Leona Maguire chalks up Win No 4 in America

NEWS RELEASE FROM DUKE UNIVERSITY
With a few extra words from Colin Farquharson
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina – For the third straight year and the 14th time in school history, the Duke women’s golf team claimed the Tar Heel Invitational title as the Blue Devils carded rounds of 285, 293 and 289 for a total of 867 at the 6,379-yard, Par 72 Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Duke sophomore Leona Maguire registered her fourth collegiate victory and the first of the 2015-16 season as she closed strong with birdies on No. 16 and No. 17 to post the win by one stroke over Sarah Burnham of Michigan State (213).
“Coming in she birdied 16 and 17 to win this thing individually,” commented Duke head coach Dan Brooks on the performance of Leona Maguire.  “That is what she does.  To get that birdie on 17 she hit a shot out of the rough and stuck it like three feet away to make the putt.”
Maguire, who hails from Ballyconnel, Cavan, Ireland, had rounds of 69, 72, and 71 for a four-under-par, 212. 
The World No 1 female amateur  opened the day with a bogey on the second hole, but came back to roll in birdies on No. 3 and No. 9.  She held a one-under score through 12 holes and the top slot on the individual leaderboard.

A couple of bogeys on No. 13 and No. 15 dropped Maguire into the second position with three holes remaining.  She went on to drain a 12-footer on the 361-yard, par four 16th and then a four-footer on the 518-yard, par five 17th to move into the individual lead.  Maguire hit 12 fairways, a team-high 16 greens and had 32 putts in the final round.

The Blue Devils won by a total of 13 strokes with the next closest team being Arkansas (880).  Louisville (882), Michigan State (883), NC State (884), Alabama (886), Tennessee (887), North Carolina (888), Virginia (898) and LSU (903) rounded out the top 10 teams.
“Actually, through all the rain and everything coming into this event we prepared pretty well,” said Brooks.  “We got them out there when it was raining (Editor: Shades of Ben Hogan who wold practise in the rain so that he knew how he would play if it rained durng a tournament). We were not going to let the weather stop us from preparing.  I felt like we came into this well prepared.”

Duke freshman Virginia Elena Carta matched a career-low round with a one-under, 71, as she totaled a tied for team-best four birdies Sunday.  She finished tied seventh with a 218, after notching three days of 73, 74 and 71.  Carta had bogies on the third and fourth holes, before going on a hot stretch with birdies on No. 6, No. 9 and No. 12 to move to one-under-par.  After a bogey on the 13th, Carta closed with birdie on the par five 17th to finish with a 71.  She hit 10 fairways, 14 greens and attempted 31 putts.
Senior Celine Boutier, the British women's open amateur champion, notched a 73 in the final round on her way to placing tied 14th overall with rounds of 73, 75 and 73 for a 54-hole ledger of 221. A product of Montrouge, a suburb of Paris, France, Boutier notched 15 pars, one birdie on No. 16 and two bogies on the day.  She hit 10 greens, nine fairways and had 28 putts in the final round.

The victory as a team was Brooks’ 123rd career victory, which continues to lead all Division I women’s golf coaches.

Duke will next travel to Wilmington, N.C., to compete in the Landfall Tradition Oct. 23-25.
LEADING SCORES
Par 216 (3x72)
212 Leona Maguire (Duke) from Ireland. 69 72 71
213 Sarah Burnham (Michigan State) from Minnesota, USA 74 69 70.
Selected totals
216 India Clyburn (North Carolina State) from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire 73 72 73 (T7)
222 Alison Knowles (Michigan State) from Mexborough, North-east England. 74 75 73 (T18)
233 Elizabeth Mallett (North Carolina) from Sutton Coldfield. 74 82 77
238 Lauren Whyte (Baylor) from St Andrews. 79 79 80 (85th).
Field of 96 players.