Coming off a month-long break from competition, the Blue Devils will need to outlast both the elements and a strong tournament field this weekend to pick up their first victory since the fall.
No. 3 Duke will play in Greensboro, N.C. Friday through Sunday for the 2013 Bryan National Collegiate, which will be held on the Champions Course at Bryan Park.
The tournament will be the first for the team since it took third at a rain-shortened Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Championship in late February. Head coach Dan Brooks said that while breaks of that length are rare during the season, he has noticed extended rest having a positive effect on past teams.
“They are fired up [to play],” Brooks said. “They got to enjoy a little time off and spring break—that’s something we don’t do every season.”
In the practice round Thursday, 20 mile-per-hour winds made sure the well-rested team wouldn’t be easing back into competition. The Champions Course sits on the shore of Lake Townsend in the middle of Greensboro, and windy conditions are expected throughout the weekend. There is also a good chance of rain Sunday.
Junior Laetitia Beck thrived in the wind at the Sugar Bowl last month, finishing eighth. She credited her play to growing up playing on the windswept courses of Israel and Scotland. Brooks expects another solid performance out of Beck, although he points to her superior ball striking rather than her upbringing as the main reason he thinks she will fare well in the wind.
“She’s striking it well and playing better than ever,” Brooks said. “She’s learning how to keep her swing tempo in good shape.”
Senior Lindy Duncan, who took home the Bryan National Collegiate title last season, will miss the tournament this weekend as she prepares to play in the Kraft Nabisco Championship next week.
In addition to high winds, Duke will face a field that boasts eight other top-25 teams. The high level of competition will be nothing new for the Blue Devils, however, as the team has played the toughest schedule in the NCAA so far this season according to Golfweek.
“There are a lot of good teams that could have a good tournament and win this,” Brooks said. “So we need to play maybe not our best golf, but we need to play really good golf to win it.”
A victory would be Duke’s first since last October, when the squad captured the Landfall Tradition title after weather shortened the Wilmington, N.C. tournament.
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