SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The sixth-ranked Duke women's golf team had a great start to the South Bend Regional Thursday at the 6,301-yard, par 72 Warren Golf Course in Notre Dame, Ind. Junior
Celine Boutier carded a season-best five-under, 67, to take the individual lead, while the Blue Devils opened with an even-par, 288, to take the team lead.
Boutier, a native of Montrouge, France, registered a season-high six birdies on her way to shooting a 67 and holds a three-stroke lead over Marissa Dodd of Wake Forest, Becca Horner of Troy and Isabelle Johansson of Kentucky with a 70.
“My whole game was really good today,” said Boutier. “I was hitting it pretty close to the holes and my putting was pretty good to; so I was making a lot of putts. I think that made the difference.”
The round of 67 for Boutier marks the second straight year she has opened NCAA regional play with a 67 as she turned in the 5-under score last year in Tallahassee, Fla. Boutier opened her day with birdies on No. 1 and No. 5 as she drained seven-foot and 18-foot putts to move to 2-under.
“The course played hard today because the greens are really tricky and the pin positions were on the edges so it was tough to get it close to the holes,” commented Boutier. “It was challenging and the wind was picking up on the back nine.”
On the back nine is where Boutier turned it on as she moved to four-under-par with birdies on No. 10 and No. 13. After missing the green and failing to get up-and-down on No. 14, she came back with her fifth birdie of the day on the 368-yard, par four 15th. Boutier closed out the afternoon with another birdie on the 480-yard, par five 17th to get to five-under. She played the day three-under-par on the par fives and was three-under on par four holes, which tied for the individual lead.
Boutier hit 14 greens, 10 fairways and tied a season low with 27 putts on the day.
As a team, Duke carded an even-par, 288, and leads by five strokes over fellow ACC member, Wake Forest (293). Arizona (294), UC Davis (295), Kent State (296), Oklahoma State (296), Tulane (298), Harvard (298), Purdue (299) and Pepperdine (299) rounded out the top 10. Following 54 holes, the top six teams will advance to the NCAA Championship.
“We played well,” commented head coach
Dan Brooks. “I have been spending a lot of time on the course with Lisa [Maguire] because we are trying to get her over the hump on a change, so I didn't see a lot of the golf out there today. Everybody seemed to be playing well, but just felt like they missed some putts. There is a lot of poa mixed with bent [grass] on these greens so you can miss some putts based on that. We had a good day.”
The lead by Duke marks the first time since 2008 that the Blue Devils have opened a NCAA regional in first place. The Blue Devils have claimed eight NCAA regional titles in school history.
“I think it is really nice to have this lead after the first day,” said Boutier. “We have been playing well and we know we can do much better. Some of our players haven't played their best yet so it is a good feeling to have.”
Freshman
Leona Maguire, currently the No. 1 ranked golfer in the nation, turned in a solid even-par round of 72 Thursday and is tied 12th overall. Maguire, who hails from Cavan, Ireland, collected a birdie on the 462-yard, par five second hole to get to 1-under early. She stayed that way until the 10th and 13th holes as she suffered two bogeys to drop back to one-over briefly. Maguire responded with her second birdie of the day on No. 14 to get back to even par.
With a one-over-par, 73, in round one,
Sandy Choi, is tied 16th overall. A native of Seoul, South Korea, Choi kicked off her day with back-to-back pars and then had a bogey on the 390-yard, par four third hole. She hit her approach on the 143-yard, par three fourth hole into the front right sand trap on the next hole, but featured a great shot out that hit the pin and settled a foot from the cup. Choi ended up making a par for the sand save. She moved back to even par after rolling in a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 6 and stayed that way until she suffered a bogey on No. 16 to finish with a 73. She hit 13 fairways, 10 greens and had 29 putts on the day.
Seeing action in her first regional as a freshman,
Gurbani Singh opened with a wild start as she totaled a bogey, birdie, birdie and bogey to remain even par through four holes. Her birdies on holes two and three were approximately 12-15 feet in distance. After a three-putt bogey on No. 4 dropped her back to even par, Singh parred four straight holes and made the turn with a 1-over, 37, after suffering a bogey on No. 9. She had bogeys on No. 12, No. 14 and No. 16 on her way in to shoot a 76. Singh, who is from New Delhi, India, hit 12 greens, nine fairways and had a team-high 35 putts.
Continuing to work through a swing change, freshman
Lisa Maguire turned in an 82 Thursday and is tied for 90th. She was limited to one birdie, which came on the 164-yard, par three ninth hole as she hit it tight. A product of Cavan, Ireland, Maguire hit six greens, five fairways and had 30 putts.
The Blue Devils collected 12 birdies on the day to rank third for the round behind Wake Forest (16) and Tulane (14).
Duke will tee off Friday in the second round of regional action at 9:39 a.m., along with Wake Forest and Arizona.
Notes:• Duke carded its third straight round of 288 in NCAA regional play as the Blue Devils also had two consecutive scores of 288 in the Tallahassee, Fla., regional last year.
• Both
Celine Boutier and
Sandy Choi were dealing with the flu earlier this week and each scored great in the first round even though they were limited with practice time all week.
