat thing about this team is that we never gave that any airtime," head coach Dan Brooks said. "They love the game of golf, and golf is all about one shot at a time. So when you love the game, you don't get caught up in what it means."
As the players shared laughs and hand pounds before the round-and even as each player teed off just a few feet away from the trophy that they would hoist several hours later-it seemed as if they had nerves of titanium. But this was nothing new. Duke had gone into the final round leading by at least eight shots each of the last two years and never had any difficulty holding on for the victory.
Nevertheless, Duke looked like it could be caught early on, as the team registered 11 total bogeys on holes one through seven. But the team scores through nine holes showed that Purdue and UCLA, which had begun the day eight and 13 strokes back, respectively, had gained only one and two strokes on the Blue Devils.
"That gave me a good feeling to know that we were the same after the turn, because I felt like we're a solid enough team and we make enough good choices where if we could have about an eight-shot gap going into the back side, we could sustain the lead all the way to the end," Brooks said.
The Blue Devils proved to be just that. Even as the skies broke open on Duke's back nine and the wind blew the rain sideways into the players' faces, the Blue Devils locked in with the national title in sight. The team's top four players shot a combined 2-under par after the turn, leaving the competition to wait for next year for a chance to knock off the three-time champs.
"They've got a great bunch of kids, and obviously good leadership and great team chemistry," Purdue head coach Devon Brouse said. "They've got it going. The rest of us are going to have to work hard and try to run them down."
Sophomore Amanda Blumenherst led Duke throughout the week, finishing fourth individually with a 1-over 289. Grzebien and sophomore Jennie Lee placed sixth and seventh overall, respectively, as Grzebien bounced back from an opening day 80 to shoot 4-under-par over the next three days.
ACC Freshman of the Year Allison Whitaker did not contribute to the team score in the final round, but still hit the shot of the tournament for the Blue Devils. After hitting her second shot on the par-five eighth hole into a fairway bunker, Whitaker hit a blind 50-yard pitch 15 feet beyond the flag and spun it back into hole for an eagle. Grzebien nearly matched her teammate's feat just two groups later, as she hit her pitch from the fairway a foot past the hole before tapping in for birdie. Junior Jennifer Pandolfi also notched a birdie as the Blue Devils took advantage of the easiest hole on the course to the tune of 4-under-par on the final day.
As Blumenherst sealed the victory and walked off the 18th green, Brooks hugged the sophomore and whispered into her ear, "Two more." He was then brought back to the enjoyment of the victory as his players doused him with a cooler of ice water.
But it didn't take too long for the Blue Devils to look ahead to their future championship possibilities.
"Jennifer Pandolfi has three, and we're going to try to give her four next year," Blumenherst said. "We have such an amazing team-the chemistry and also the talent-that we can get it done."
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