Upcoming Event: Women's Golf versus Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational on October 17, 2025
Women's Golf
vs Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational
Friday, April 13
Charlotte, N.C.
All Day
Duke University
at
Day One
Women?s Golf Opens In First At ACC Championship
4/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? In search of its 12th straight ACC Championship, the top-ranked Duke Women's Golf team opened the weekend with a one-under-par, 287, to lead by one stroke at the Par 72, 6,293-Yard Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, N.C.
The Blue Devils have won a total of 14 ACC titles and are already 36 holes away from No. 15. Duke leads by one stroke over Florida State (290), while Wake Forest (297), Virginia (297), North Carolina (300), North Carolina State (306), Maryland (312), Miami (325) and Boston College (344) rounded out the field.
“It is good to be under par,” said Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks. “This is a team that is comfortable under par and uncomfortable over par. It is good this time of year to be going low. We didn't go real low, we can go a lot lower than this and we need to get there. This was nice weather and we needed to be under par today.”
In the individual race, Florida State's Caroline Westrup fired a six-under-par, 66, to lead by four strokes over Virginia's Rachel Smith, but three Blue Devils are at third, fourth and tied for fifth. Defending ACC Champion Amanda Blumenherst is third with a two-under-par, 70, sophomore Jennie Lee is fourth with a one-under-par, 71, and senior Anna Grzebien is tied with two other golfers at fifth. Overall, all five of Duke's golfers are in the top 13 of the event.
Blumenherst, who is a native of Scottsdale, Ariz., came out and posted her team-best 15th round of even or under par out of 22 rounds this season with a 70 on Friday. She collected four birdies to go along with two bogies and 12 pars.
“It [today's round] was great as I hit the ball really well,” said Blumenherst. “I hit my irons solid and I had a few puts go in to give me a two-under-par. I think tomorrow if I can get a few more putts to fall I can go lower.”
Blumenherst notched an even-par 36 on the first nine and then played the back nine at two-under-par. Her first birdie of the back nine came on the 11th hole as she hit her second shot just off the edge of the front of the green. She used her 60 degree wedge and chipped the ball in from 15 feet. Blumenherst also provided a key birdie on the 495-yard, par five 18th hole to give Duke a one stroke advantage going into the second day of action.
“I knew it was down hill and a little light with the green so I put it out there and it released into the hole,” said Blumenherst on her chip-in on No. 11. “It is always fun to chip it in as I haven't done it in a while. Yea, sure it was a nice little momentum builder.”
A product of Henderson, Nev., Lee had a very solid round with one birdie and 17 pars as she fired a 71. She carded her lone birdie on the 479-yard, par five fifth hole and never got in trouble during the day. The round of 71 was her second-best ledger of the spring season.
After finishing second in last year's ACC Championship, Grzebien turned in an even-par, 72, on day one, which was also her second-best score of the spring season. A native of Narragansett, R.I., Grzebien started off with pars on each of the first three holes. She then had a bogey on No. 4, a birdie on No. 5 and a bogey on No. 6. Grzebien then settled down and played the final 12 holes at one-under-par as she totaled one birdie on the 13th hole and the rest pars.
Alison Whitaker, who is from Melbourne, Australia, is playing in her first ACC Championship came out and registered a birdie on the first hole, which is a 373-yard, par four. She closed out the front nine with three total birdies, one bogey and one double-bogey to shoot even par, 36. Whitaker concluded with seven pars and two bogeys on the back nine to shoot 74 and is tied for ninth.
Steadied by an eight-foot par putt on the 18th hole, junior Jennifer Pandolfi finished with a 75 and is tied for 13th. She shot two-over-par, 38, on the front nine and was one-over-par, 37, on the back with one birdie.
“It is fantastic and she [Blumenherst] is so solid,” said Brooks on his team's play today. “Anna played great golf today, which is not a surprise to me. She has had a decent year but it was a matter of time of her game evolving. We have Amanda doing what she has been doing quite a bit, Anna coming on strong, we are doing some good work with [Alison] Whitaker's game and I think that is going to time out right, and Jennie was solid all day shooting one-under-par all day long.”
The Blue Devils are the 11-time defending ACC Champions and a Duke golfer has been the ACC Individual Champion in seven of the past eight years. Overall, the Blue Devils have won 14 ACC titles with the next closest team being Wake Forest with three. Brooks has led Duke to 13 of the 14 championships over his 22 seasons.
Duke is coming off a showing at the Bryan National Collegiate where the Blue Devils finished fourth, which included their second-worst round of 305 to close out the weekend.
