Duke Women's Golf Opens Season In Second At Mason Rudolph

Friday, September 23

Nashville, Tenn. (Ironhourse Course at the Legends Club)

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Duke Sweeps ACC Honors On Monday; All Five Golfers Named All-ACC

Duke Women's Golf Opens Season In Second At Mason Rudolph

9/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

NASHVILLE, TENN.? The 2005-06 Duke Women's Golf team teed off on Friday for the first time in a collegiate tournament since winning the 2005 NCAA Championship and after 18 holes of play at the Mason Rudolph Collegiate Championship the Blue Devils are tied for second with a 285.

The Blue Devils, who are ranked No. 1 in the preseason Golfweek rankings, trail host Vanderbilt by six strokes after the Commodores carded a nine-under-par round of 279. Duke and Georgia are tied for second, while rounding out the top 10 are Arizona State (287), Wake Forest (288), UCLA (290), Arkansas (291), Auburn (291), Tulane (297) and Furman (299) at the 6,217-Yard, Par 72 Vanderbilt Legends Club in Nashville, Tenn.

Duke's Anna Grzebien, the 2005 NCAA Individual and East Regional Champion, picked up where she left off from last year as the junior registered five birdies to finish with a three-under-par, 69. The Narragansett, R.I., product began the day with three birdies over the first eight holes before suffering a bogey on hole nine to make the turn at two-under-par, 34. Grzebien went on to birdie holes 11 and 16 before making a bogey on the par-four 17th and a par on the par-five 18th to finish with a 69.

Over the last eight rounds of collegiate golf, Grzebien has notched scores in the 60s in four of them.

Blue Devil freshman Amanda Blumenherst kicked off her collegiate career with a bang on Friday as she collected a team-best six birdies on her way to shooting a three-under-par, 69. A native of Scottsdale, Ariz., Blumenherst began the morning with three pars and then had a bogey on the par-five fourth hole before going on an impressive streak.

The AJGA All-America carded a birdie on hole five, which started a run of six birdies over a span of eight holes, to give Blumenherst a five-under-par ledger heading into the 14th hole. She went on to suffer bogey's on holes 15 and 18 to finish with an impressive round of 69. Both Blumenherst and Grzebien are tied for second along with two other golfers.

Blue Devil senior Liz Janangelo began the morning with a bogey but finished with two straight birdies in the afternoon on her way to firing a one-over-par, 73. Janangelo, from West Hartford, Conn., had her first birdie of the day on the par-five fourth, but had a double-bogey on hole nine and a bogey on No. 10. The 2004 NGCA National Player of the Year settled down and played the final eight holes at two-under-par, while finishing tied for 26th in the overall standings.

Duke's other highly ranked incoming freshman, Jennie Lee, had a rocky start to her collegiate career on Friday with a double-bogey on the par-four first hole and a bogey on No. 6. But the Huntington Beach, Calif., native came alive with three birdies over her final 12 holes. During that stretch, Lee was one-under-par and was able to finish with a two-over-par, 74, on the day and is tied for 33rd.

Sophomore Jennifer Pandolfi posted one birdie to go along with four bogeys and one double-bogey on Friday to finish with a 77. A product of Navarre, Fla., Pandolfi is tied for 56th in the individual standings.

Leading the individual action are Jacqui Concolino and Liebelei Lawrence of host Vanderbilt, who each notched rounds of four-under-par 68.

With 36 holes remaining, Duke will tee off on Saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. along with Vanderbilt and Georgia.

Duke's Results - 285

Anna Grzebien ? 69
Amanda Blumenherst ? 69
Liz Janangelo ? 73
Jennie Lee ? 74
Jennifer Pandolfi - 77