Blue Devils Lead Entering Final Round at ACCs

Friday, April 14

Pawley?s Island, S.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two at ACC Championship

Blue Devils Lead Entering Final Round at ACCs

4/14/2017 9:38:00 PM | Women's Golf

WG Leona Maguire Interview - ACC Champ 4-14-17 WG Ana Belac Interview - ACC Champ 4-14-17 Pairings Live Scoring

By: Duke Sports Information

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. – Looking for its 20th ACC Championship in school history, the seventh-ranked Duke women's golf team holds a nine-stroke lead with 18 holes remaining at the 6,192-yard, par 72 The Reserve Golf Club in Pawleys Island, S.C. The Blue Devils shot a two-under-par, 286, on Friday in the second round and now owns a six-under-par, 570, through 36 holes.

Duke holds a nine-stroke lead over Clemson (579), Florida State (579) and North Carolina (579), while NC State (586), Miami (586), Notre Dame (595), Louisville (596), Boston College (597), Virginia (597), Virginia Tech (612) and Wake Forest (620) rounded out the field. In the middle of the second round, Florida State trailed the Blue Devils by only one stroke, but Duke went on to make 12 birdies on the back nine to increase its lead to nine.

The Blue Devils last won the ACC Championship in 2014, while Duke also brought home 13 straight ACC titles from 1996-2008. Head coach Dan Brooks has led Duke to 18 of the 19 championships over his 33 seasons with the Blue Devils.

Junior Leona Maguire enters the final round tied first overall with a four-under-par, 140, after totaling rounds of 68 and 72. She is tied with Florida State's Kim Metraux, while a total of six golfers from five different schools are under par through 36 holes of play.

“It's been a great team effort so far,” Maguire said. “That's one of the things we talked about coming here this week, and I think this is one of the first times we've had everyone right here close together (in the scoring). That's very nice to see, especially here at the most important part of the year.”
Maguire, who won the ACC Individual Championship in 2015 as a freshman, collected a team-high six birdies on the day on her way to shooting even-par, 72. She kicked off her morning with a five-foot birdie on the par five first hole, but suffered a bogey on No. 3 to return to even par. Maguire would again birdie the par five fourth hole, but bogeyed three out of the final four holes on the front nine to drop to two-over-par. A native of Cavan, Ireland, Maguire opened the back nine with a par before registering four birdies over a span of six holes to get back to one-under. She would close the round with a bogey to finish at even. She hit 13 greens, 12 fairways and rolled 29 putts.

Her 11 birdies over the first two days leads the field at the ACC Championship. If Maguire were to win the individual title on Saturday, it would mark her third victory of the season and seventh of her career, which would rank tied for third-most in school history.

Freshman Ana Belac featured the round of the day for the Blue Devils with a two-under-par, 70, to move from tied for 27th to a tie for seventh with a 36-hole ledger of even-par, 144. A product of Portoroz, Slovenia, Belac collected 12 pars over her opening 13 holes to go along with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 158-yard, par three third hole. She then caught fire notching three consecutive birdies on holes 14, 15 and 16 to move to four-under-par. Belac didn't miss a green from holes eight through 16. She finished the day with a double-bogey on 18 on her way to finishing with a two-under, 70. It was her ninth round of even or under par on the season. Belac hit 15 greens, 13 fairways and had 32 putts on the day.

“Most of all I was just staying in the present most of the time, hitting good shots and not trying to think about a score too much – just play shot-by-shot and giving myself good opportunities to make pars and maybe if birdies dropped that is fine,” said Belac on her round today. “I was just focusing on staying steady and not taking too many risky shots out there.”

For the second straight day, sophomore Virginia Elena Carta turned in an even-par, 72, and is tied seventh with a 144 heading into the final day of play. Carta, who is from Udine, Italy, collected seven pars, one birdie on No. 3 and a bogey on No. 7 to open the front nine. On the back nine, she totaled four straight pars to open action, which included a sand save for par on No. 11. After suffering only her second bogey of the day on No. 14, she had three consecutive pars before closing the day with a birdie on No. 18. Carta went for the par five 18th green in two and settled just off the green about pin high. She would finish off a six-foot birdie putt to close the day with a 72. She hit all 14 fairways, 13 greens and had 31 putts.

Senior Sandy Choi turned in five pars on her first five holes Friday, but then went through a tough stretch where she bogeyed three straight holes. She missed four greens in a span of five holes during that time. Choi, who hails from Seoul, South Korea, turned it around on the back nine with three consecutive pars on holes 10-12. She then birdied No. 13 with a 10-foot putt, had a key sand save for par on No. 14, drained a seven-foot birdie putt on No. 15 and sank an eight-foot birdie on No. 16 to get to even par. Her par putt on 18 lipped out and she suffered a bogey to finish the round with a 73. Choi enters the final day tied seventh with a 144, after hitting 13 fairways, 11 greens and carding a team-best 28 putts.

After collecting 11 straight pars to open the second round, junior Gurbani Singh nearly holed out from 133 yards with a nine-iron, before tapping in a birdie on No. 12 to get to one-under. She added a bogey on the 387-yard, par four 15th to go along with five pars to finish with a 72. Singh, a product of New Delhi, India, is tied 16th with a 145. She hit 13 greens, 12 fairways and had 31 putts on the day. Through 36 holes, Singh along with Carta rank second among the field with 27 pars.

Only three birdies were registered on hole No. 14 Friday with Belac and Maguire two of those golfers on the par four, 388-yard dogleg right.

