Heading into Final Round Duke Need Strong Finish

From Duke Coach, Jack Winters

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Heading into Final Round Blue Devils Need Strong Finish

May 21, 2017

SUGAR GROVE, Illinois – With 18 holes of stroke play remaining at the NCAA Championship, the Duke University women's golf team will need to finish strong on Monday in order to reach the match-play portion of the event. The Blue Devils enter the final round 15 strokes out of eighth place and tied 17th overall. Only the top eight teams will advance to match-play following Monday's action at the 6,343-yard, par 72 Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

With the 2017 NCAA Championship shortened to only 54 holes due to Saturday's round being washed out due to weather, Duke finds itself in need of some help going into the final day of play.

The Blue Devils were holding strong Sunday in the second round, but closed 17-over-par over the final five holes to finish 21-over-par, 309. Duke made up 16 strokes from the day before and holds a 36-hole ledger of 634.

"The fact is we haven't played well," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "We have played pretty badly. This is a hard golf course and hard situation, but we have not been playing good golf. If we wind up being able to get into the top eight, I think we will be very, very fortunate. We are going to do our very best, we are going to fight like crazy – it is the only thing we know how to do, but we are a ways back."

Holding the team lead is Northwestern, who has totaled very impressive rounds of 301 and 298 for a 10-over-par, 599. Kent State (607), Stanford (609), Ohio State (610), Baylor (611), South Carolina (613), Southern California (618) and Miami (619) round out the top eight. Arizona State (620), Texas (620), Purdue (621), Florida (622), North Carolina (624), Furman (625), California (625), Michigan (630), Duke (634), Michigan State (634), Florida State (635) and Clemson (635) rounded out the top 20 teams.

Duke junior Leona Maguire turned in one of only five under-par rounds Sunday to move up into a tie for sixth overall on the individual leaderboard through 36 holes with a four-over, 148. Maguire, who hails from Cavan, Ireland, featured a terrific start as she registered a par on the first hole and then was on the 459-yard, par five second hole in two for an eagle chance. She ended up sinking a short birdie to move to one-under-par, Maguire then collected seven straight pars, before birding 11 and 13 to get to three-under-par.

"Leona can really play in this stuff," commented Brooks. "She is a really smart player, has all the skills and I am not surprised she is up near the top.

The winds started swirling late in the round and she suffered a couple of late bogeys, before lippingt for birdie on No. 18 to finish with a one-under-par, 71. She hit a team-best 14 greens, 13 fairways and had 31 putts on the day. The round was her 20th even or under par score of the season, which is tied for fourth on Duke's single-season charts.

Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho holds the individual lead with an even-par, 144, while Purdue's August Kim (145) is second and Arizona State's Monica Vaughn and South Carolina's Ainhoa Olarra are tied for third with a 146.

With a back nine of only three-over-par, junior Lisa Maguire played one of the best final nine holes of the Blue Devil squad on Sunday. She opened the day with seven-over-par 43 on the front nine, but opened the back nine with a par and birdie on the par five 11th.

After a double-bogey on the 12th, she played the final six holes at two-over. On the 476-yard, par five 18th, Maguire was on in two shots and ended up draining a seven-foot birdie to close the day. She hit seven fairways, six greens and had 30 putts on the day.

BRITWATCH: GB and I Vagliano Trophy team selections Olivia Mehaffey (Arizona State) and Alice Hewson (Clemson) dropped from T44 on Saturday to T66 on Sunday. Mehaffey has had rounds of 79 and 80 for 159, the same total as Hewson with scores of 81 and 78.

Former Scottish U18 girls champion Fiona Liddell (Baylor) went from T33 to T85 with rounds of 78 and 83. There is a field of 129 players.s

Baylor are doing better than Duke, Arizona State and Clemson and are lying in fifth place in the team rankings.

Fans can follow Monday's action via with live scoring via www.GolfStat.com.

Duke Results
T19 T6 Leona Maguire Duke 77 71 148 +4
T92 T90 Ana Belac Duke 83 79 162 +18
T117 T101 Sandy Choi Duke 87 77 164 +20
T80 T101 Lisa Maguire Duke 82 82 164 +20
T92 T107 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 83 82 165 +21

1 2 Team Scores
1 1 Northwestern 301 298 599 +23
2 2 Kent State 303 304 607 +31
T3 3 Stanford 311 298 609 +33
T3 4 Ohio State 311 299 610 +34
T3 5 Baylor 311 300 611 +35
7 6 South Carolina 313 300 613 +37
T9 7 Southern California 315 303 618 +42
12 8 Miami 316 303 619 +43
T3 T9 Arizona State 311 309 620 +44
T13 T9 Texas 317 303 620 +44
T9 11 Purdue 315 306 621 +45
16 12 Florida 320 302 622 +46
8 13 North Carolina 314 310 624 +48
18 T14 Furman 323 302 625 +49
15 T14 California 319 306 625 +49
T9 16 Michigan 315 315 630 +54
T19 T17 Duke 325 309 634 +58
T13 T17 Michigan State 317 317 634 +58
T19 T19 Florida State 325 310 635 +59
17 T19 Clemson 321 314 635 +59
21 21 Alabama 328 313 641 +65
24 22 Texas Tech 335 313 648 +72
22 23 Pepperdine 330 320 650 +74
23 24 Oregon 333 319 652 +76

Leading Player Scores
T5 1 Jennifer Kupcho * Wake Forest 74 70 144 E
T1 2 August Kim Purdue 72 73 145 +1
T5 T3 Monica Vaughn Arizona State 74 72 146 +2
T13 T3 Ainhoa Olarra South Carolina 76 70 146 +2
9 5 Michaela Finn Kent State 75 72 147 +3
T19 T6 Andrea Lee Stanford 77 71 148 +4
T19 T6 Leona Maguire Duke 77 71 148 +4
T9 T8 Stephanie Lau Northwestern 75 74 149 +5
T33 T8 Dylan Kim Baylor 78 71 149 +5