Duke Fires 5-Under in Opening Of the Mason Rudolph

Friday, September 25

Nashville, Tenn.

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Duke University

Day One

Duke Fires 5-Under in Opening Of the Mason Rudolph

9/25/2009 9:45:00 PM | Women's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

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FRANKLIN, Tenn. - In the first stroke play tournament of the 2009-10 campaign the 10th-ranked Duke women's golf team registered an impressive five-under-par, 283, on Friday in the opening round of the Mason Rudolph Women's Championship and sits fifth overall, only five strokes off the lead.

Boasting a lineup with three freshmen -- Lindy Duncan, Courtney Ellenbogen and Stacey Kim -- the Blue Devils received a total of eight birdies from both Duncan and Kim, who each fired a three-under-par, 69, and are tied for eighth overall. Playing some of the best golf of her career, Kim Donovan posted a solid one-under-par, 71, on day one at the 6,217-yard, par-72 Vanderbilt Legends Club.

"It feels good," said Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks. "It feels real good. It is the kind of numbers I know we have been capable of shooting. It has been hard to know for sure how we are playing because we played in the match play where you only have one day of stroke play and then the rest of it is match play. You don't really know what people are doing because you don't have a number in match play. And now we have a number and the number is good."

As a team, Duke sits five strokes off leaders Auburn and Southern California, who turned in a 10-under-par, 278. Alabama (280) and Arizona State (280) are tied for third, while Duke (283), UCLA (284), Georgia (285), Oklahoma State (285), Vanderbilt (285), LSU (286) and Arizona (287) rounded out the top 10. Duke's round of 283 was better than any of the 18-hole totals from all last season, when the Blue Devils played sixth nationally at the NCAA Championship.

"There is a lot of parity and it is obvious from the field that there are a lot of teams who can shoot low," said Brooks. "We feel great about what we did and we also realize that we are going to have to continue to do that to win."

The Blue Devils collected 13 birdies between Duncan, Kim and Donovan, while notching a total of 16 birdies on Friday. The Vanderbilt Course played very score able on Friday due to a large amount of rain over the past week.

Both Kim and Duncan each notched under-par rounds for the first time in their collegiate career, which came in only their third overall stroke play round this year.

Duke started its day off No. 10 and Duncan opened with a birdie on the 352-yard, par four. A product of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Duncan went on to notch a par on No. 11 and then suffered her only bogey of the round on the 160-yard, par three 12th. She closed off her final 15 holes at three-under-par with birdies on No. 15, No. 17 and No. 3. Duncan hit 13-of-14 fairways, a team-best 17 greens and had 33 putts.

Kim, who is from Columbus, Ga., rang off five straight pars to start the day and then birdied No. 15 and No. 17 to move to two-under-par. After making the turn with a 34, Kim had three pars before posting a bogey on the fourth hole. She responded with two consecutive birdies on No. 5 and No. 6 and three pars to close the day with a 69. Kim totaled 12 fairways hit, 13 greens in regulation and a team-best 28 putts.

In her two qualifying rounds at the NGCA Match Play Championship, Kim had turned in back-to-back rounds of 79 to open her career.

Continuing her solid play over the last few weeks in practice, Donovan turned in a season-best round of 71 as she notched a team-best five birdies. Her under par round was the eighth of her career and third over the last two years. Over the first nine holes on Friday, Donovan had two birdies, two bogeys and five pars to make the turn with a 36. The Hopkinton, Mass., junior finished the round with three birdies on No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6 to go along with two bogeys and four pars. Her round of 71 places her tied for 27th. Donovan missed only two greens on the day as she hit 13 fairways and had 33 putts.

"I couldn't be prouder of Kim Donovan," commented Brooks. "She has been working really hard for a couple of years on her swing and she is starting to reap the benefits. She is starting to swing the club, be able to play and score with the swing she has been developing for a couple of years. It is exciting to watch."

Duke's lone senior, Alison Whitaker carded a two-over-par, 74, and is tied for 57th. She had bogeys on two out of the first three holes in the morning but came back with a birdie on No. 13 to get a stroke back. Whitaker, a native of Melbourne, Australia, had a double-bogey on the 15th hole and then played her final 12 holes at one-under-par. She hit only 10 greens and 11 fairways, but turned in 30 putts on Friday.

Making her first stroke play appearance of her career, Ellenbogen turned in a 77 and is tied for 79th. A product of Blacksburg, Va., Ellenbogen hit eight greens, 13 fairways and had 31 putts over her 18 holes.

Duke will tee off on Saturday beginning at 9:45 a.m. (ET) off hole No. 1 along with Arizona State and UCLA.

