Duke Finishes 10th In NCAA Championship

May 23, 2003

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WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. - The Duke women's golf team turned in a 299 on Friday to finish 10th in the 2003 NCAA Championship with a four-day total of 1225 at the Par-72, 6,300-Yard Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Ind. Southern California claimed its first National Championship with a total of 1197.

Rounding out the top 10 were Pepperdine (1212), Texas (1213), Ohio State (1214), UCLA (1216), Oklahoma State (1216), Arizona (1217), Florida (1221), Auburn (1224) and Duke (1225).

Freshman Liz Janangelo turned in her third consecutive stellar round on Friday as she posted an even-par 72, but bogeys on her final three holes took away a possible three-under-par finish. Janangelo, a West Hartford, Conn., product, finished with a total of 302, which tied 17th. Reigning NCAA Champion, Virada Nirapathpongporn couldn't get it going on the final day as she turned in a 76, which included no birdies. Nirapathpongporn finished tied 11th individually with a 301.

Leigh Anne Hardin had her second straight round of 74 to finish tied 66th with a 312, Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh had a 77 to place tied 55th and senior Kristina Engstrom finished off her career with a 79.

The Blue Devils finished off the four-day tournament 32-over-par on the par threes.

Duke Results
Virada Nirapathpongporn            72-79-74-76=301 (+13, T11th)
Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh            80-79-74-77=310 (+22, T55th)
Liz Janangelo                      82-76-72-72=302 (+14, T17th)
Leigh Anne Hardin                  84-80-74-74=312 (+24, T66th)
Kristina Engstrom                  85-80-83-79=327 (+39, T111th)

Duke Notes

- Duke notched 13 birdies on Thursday and 11 on Friday. Duke combined the first two days to register 12 total birdies.

- Duke's total of 1225 is the worst performance by the Blue Devils in the NCAA Championship since 1996 (1260).

- The Blue Devils will return four of five golfers in the NCAA Championship and welcome a stellar recruiting class.

Duke Quotes

Dan Brooks, Duke head coach

"We are dissapointed. We came here to win this and didn't get that done. We had a couple of better days coming in as yesterday was a good day I think. Everybody fought hard and we had a nice meeting afterwards. We are trying to learn from this and I can already tell what they are trying to gain for this."

"We will come out ok from this. You never know, sometimes these kind of things make you stronger in the future."

"We were running around winning all these different tournaments [during the season]. But we are not in rough like this, we don't have the kind of looks off the tees and greens as we have here and the distance of the course. There were a lot of things that were intimidating and I don't think we prepared really well."

Liz Janangelo, Duke

"I think in a tournament like this you put the team first so I am more sad for the team rather than myself. Individually, I did not play well the first day. The first day you can win the tournament, but you can lose it and I learned it the hard way."

Was the hole to deep for ya'll to get out of?

"I think so. It was unfortunate that we all played badly on the same day. Oui [Virada Nirapathpongporn] really held us together with the 72. If it wasn't for that it would of really been bad."

"I think each day we always believed in ourselves and the team, but as each day went on as it got closer to the last round, as much as you want to say you believe in yourself you do lose it."

Is this a motivating factor for next year?

"I think so. We will know what we have to work on over the summer. We are going there and do it. I don't think you will see Duke finish 10th next season that is for sure."

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