Leona Maguire Finishes Tied First; Blue Devils Place Third at Northrop Grumman

From Duke Coach Jack Winters

Live Scoring

February 14, 2017

PALOS VERDES, California – The Duke University women's golf program opened the 2017 spring campaign over the last three days in Palos Verdes, California, and are coming home with some hardware.

Third-year student Leona Maguire earned a tied for first placement, while the Blue Devils finished third overall and only three shots off the lead at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge played at the 6,017-yard, par 71 Palos Verdes Golf Club.

A native of Cavan, Ireland, Maguire turned in rounds of 68, 71 and 70 for a four-under-par 209, and tied with UNLV's Mackenzie Raim and Florida's Taylor Tomlinson.

The win for Maguire was her fifth career victory over three years at Duke and her highest finish of the 2016-17 campaign. She opened the day with a bogey on No. 1. Maguire then reeled off seven straight pars, before returning to even-par on the 350-yard, par four ninth, after nearly holing out for eagle. She suffered a bogey on the 10th hole, but came back to roll in back-to-back birdies on No. 14 and No. 15 to get to one-under-par. Maguire finished with three straight pars and a one-under-par, 70.

Maguire hit 15 greens, 12 fairways and had 31 putts on the final day.

Duke made a run late in the round to take a one-stroke lead as the Blue Devils carded seven birdies over holes 13-15. The Blue Devils would drop seven strokes on No. 17 and No. 18, before finishing three shots behind Southern California (856). The Blue Devils totaled rounds of 287, 287 and 285 for a seven-over-par 859. Arizona State (857) was second, while Florida (859), Alabama (867), UNLV (873), Northwestern (877), San Diego State (879), Arizona (879) and UCLA (882) close the top 10.

Junior Lisa Maguire turned in her best round of the three days with a 79, which included birdies on No. 13 and No. 15.

Duke will next compete in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate March 3-5 in Hilton Head, S.C.

Duke Results
T3 T1 Leona Maguire Duke 68 71 70 209 -4
T8 T7 Ana Belac Duke 71 71 71 213 E
T8 T7 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 73 69 71 213 E
T65 T50 Gurbani Singh Duke 75 76 73 224 +11
86 86 Lisa Maguire Duke 82 80 79 241 +28

Team Scores
1 Southern California 285 282 289 856 +4
2 Arizona State 293 282 282 857 +5
3 Duke 287 287 285 859 +7
4 Florida 290 275 295 860 +8
5 Alabama 296 284 287 867 +15
6 UNLV 292 286 295 873 +21
7 Northwestern 302 283 292 877 +25
T8 San Diego State 301 284 294 879 +27
T8 Arizona 293 295 291 879 +27
10 UCLA 280 299 303 882 +30
T11 Oklahoma State 297 293 295 885 +33
T11 California 297 291 297 885 +33
13 Ohio State 299 291 296 886 +34
14 Tennessee 298 292 309 899 +47
15 Washington 306 296 306 908 +56

Leading Scores
T1 Mackenzie Raim UNLV 72 68 69 209 -4
T1 Taylor Tomlinson Florida 71 69 69 209 -4
T1 Leona Maguire Duke 68 71 70 209 -4
4 Kelly Grassel * Florida 69 68 73 210 -3
T5 Haley Moore Arizona 72 71 69 212 -1
T5 Lauren Stephenson Alabama 72 67 73 212 -1
T7 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 73 69 71 213 E
T7 Victoria Morgan Southern California 70 72 71 213 E
T7 Ana Belac Duke 71 71 71 213 E

Selected Scores
Olivia Mehaffey (Arizona State) finished T14 with rounds of 76, 71 and 69.
Elizabeth Prior (UNLV) finished T31 with rounds of 73, 73 and 74.