-d-u-k-e-

1 Team Scores
T1 Auburn 278 -10
T1 Southern California 278 -10
T3 Alabama, U. of 280 -8
T3 Arizona State 280 -8
5 Duke 283 -5
6 UCLA 284 -4
T7 Georgia 285 -3
T7 Oklahoma State 285 -3
T7 Vanderbilt 285 -3
T10 LSU 286 -2
T10 Arizona 286 -2
12 Stanford 287 -1
13 Texas 290 +2
T14 Virginia 292 +4
T14 Florida, U of 292 +4
16 Tulane University 296 +8
17 South Carolina 300 +12

Start Finish Player Team Scores
- T1 Candace Schepperle Auburn 66 -6
- T1 Jennifer Song Southern California 66 -6
- 3 Cydney Clanton Auburn 67 -5
- T4 Isabelle Boineau Arizona 68 -4
- T4 Marina Alex Vanderbilt 68 -4
- T4 Margarita Ramos Arizona 68 -4
- T4 Camilla Lennarth Alabama, U. of 68 -4
- T8 Jennifer Johnson Arizona State 69 -3
- T8 Emilie Burger Georgia 69 -3
- T8 Stacey Kim Duke 69 -3
- T8 Stephanie Kono UCLA 69 -3
- T8 Lindy Duncan Duke 69 -3
- T8 Evan Jensen Florida, U of 69 -3
- T8 Katie Burnett South Carolina 69 -3
- T15 Carolina Andrade Georgia 70 -2
- T15 Giulia Molinaro Arizona State 70 -2
- T15 Juliana Murcia Arizona State 70 -2
- T15 Jennifer Kirby Alabama, U. of 70 -2
- T15 Sydnee Michaels UCLA 70 -2
- T15 Angela King Stanford 70 -2
- T15 Whitney Neuhauser Virginia 70 -2
- T15 Tessa Teachman LSU 70 -2
- T15 Megan McChrystal LSU 70 -2
- T15 Rebecca Durham Stanford 70 -2
- T15 Caroline Kim Southern California 70 -2
- T15 In-Ah Park Southern California 70 -2
- T27 Helena Blomberg Alabama, U. of 71 -1
- T27 Carlota Ciganda Arizona State 71 -1
- T27 Brooke Pancake Alabama, U. of 71 -1
- T27 Brianna Do UCLA 71 -1
- T27 Katelyn Sepmoree Texas 71 -1
- T27 Kimberly Donovan Duke 71 -1
- T27 Courtney McKim Oklahoma State 71 -1
- T27 Victoria Park Oklahoma State 71 -1
- T27 Caroline Hedwall Oklahoma State 71 -1
- T36 Lauren Stratton Vanderbilt 72 E
- T36 Alejandra Llaneza Arizona 72 E
- T36 Brooke Goodwin Vanderbilt 72 E
- T36 Madison Pressel Texas 72 E
- T36 Mary Michael Maggio LSU 72 E
- T36 Cyna Marie Rodriguez Southern California 72 E
- T36 Linn Gustafsson Tulane University 72 E
- T36 Haley Wilson Auburn 72 E
- T36 Jane Rah Oklahoma State 72 E
- T45 Kendall Wright Georgia 73 +1
- T45 Megan Grehan Vanderbilt 73 +1
- T45 Rhea Nair Alabama, U. of 73 +1
- T45 Nicole Agnello Virginia 73 +1
- T45 Marta Silva Zamora Georgia 73 +1
- T45 Sydney Burlison Stanford 73 +1
- T45 Nicole Vandermade Texas 73 +1
- T45 Marika Lendl Florida, U of 73 +1
- T45 Andrea Watts Florida, U of 73 +1
- T45 Patricia Sanz Auburn 73 +1
- T45 Shannon Fish * Texas 73 +1
- T45 Anna Leigh Keith * Vanderbilt 73 +1
- T57 Eleana Collins Virginia 74 +2
- T57 Milena Savich Georgia 74 +2
- T57 Kristina Wong Stanford 74 +2
- T57 Desiree Dubreuil Texas 74 +2
- T57 Glory Yang UCLA 74 +2
- T57 Tiffany Lua UCLA 74 +2
- T57 Sally Watson Stanford 74 +2
- T57 Amalie Valle LSU 74 +2
- T57 Alison Whitaker Duke 74 +2
- T57 Hillary Wood Oklahoma State 74 +2
- T57 Carlie Yadloczky Auburn 74 +2
- T57 Lizette Salas Southern California 74 +2
- T57 Samantha Troyanovich Tulane University 74 +2
- T57 Janine Fellows Tulane University 74 +2
- T57 Amanda Strang South Carolina 74 +2
- T72 Jaclyn Sweeney Arizona State 75 +3
- T72 Brittany Altomare Virginia 75 +3
- T72 Haley Stephens Texas 75 +3
- T72 Karlin Beck * Auburn 75 +3
- T76 Andrea Messer Vanderbilt 76 +4
- T76 Jaqueline Hedwall LSU 76 +4
- T76 Ashley McKenney Tulane University 76 +4
- T79 Courtney Ellenbogen Duke 77 +5
- T79 Jessica Yadloczky Florida, U of 77 +5
- T79 Courtney Harter * Alabama, U. of 77 +5
- T82 Brittany Benvenuto Arizona 78 +6
- T82 Calle Nielson Virginia 78 +6
- T82 Meredith Swanson South Carolina 78 +6
- T85 Mia Piccio Florida, U of 79 +7
- T85 Corrine Carr South Carolina 79 +7
- 87 Taylor Weaver South Carolina 81 +9
- 88 Stephanie Wagstaff Tulane University 83 +11
- 89 Gaby Balit * Vanderbilt 85 +13
- 90 Kyndall Ardoin Arizona 87 +15