Belac, Shepherd Pace Blue Devils in Round One

Monday, September 16

Lake Elmo, Minn.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Annika Intercollegiate

Belac, Duke Continue to Lead The Landfall Tradition

Ana Belac

Belac, Shepherd Pace Blue Devils in Round One

9/16/2019 5:47:00 PM | Women's Golf

Live Scoring

LAKE ELMO, Minn. – Against one of the top fields in the nation, the preseason second-ranked Duke women's golf team opened the 2019-20 campaign Monday at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate with a four-over-par, 292, at the Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn.

Senior Ana Belac and rookie Erica Shepherd paced the Blue Devils in round one carding an even-par, 72, to open the season. The duo are tied for 15th, individually, heading into Tuesday's action. As a team, Duke will enter the second round in ninth overall, but the Blue Devils are only five strokes from moving into the top five of the leaderboard.

Wake Forest jumped out to the early team lead with a six-under, 282, Monday, while Arkansas (283), Arizona (285), South Carolina (286), Arizona State (288), Texas (288), Southern California (291), UCLA (291), Duke (292), Alabama (295), Virginia (305) and Minnesota (308) rounded out the field.

"We actually played some good golf today," said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. "There were costly errors made, however. The 14th really got us. It's easy to get greedy with these plateaued greens. Tomorrow will be similar wind conditions so we'll have another crack at playing smart. But overall we played pretty well today."

The Blue Devils had a solid round, but struggled on the 372-yard, par four 14th giving away eight shots with three double-bogeys and two bogeys. Duke signed for 18 birdies on the day, after starting on hole No. 10.

Belac opened with two birdies over her first five holes, but settled down to play her final 13 holes at two-under-par. A native of Portoroz, Slovenia, Belac had a birdie on No. 15 and two-putt birdie on No. 18, before making the turn. She added a birdie on No. 3 and then a two-putt birdie on No. 9 to close the day with an even-par, 72. It marked her 42nd career round of even or under par to move her into 10th on Duke's all-time charts. Belac hit 12 fairways, 14 greens and rolled 33 putts on the day.

In her first collegiate round, Shepherd also posted an even-par, 72, becoming just the fifth freshman since 2009 to notch an even par or better ledger in their college debut. She joined Jaravee Boonchant, Virginia Elena Carta, Leona Maguire and Yi Xiao.

Shepherd, a product of Greenwood, Ind., registered a birdie on her first collegiate hole as she hit her 48-degree wedge from 115 yards to four feet and sank the putt. After suffering a double-bogey on the next hole, she drained a nine-foot birdie on No. 12 to get back to even par for the day. Shepherd had back-to-back bogeys on her next two holes, but would go on to play her next 13 holes at two-under-par.

"That was awesome," Shepherd added about her birdie on hole No. 1. "I think that for some reason I like to birdie the first hole when I am super nervous. I did it here and Augusta on the first hole. I think that it got me off to a good start."

She two-putted for birdie on No. 18 and then sank a nine-foot birdie on the 321-yard, par four third hole. Shepherd returned to even after sticking her approach on No. 5 to a foot and sinking the putt. She had birdie opportunities the final four holes but the putts would not drop. She hit 12 fairways, 14 greens and rolled 32 putts.

"Obviously, I was pretty nervous," commented Shepherd on her first collegiate round. "But I think that qualifying, how stressful that was, really prepared me. I learned how to keep my nerves under control. Just having the team here with me really helped. Just tried to stay steady and kept it simple."

Coming off a very impressive summer on the course, sophomore Gina Kim struggled out of the gate, but had the best finish of the Blue Devils turning in three birdies over her final four holes to finish with a one-over, 73. Kim, who hails from Chapel Hill, N.C., registered a tied for team best with five birdies on the day. She dialed it in down the stretch as she hit her 9-iron from 122 yards to six feet for birdie on the sixth, hit her 8-iron from 133 yards to 15 feet for the birdie on No. 8 and two-putted for birdie on No. 9.   Kim hit 14 greens, 13 fairways and totaled 34 putts.

Boosted with back-to-back birdies on No. 17 and No. 18, junior Miranda Wang held an even-par ledger through 16 holes, but struggled on the way in with three straight bogeys to finish with a three-over, 75. Wang, who is from Beijing, China, had a tied for team best three birdies on the front nine as she also birdied her first hole to open the season. She had 33 putts, while hitting 10 fairways and 12 greens.

After counting 63 of her first 64 rounds of her collegiate career, Boonchant signed for a four-over, 76, Monday and it marked only the second time as a Blue Devil she has not been in the top four of the Duke scorers. A product of Bangkok, Thailand, Boonchant had 14 pars, but two double-bogeys on No. 5 and No. 18 was the difference on the day. She rolled in one birdie on the 183-yard, par three 16th as she drained an 18-foot putt. Boonchant hit only eight fairways, while hitting 12 greens and turning in 32 putts.