#GoDukeDuke Results- 1
Celine Boutier Duke 67 -5
- T12
Leona Maguire Duke 72 E
- T16
Sandy Choi Duke 73 +1
- T39
Gurbani Singh Duke 76 +4
- T90
Lisa Maguire Duke 82 +10
1 Team Scores1 Duke 288 E
2 Wake Forest 293 +5
3 Arizona 294 +6
4 UC Davis 295 +7
T5 Kent State 296 +8
T5 Oklahoma State 296 +8
T7 Tulane 298 +10
T7 Harvard 298 +10
T9 Purdue 299 +11
T9 Pepperdine 299 +11
11 Kentucky 301 +13
12 Notre Dame 302 +14
13 Louisville 305 +17
14 Eastern Kentucky 307 +19
15 North Carolina 308 +20
T16 San Jose State 310 +22
T16 Troy 310 +22
18 Youngstown State 311 +23
Start Finish Player Team Scores- 1
Celine Boutier Duke 67 -5
- T2 Isabelle Johansson Kentucky 70 -2
- T2 Marissa Dodd Wake Forest 70 -2
- T2 Becca Horner Troy 70 -2
- T5 Blair Lewis UC Davis 71 -1
- T5 Brenna Nelsen Harvard 71 -1
- T5 Paige Lee UC Davis 71 -1
- T5 Allison Emrey Wake Forest 71 -1
- T5 Rachel Welker Eastern Kentucky 71 -1
- T5 Emma Broze Oklahoma State 71 -1
- T5 Lindsey Weaver Arizona 71 -1
- T12 Taylor Kim Kent State 72 E
- T12 Josee Doyon Kent State 72 E
- T12 Marissa Chow Pepperdine 72 E
- T12
Leona Maguire Duke 72 E
- T16 Jordan Ferreira Notre Dame 73 +1
- T16 Silvia Garces Tulane 73 +1
- T16 Marta Martin Purdue 73 +1
- T16 Katie Mitchell Louisville 73 +1
- T16 Emily Penttila Tulane 73 +1
- T16 Michaela Fletcher * Memphis 73 +1
- T16 Maddie McCrary Oklahoma State 73 +1
- T16
Sandy Choi Duke 73 +1
- T16 Manon Gidali Arizona 73 +1
- T25 August Kim Purdue 74 +2
- T25 Alina Ching Pepperdine 74 +2
- T25 Sierra Sims Wake Forest 74 +2
- T25 Haley Mills Kentucky 74 +2
- T25 Andrea Wong UC Davis 74 +2
- T25 Linnea Johansson Oklahoma State 74 +2
- T31 Kelli Oride Notre Dame 75 +3
- T31 Gemma Dryburgh Tulane 75 +3
- T31 Leilanie Kim * Idaho 75 +3
- T31 Christine Lin Harvard 75 +3
- T31 Anne Cheng Harvard 75 +3
- T31 Kendall Prince Arizona 75 +3
- T31 Courtney Shutt Youngstown State 75 +3
- T31 Krystal Quihuis Arizona 75 +3
- T39 Anna Appert Lund Purdue 76 +4
- T39 Natalie Goodson Kent State 76 +4
- T39 Jennifer Ha Kent State 76 +4
- T39 Wad Phaewchimplee Kent State 76 +4
- T39 Aurora Kan Purdue 76 +4
- T39 Megan Osland San Jose State 76 +4
- T39 Bryana Nguyen North Carolina 76 +4
- T39 Katherine Zhu Pepperdine 76 +4
- T39 Lexi Harkins North Carolina 76 +4
- T39
Gurbani Singh Duke 76 +4
- T49 Laura Restrepo Louisville 77 +5
- T49 Belen Goicoechea Tulane 77 +5
- T49 Ashley Armstrong Notre Dame 77 +5
- T49 Emily Haas Louisville 77 +5
- T49 Regan De Guzman San Jose State 77 +5
- T49 Talia Campbell Notre Dame 77 +5
- T49 Madchen Ly * Fresno State 77 +5
- T49 Grace Rose Kentucky 77 +5
- T49 Tatiana Wijaya Pepperdine 77 +5
- T49 Maia Schechter North Carolina 77 +5
- T49 Courtney Hooton Harvard 77 +5
- T49 Allison Mitzel Youngstown State 77 +5
- T61 Kathleen Rojas San Jose State 78 +6
- T61 Louise Oxner Louisville 78 +6
- T61 Madison Opfer Tulane 78 +6
- T61 Kari Bellville Notre Dame 78 +6
- T61 Erica Herr Wake Forest 78 +6
- T61 Isabella Deilert Oklahoma State 78 +6
- T61 Anna Gleixner Eastern Kentucky 78 +6
- T61 Becky Sharpe Eastern Kentucky 78 +6
- T61 Kenzie Neisen Oklahoma State 78 +6
- T70 My Leander San Jose State 79 +7
- T70 Martina Edberg * CSU Fullerton 79 +7
- T70 Gabby Yurik * Michigan State 79 +7
- T70 Elizabeth Tong * Indiana 79 +7
- T70 Bev Vatananugulkit UC Davis 79 +7
- T70 Tiffany Lim Harvard 79 +7
- T70 Mariana Sims Wake Forest 79 +7
- T70 Leslie Cloots North Carolina 79 +7
- T70 Taylor McGraw Troy 79 +7
- T70 Aislynn Merling Youngstown State 79 +7
- T80 Elizabeth Schultz San Jose State 80 +8
- T80 Cylia Damerau Kentucky 80 +8
- T80 Sarah Harris Kentucky 80 +8
- T80 Emily Dixon Youngstown State 80 +8
- T80 Fatima Cano Troy 80 +8
- T80 Sofie Levin Eastern Kentucky 80 +8
- T86 Katie Petrino Louisville 81 +9
- T86 Langley Vannoy Troy 81 +9
- T86 Sydney Conrad Troy 81 +9
- T86 Wanasa Zhou Arizona 81 +9
- T90 Johanna Tillstrom Purdue 82 +10
- T90
Lisa Maguire Duke 82 +10
- T92 Cheni Xu North Carolina 83 +11
- T92 Somin Lee Pepperdine 83 +11
- T94 Betty Chen UC Davis 84 +12
- T94 Emilie Simmons Eastern Kentucky 84 +12
- 96 Emily Rohanna Youngstown State 88 +16