Blue Devils Down Washington to Win East Lake Cup

Wednesday, November 2

Atlanta, Ga.

All Day

Duke University

Day Three at East Lake Cup

Blue Devils Down Washington to Win East Lake Cup

11/2/2016 11:41:00 PM | Women's Golf

WG Dan Brooks Interview - East Lake 11-02-16 WG Leona Maguire Interview - East Lake 11-02-16 Live Scoring

By: Duke Sports Information

ATLANTA, Ga. – In the second annual East Lake Cup at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., the Duke women's golf team took down Washington, 3-1-1, Wednesday to win the championship. The Blue Devils received victories from Virginia Elena Carta, Sandy Choi and Lisa Maguire to close the fall campaign with their first win of the 2016-17 season.

With the victory, Duke head coach Dan Brooks earned his 126th victory all time, which continues to be the most of any Division I women's golf coach in history.

“I couldn't be more proud of this team for showing up at the end of our fall season,” said Brooks. “We've had all kinds of little [health] interruptions, but to come out at the end of the fall playing like this, I couldn't be more proud. This is a great event. Being on a golf course like this, you don't get away with anything here and it's televised. Add that all up and it's really special. You just feel like you're at a Tour event and playing one of the best courses.”
Duke set the tone early with leads in four of the five matches on the course.

Taking charge for the Blue Devils with a commanding lead was Carta, who registered birdies on No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 to take a 5-up lead through six holes. All four birdies were from under five feet as she dialed in her approach shots. After a key six-foot par putt went in on the seventh hole, Carta continued to put the pressure on Ellen Takada.

Carta, the 2016 NCAA Individual Champion, won holes No. 9 and No. 10 to go ahead, 7-up with eight holes remaining. She dropped the 11th hole, but was able to close out her match on the 372-yard, par four 12th hole with a par by a 7&6 mark. A native of Udine, Italy, Carta improved her career match play record to 6-2.

“I had a tough fall because I got really sick, but I'm super excited about the work we've done as a team,” commented Carta. “This victory is just going to give us a lot of momentum going into the spring. I'm just so proud of everyone on the team. We did a great job this week and I couldn't be happier right now. I think this was a great tournament and a great challenge for us because it really gives us an idea of how the team is going and what the chemistry on the team is, too. And for how we finished, I would say we are ready for spring and if we get into nationals, we are ready to play.”

With Duke leading 1-0, three of the other matches were very tight, while Choi held a 2-up advantage.

Maguire, a junior from Cavan, Ireland, led for 10 of the first 14 holes against Eunwon Park, but the match went to all square with three holes remaining. She collected an up-and-down par on No. 16 to take a 1-up lead, but dropped the 17th hole to head to the 480-yard, par five all square. Maguire was able to hit the green in regulation, but had a 60-foot birdie putt, while Park missed the green. After a two-putt par, Maguire registered the 1-up victory to put Duke ahead, 2-0.

“The season's first two tournaments weren't as good as we wanted them to be,” said Maguire. “So to finish with a win is a great way to end the season and I think it was what we needed to give us the confidence to work even harder than we would have in the offseason to get some momentum going into the spring. Right now it is still very much a fight for me on the golf course. Every day I go out and promise myself that I am going to fight as hard as I can. Ultimately that ended up in a win so I was proud of myself in that respect. I was even more delighted to get a win for the team. Leona is my best friend and hopefully she always will be. We've been really close growing up and I wouldn't change this college experience for the world. Going through this has been one of the best things ever and going through this experience. Being further away from home we have relied on each other. So it has been really cool to be a part of.”

Following Maguire's victory, the Blue Devils needed one more win to take the East Lake Cup. Choi, who hails from Seoul, South Korea, would birdie No. 14 to go 3-up on Washington's Sarah Rhee and then drained a five-foot birdie putt on the 145-yard, par three 15th to clinch the Duke title. Choi moved to 8-5-1 in match play over her Blue Devil career.

When the match was clinched Leona Maguire was all square against Julianne Alvarez on the 16th and freshman Ana Belac trailed 2-down to Wenyung Keh with four holes left.

“It's a great way to finish off the fall for us,” said Maguire. “It was a big team effort this week, and I think that's the thing that's maybe been lacking in the fall is that we've had some good individual performances, but to come together this week as a team and everybody stepped up this week, which was big for us. We talked about it all year and to show that bit of leadership and everybody take care of what they can do. We definitely did that this week.”

In 2015, Duke advanced to the championship of the East Lake Cup, but dropped a 4-1 decision to Southern California.

“She's been so close for long and it's great to see that her hard work is paying off,” commented Leona Maguire on her sister Lisa's win. “She works harder than anybody I know. To get a point for us this morning was huge, and we all knew she could win, and that's the reason she was first to get that point on the board. Hopefully that'll give her some confidence now going into the spring.”

The Blue Devils will be off for the rest of the fall, before opening the spring season Feb. 12-14 at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge.

#GoDuke

Duke (No. 3)                                vs.                          Washington (No. 4)
Lisa Maguire (1up)                                                   Eun Won Park
Virginia Elena Carta (7&6)                                      Ellen Takada
Leona Maguire                          Halved                      Julianne Alvarez
Sandy Choi (4&3)                                                     Sarah Rhee
Ana Belac                                                                     (2up) Wenyung Keh

Illinois (No. 3)                              vs.                          Oregon (No. 4)
Nick Hardy (5&4)                                                     Edwin Yi
Michael Feagles                                              (5&4)             Ryan Gronlund
Edoardo Lipparelli (2&1)                                         Nigel Lett
Dylan Meyer                                                      (1up)Wyndham Clark
Bryan Baumgarten (5&4)                                        Sulman Raza