In its first tournament of the year, Duke bore the sign of something unfamiliar: growing pains.
With only three returning golfers, the No. 10 Blue Devils are as inexperienced as they have been in recent memory. And without the veteran leadership of recently departed All-Americans Amanda Blumenherst and Jennie Lee, that youth showed at the NGCA Match Play Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla. Led by freshman Lindy Duncan, Duke finished 10th out of 16 teams in the 36-hole qualifying round. By placing out of the top eight, the team was grouped in the consolation bracket, where it pulled out a third-place finish.
Duke had previously won the event all five times it had participated,
“We just shot ourselves in the foot—we got ourselves in the wrong bracket,” head coach Dan Brooks said. “We played enough good golf in the match play where had we been in the right bracket, it would have been exciting.”
The Blue Devils defeated Colorado 5-0, but lost to Texas Christian 3-2 in a tight match Monday to earn a spot in the third-place game of the consolation pool against Kent State Tuesday.
Senior Alison Whitaker led the way for Duke against the Golden Flashes and never trailed in her final round after taking a one-stroke lead with a birdie on the first hole. Duncan and fellow freshman Stacey Kim both fell behind within the first three holes, but fought their way back into the lead quickly, and neither player would relinquish their advantage in the final 11 holes. Courtney Ellenbogen picked up the final point for Duke in its 4-1 victory.
Duncan was the only golfer to win all three of her matches, and also paced Duke in qualifying with a 1-over 145 to finish in a tie for eighth place. Her fellow first-years each won two rounds of match play, and Ellenbogen took senior Yu Young Lee’s spot Monday and Tuesday after the upperclassman faltered in qualifying with a 14-over 158.
“I’m out of the grapevine with these three freshman,” Brooks said. “We’ve got the leadership and we’ve got the youth. It’s an exciting team.”
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, a poor showing Sunday prevented the newcomers from getting a chance to compete for a real title as the team came out flat in qualifiying. The Blue Devils finished the two rounds with a 30-over 606, 21 strokes back of Florida.
Nevertheless, Brooks saw little reason to worry about one bad round, and took solace in his team’s improved performance over the course of the tournament as it moves on with its season.
“If you happen to have all your off days for everybody on the same day, you end up with a day like Sunday,” he said. “We still stick with the plan. I don’t think anything changes. We’ll take it one step at a time, try not to be affected.
“It’s just a tournament. Things happen.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.