Wake Forest's Rachel Kuehn holds the individual lead, after posting a five-under, 67, in round one. A total of 14 golfers shot under par on the day.
Duke will open day two off hole No. 10 beginning at 9:35 a.m., along with Southern California and UCLA.

Fans can follow the action via live scoring at www.GolfStat.com and Duke social media accounts on Twitter (@DukeWGolf) and Instagram (@DukeWGolf).

#GoDuke

Duke Results
- T15 Ana Belac Duke 72          E
- T15 Erica Shepherd Duke 72          E
- T25 Gina Kim Duke 73          +1
- T36 Miranda Wang Duke 75          +3
- T45 Jaravee Boonchant Duke 76          +4

1 Team Scores
1 Wake Forest 282          -6
2 Arkansas 283          -5
3 Arizona 285          -3
4 South Carolina 286          -2
T5 Arizona State 288          E
T5 Texas 288          E
T7 Southern California 291          +3
T7 UCLA 291          +3
9 Duke 292          +4
10 Alabama 295          +7
11 Virginia 305          +17
12 Minnesota 308          +20

Start Finish Player Team Scores
- 1 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 67          -5
- T2 Kajal Mistry Arkansas 68          -4
- T2 Alessandra Fanali Arizona State 68          -4
- T2 Vivian Hou Arizona 68          -4
- 5 Sophie Guo Texas 69          -3
- T6 Alyaa Abdulghany Southern California 70          -2
- T6 Emily Price South Carolina 70          -2
- T6 Ana Pelaez South Carolina 70          -2
- T6 Kaitlyn Papp Texas 70          -2
- T10 Ela Anacona Arkansas 71          -1
- T10 Kenzie Wright Alabama 71          -1
- T10 Hollie Muse Arizona 71          -1
- T10 Siyun Liu Wake Forest 71          -1
- T10 Clare Legaspi UCLA 71          -1
- T15 Julia Gregg Arkansas 72          E
- T15 Erica Shepherd Duke 72          E
- T15 Pauline Roussin-Bouchard South Carolina 72          E
- T15 Polly Mack Alabama 72          E
- T15 Ana Belac Duke 72          E
- T15 Brooke Matthews Arkansas 72          E
- T15 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 72          E
- T15 Linn Grant Arizona State 72          E
- T15 Emma Spitz UCLA 72          E
- T15 Emilia Migliaccio Wake Forest 72          E
- T25 Grace St-Germain Arkansas 73          +1
- T25 Jennifer Chang Southern California 73          +1
- T25 Gina Kim Duke 73          +1
- T25 Sandra Nordaas Arizona 73          +1
- T25 Simar Singh UCLA 73          +1
- T25 Alexandra Forsterling Arizona State 73          +1
- T25 Emilee Hoffman Texas 73          +1
- T25 Ya Chun Chang Arizona 73          +1
- T33 Aiko Leong Southern California 74          +2
- T33 Anita Uwadia South Carolina 74          +2
- T33 Gabriela Ruffels Southern California 74          +2
- T36 Annabelle Ackroyd Minnesota 75          +3
- T36 Allisen Corpuz Southern California 75          +3
- T36 Miranda Wang Duke 75          +3
- T36 Angelica Moresco Alabama 75          +3
- T36 Joanne Free Minnesota 75          +3
- T36 Raquel Olmos Arizona State 75          +3
- T36 Riley Smyth Virginia 75          +3
- T36 Mariel Galdiano UCLA 75          +3
- T36 Olivia Mehaffey Arizona State 75          +3
- T45 Mathilde Claisse South Carolina 76          +4
- T45 Jaravee Boonchant Duke 76          +4
- T45 Hailee Cooper Texas 76          +4
- T45 Sara Kouskova Texas 76          +4
- T45 Gile Bite Starkute Arizona 76          +4
- T45 Vanessa Knecht Wake Forest 76          +4
- T45 Haeley Wotnosky Virginia 76          +4
- T45 Virginia Bossi Virginia 76          +4
- 53 Caroline Curtis Alabama 77          +5
- T54 Emilie Overas Alabama 78          +6
- T54 Beth Lillie Virginia 78          +6
- T56 Grace Curran Minnesota 79          +7
- T56 Kate Lillie Minnesota 79          +7
- T56 Ty Akabane UCLA 79          +7
- T59 Emma Carpenter Minnesota 80          +8
- T59 Celeste Valinho Virginia 80          +8