“We played some good golf in Browns Summitt, but we didn't have the numbers to show the great things that were done over there,” said Brooks. “There were some tremendous shots played as in bad weather there are always tremendous shots played but they don't show up in the numbers. In this weather you can get a lot more of an indicator of how many good shots are being played.”
Last season, the Blue Devils won their 11th ACC title winning by 19 strokes over Virginia. Duke posted rounds of 294, 297 and 294 to finish with a three-day total of 885. Overall, Duke has won the ACC Championship in 1984, ?85, ?93, ?96, ?97, ?98, ?99, 2000, ?01, ?02, ?03, ?04, ?05, ?06.
Ten different Blue Devils have claimed individual honors at the ACC Championship? Mary Anne Widman (1984), Evelyn Orley (1985), Kathi Poppmeier (1994), Jenny Chuasiriporn (1996 & 1997), Beth Bauer (1999), Maria Garcia-Estrada (2000), Nirapathpongporn (2001), Candy Hannemann (2002), Brittany Lang (2004 & 2005) and Amanda Blumenherst (2006).
Brooks is in his 23rd season with the Blue Devils. He is a 10-time ACC Coach of the Year selection and has led Duke to 73 event titles, four NCAA Championships, nine ACC Championships and 40 individual medalist honors, over the last nine years.
Duke will tee off on Saturday in the second round beginning at 10:10 a.m., along with Wake Forest and Florida State. The ACC Women's Golf Championship will be available on ACC Select on Sunday, April 15 starting at 12 noon. Coverage of the last round plus tournament re-cap will be available on a pay for view subscription. Go to the ACC website: www.theacc.com for complete details or to your favorite ACC schools' website.
- d - u - k - e -
ACC Women's Golf Championship
Carmel Country Club
Charlotte, NC
Championship Tees
Dates: Apr 13 - Apr 15
1 Duke -1 F 287 287
3 Amanda Blumenherst -2 F 70 70
4 Jennie Lee -1 F 71 71
T5 Anna Grzebien E F 72 72
T9 Alison Whitaker +2 F 74 74
T13 Jennifer Pandolfi +3 F 75 75
2 Florida State Univ. +2 F 290 290
1 Caroline Westrup -6 F 66 66
T9 Whitney Wright +2 F 74 74
T13 Kayla Shaul +3 F 75 75
T13 Whitney Brummett +3 F 75 75
T28 Lauren Cousart +7 F 79 79
T3 Wake Forest +9 F 297 297
T5 Maggie Simons E F 72 72
8 Laura Crawford +1 F 73 73
T18 Jean Chua +4 F 76 76
T18 Nannette Hill +4 F 76 76
T26 Mandy Goins +6 F 78 78
T3 Virginia +9 F 297 297
2 Rachel Smith -4 F 68 68
T18 Kristen Simpson +4 F 76 76
T18 Leah Wigger +4 F 76 76
T23 Whitney Neuhauser +5 F 77 77
T34 Jennie Arseneault +10 F 82 82
5 North Carolina +12 F 300 300
T5 Katie Miller E F 72 72
T13 Sydney Crane +3 F 75 75
T13 Lauren Hunt +3 F 75 75
T26 Ann Laney +6 F 78 78
T34 Kate Thomas +10 F 82 82
6 North Carolina St. +18 F 306 306
T9 Emily Street +2 F 74 74
T18 Lauren Doughtie +4 F 76 76
T23 Stephanie Derrey +5 F 77 77
T28 Kathleen Strandberg +7 F 79 79
T37 Cindel Gwyn +11 F 83 83
7 Maryland, U. of +24 F 312 312
T9 Katie Stepanek +2 F 74 74
T23 Kelly Calkin +5 F 77 77
T28 Jessica Reno +7 F 79 79
T34 Kelly MacWhinnie +10 F 82 82
T37 Katie Trotter +11 F 83 83
8 Miami, U. of +37 F 325 325
31 Tiffany Prats +8 F 80 80
T32 Anabelle Paulino +9 F 81 81
T32 Hagen Weintraub +9 F 81 81
T37 Jessica Steward +11 F 83 83
43 Josie Shinn +19 F 91 91
9 Boston College +56 F 344 344
T37 Meghan Martinek +11 F 83 83
41 Lara Smilnak +12 F 84 84
42 Katie Napleton +13 F 85 85
44 Sara Gogolak +20 F 92 92
45 Natalie Draganza +21 F 93 93
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Golf
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/ Women's Golf
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/ Women's Golf
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