Hardin, Blue Devils Capture NCAA East Regional

May 11, 2002

BATON ROUGE, LA. - For the third consecutive year, the top-ranked Duke women's golf team captured the NCAA East Regional title with a three-day total of 859 at the Par 72, 6,726 yard University Club in Baton Rouge, La. The Blue Devils fired an even par 288 on Saturday to finish the regional with a five-under-par total, which is a season-best for Duke.

Duke will now advance to the NCAA Championship on May 21-24 at the Washington National Golf Club in Auburn, Wash.. The other seven teams advancing to the championship include Auburn (872), Wake Forest (875), Florida (878), South Florida (883), South Carolina (889), Georgia (892) and Vanderbilt (893).

Blue Devil sophomore Leigh Anne Hardin carded an even par round of 72 on the final day to take home individual medallist honors with a three-day total of six-under-par, 210. She won the title by one stroke over Auburn's Celeste Troche (211). The victory for the Martinsville, Ind. product is her first of the season and her 210 score is a career-best. Duke now boasts all five players traveling to the NCAA Championship with individual victories on the season.

Also finishing in the top 10 was sophomore Virada Nirapathpongporn (Bangkok, Thailand) and junior Kristina Engstrom (Djursholm, Sweden). Nirapathpongporn turned in a second consecutive 71 on Saturday to finish in tied for seventh with a 217 and Engstrom had a season-best total of 218 to finish in ninth. Engstrom shot a 74 in the final round.

Freshman Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh (Lausanne, Switzerland) turned in her best round of the regional on Saturday with a one-under-par 71 to finish in tied for 34th. This is coming off back-to-back 76s in the first two rounds. Senior Candy Hannemann (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) struggled in the final round with a 79 to finish in tied for 27th. The reigning NCAA champion was one-under-par heading in to action today.

It marks the fifth consecutive year and the eighth out of the last nine years the Blue Devils have advanced to the NCAA Championship.

Duke's Individual Results

Leigh Anne Hardin 71-67-72=210 (1st, -6)
Virada Nirapathpongporn 75-71-71=217 (T7, +1)
Kristina Engstrom 74-70-74=218 (T9, +2)
Candy Hannemann 71-72-79=222 (T27, +6)
Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh 76-76-71=223 (T34, +7)

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Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks
"We had a fantastic performance this weekend. Everyone had at least one under par round throughout the tournament and for us to do this when we were actually in the middle of the range of teams that advance to the NCAA Championships was fantastic."

"For Leigh Anne to win was great. It was nice to see that we won the tournament by 13 shots and she won individually with our senior Candy shooting a 79 and not playing that well. It just shows that we have a lot of depth and hopefully they gained some confidence."

Sophomore Leigh Anne Hardin
On the win:
"It really feels good. It has been a long time since I have won a tournament and it is perfect timing heading to the NCAA Championship. I hit the ball solid all three days and hit most of my greens. As a team we are coming along really well and are all fresh after finishing with exams this past week."