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Women's Golf
vs Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational
Blue Devils Take Lead At NCAA East Regional
5/10/2002 1:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
May 10, 2002
BATON ROUGE, LA. -- Friday was a very impressive day for the top-ranked Duke women's golf team as the Blue Devils fired a season-best 280 to jump in to first place at the NCAA East Regionals in Baton Rouge, La. Duke now owns a two-day total of 571 and is in first place by five strokes heading into the final round at the Par 72, 6,726 yard University Club course.
Rounding out the top five are Florida (576), Auburn (580), Wake Forest (581) and South Florida (585). The Blue Devils are looking to claim their third consecutive NCAA East Regional title. Duke's team score of 280 was one shot off its school record.
Duke was led on the day by sophomore Leigh Anne Hardin (Martinsville, Ind.) with a five-under-par round of 67, which matches her career high set earlier this season. Hardin leads the individual competition by one stroke as the sophomore owns a two-day total of 138, which is six-under-par. On the day Hardin registered three birdies and an eagle on hole number six, which is 518 yards. Senior Candy Hannemann (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) turned in an even-par 72 Friday and is in tied for seventh place.
Virada Nirapathpongporn started the day off with back-to-back birdies on holes 10 and 11 before notching a bogey on number 12. The Bangkok, Thailand product then settled down and had pars on the final 15 holes to finish with a 71. The sophomore is in tied for 17th place individually with a two-day total of 146. Kristina Engstrom (Djursholm, Sweden) turned in a 73 on Friday and is in tied for ninth place, while Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh (Lausanne, Switzerland) had her second consecutive 76 and is in tied for 61st.
"We shot a 280 today and I really feel good about it," said Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks. "Leigh Anne shot a 67. I don't know what more I can say. We really put together a great round of golf. We knew what we had to do as we were in only fourth place and only the top eight teams advance. It was good to see the team perform really well when it mattered most."
Tee times for the final round will begin at 7:30 AM with the Blue Devils starting off the first tee beginning at 8:30 AM. The top eight finishers on Saturday will advance to the NCAA Championships in Auburn, Washington on May 21-24.
Duke Individual Scores
Leigh Anne Hardin 71-67=138 (-6, 1st) Candy Hannemann 71-72=143 (-1, T7th) Kristina Engstrom 74-73=147 (+3, T9) Virada Nirapathpongporn 75-71=146 (+2, 17th) Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh 76-76=152 (+8, T61)
Players Mentioned
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