Duke will tee off Saturday in the final round beginning at 9:20 a.m., off hole No. 1 along with Clemson and North Carolina. Fans will be able to follow the action live on ACC Network Extra and ESPN3 starting at 1 p.m., along with live scoring via www.GolfStat.com.

#GoDuke

Duke Results
T1 T1 Leona Maguire Duke 68 72      140 -4
T27 T7 Ana Belac Duke 74 70      144 E
T15 T7 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 72 72      144 E
T13 T7 Sandy Choi Duke 71 73      144 E
T18 T16 Gurbani Singh Duke 73 72      145 +1

1 2 Team Scores
1 1 Duke 284 286      570 -6
T3 T2 Clemson 287 292      579 +3
T3 T2 Florida State 287 292      579 +3
T3 T2 North Carolina 287 292      579 +3
6 T5 North Carolina State 297 289      586 +10
2 T5 Miami 285 301      586 +10
T7 7 Notre Dame 298 297      595 +19
T7 8 Louisville 298 298      596 +20
T7 T9 Boston College 298 299      597 +21
T10 T9 Virginia 304 293      597 +21
T10 11 Virginia Tech 304 308      612 +36
12 12 Wake Forest 312 308      620 +44

Start Finish Player Team Scores
T3 T1 Kim Metraux Florida State 69 71      140 -4
T1 T1 Leona Maguire Duke 68 72      140 -4
T6 3 Jennifer Kupcho Wake Forest 70 71      141 -3
T3 T4 Sierra Sims Wake Forest 69 73      142 -2
T6 T4 Alice Hewson Clemson 70 72      142 -2
T18 6 Laura Kowohl North Carolina State 73 70      143 -1
T18 T7 Olivia Cason Louisville 73 71      144 E
T15 T7 Ana Paula Valdes Clemson 72 72      144 E
T6 T7 Leslie Cloots North Carolina 70 74      144 E
T1 T7 Bryana Nguyen North Carolina 68 76      144 E
T27 T7 Ana Belac Duke 74 70      144 E
T18 T7 Matilda Castren Florida State 73 71      144 E
T15 T7 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 72 72      144 E
T6 T7 Lydia Gumm Florida State 70 74      144 E
T13 T7 Sandy Choi Duke 71 73      144 E
T6 T16 Lauren Hartlage Louisville 70 75      145 +1
T13 T16 Sydney Legacy Clemson 71 74      145 +1
T18 T16 Gurbani Singh Duke 73 72      145 +1
T6 T16 Delfina Acosta Miami 70 75      145 +1
T27 T20 Lauren Diaz-Yi Virginia 74 72      146 +2
T27 T20 Emma Albrecht Notre Dame 74 72      146 +2
T18 T20 Jordan Ferreira Notre Dame 73 73      146 +2
T15 T20 Lois Kaye Go Boston College 72 74      146 +2
T27 T20 Sarah Bae North Carolina State 74 72      146 +2
T6 T20 Dewi Weber Miami 70 76      146 +2
T37 T26 Brynn Walker North Carolina 76 71      147 +3
T37 T26 Lexi Harkins North Carolina 76 71      147 +3
T3 T26 Renate Grimstad Miami 69 78      147 +3
T18 T29 Elizabeth Bose Virginia Tech 73 75      148 +4
T18 T29 Jocelyn Chia Boston College 73 75      148 +4
T27 T29 Marisa Messana Clemson 74 74      148 +4
T37 32 Leonie Bettel North Carolina State 76 73      149 +5
T43 T33 Julia Ford Virginia 77 73      150 +6
T34 T33 Morgan Gonzales Virginia 75 75      150 +6
T37 T33 Ailin Li Boston College 76 74      150 +6
T37 T33 Naomi Ko North Carolina State 76 74      150 +6
T47 T37 Macarena Aguilera Miami 78 73      151 +7
T34 T37 Amanda Doherty Florida State 75 76      151 +7
T27 39 India Clyburn North Carolina State 74 78      152 +8
T47 T40 Molly Skapik Louisville 78 75      153 +9
T18 T40 Kelly Whaley North Carolina 73 80      153 +9
T37 T40 Filippa Moork Miami 76 77      153 +9
T47 T43 Anna Redding Virginia 78 76      154 +10
T27 T43 Whitney Stevenson Virginia Tech 74 80      154 +10
T43 T43 Jacqueline Twitty Louisville 77 77      154 +10
T53 T43 Kennedy Swann Clemson 80 74      154 +10
55 T47 Amanda Hollandsworth Virginia Tech 81 74      155 +11
T51 T47 Katie Barrand Boston College 79 76      155 +11
T43 T47 Katie Kim Boston College 77 78      155 +11
T47 T47 Isabella DiLisio Notre Dame 78 77      155 +11
T18 T47 Allison Snakard Notre Dame 73 82      155 +11
T34 52 Morgane Metraux Florida State 75 81      156 +12
58 T53 Maho Hayakawa Virginia 84 73      157 +13
T56 T53 Maddie Rose Hamilton Notre Dame 82 75      157 +13
T53 55 Anne Taylor Hough Virginia Tech 80 79      159 +15
T56 56 Erica Herr Wake Forest 82 78      160 +16
T51 57 Shannon Gramley Louisville 79 82      161 +17
T43 58 Allison Woodward Virginia Tech 77 89      166 +22
60 59 Anna Wears Wake Forest 92 86      178 +34
59 60 Monica Schumacher Wake Forest 91 95      186 +42