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George Shutt Memories - No. 13
11/14/2020 8:33:00 AM | Women's Golf
DURHAM, N.C.— Over the last 16 years, George Shutt has traveled thousands of miles to follow the Duke women's golf program. He has become a staple in women's college golf not only with the Blue Devils, but as a supporter of NCAA golf.
Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked many miles and supported collegiate golfers and head coaches throughout the years.
We checked in with Shutt and asked him to look back at some of his great memories, while following the Blue Devils and GoDuke.com will debut them each week during the 2020 summer and fall.
#GoDuke
2017-18
By any measure, 2017-18 was a good year. Duke started off by overwhelming the competition at the Jim West at the Woodlands in outside Houston, Texas. It was about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey dumped over 40 inches of rain on Houston. It was truly amazing how well the course looked especially where there was still evidence of the severe flooding throughout the area. Leona won the medal play and three of the other four players broke par.
My next tournament was at the Ruth Chris Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill at Finley. It was nip and tuck all the way. As always, the last day is a shotgun start. Miranda Wang started on the third hole. Ana Belac and Jaravee Boonchant started on the second hole. Leona Maguire and Virginia Elena Carta started on the first hole.
Coming into the final holes, it was hard to tell which team was leading, but everyone knew that birdies were needed if Duke had a chance to overtake Alabama. Leona parred her last two holes and Virginia birdied the last two holes. Jaravee parred 18 and Ana birdied the hole. At that point it seemed that Duke was tied. Jaravee parred the first hole (her 18th of the day) and Ana bogied. This put Duke one shot behind. Miranda still had two holes to play. Everyone was standing around the clubhouse to await her coming back. As she walked toward the group no one wanted to ask how she did. Finally, someone did and she in almost an embarrassed voice said, "Birdie, birdie." What an eruption of joy and excitement as Duke won by one shot.
Leona won the medal play portion and all five players were par or better.
Next and the last tournament of the fall was the Tradition at Landfall. Again, Duke won by beating Alabama by one shot. After the first round Duke led by one shot over Alabama and held on that one-shot lead though the second round. Weather caused the third round to be canceled so Duke won its third tournament of the fall. Ana tied for the individual medalist.
After a very successful fall, expectations were high for the Spring, but not to be. Duke started off the Spring tournaments with a return to Palos Verdes for the Northrup Grumman tournament. The weather was not all that conducive, and Duke played poorly. I had not seen the team play as bad for a long time. Next tournament was the Darius Rucker and while Duke played better, they never really challenged for the lead. Virginia was injured and did not play in the next couple of tournaments. The next couple of tournaments were at Auburn and Georgia. Saw some better shots and more consistency. Last tournament of the Spring was the ACC at Grandover Resort in Greensboro as it was moved from Sedgefield to Grandover. Duke led from
start to finish and certainly was one of the bigger margins ever. Four of the five players finished in the top 10 for individual scores. Leona and Jaravee tied for individual honors and had a four hole playoff before Leona won. Both played extremely well and it was apparent throughout the playoff that someone would need to make a mistake or get lucky as both were making clutch shots to tie and to advance to the next hole.
From Greensboro Duke advanced to the Regional in Wisconsin where Duke won the region to advance to Nationals in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
What I most remember about Nationals was the disappointment of not advancing to the semifinal round of match play and the realization that this was Leona and Lisa's last round of playing for Duke. The course was very challenging out and outside of Stillwater.
It was the home course of Oklahoma State and thus contained no buildings other than those that were part of the course. There were lots and lots of trees and undergrowth. It was set up for Nationals and ensured that spectators were able to follow the action. Every hole had a roped area to allow spectators to walk to the edge of the fairway and every hole had water dispensers. At that time of year, there were signs warning the spectators to not veer off the cart paths due to snakes and ticks. Fortunately, never saw any ticks but saw plenty of snakes.
#GoDuke
Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked many miles and supported collegiate golfers and head coaches throughout the years.
We checked in with Shutt and asked him to look back at some of his great memories, while following the Blue Devils and GoDuke.com will debut them each week during the 2020 summer and fall.
#GoDuke
2017-18
By any measure, 2017-18 was a good year. Duke started off by overwhelming the competition at the Jim West at the Woodlands in outside Houston, Texas. It was about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey dumped over 40 inches of rain on Houston. It was truly amazing how well the course looked especially where there was still evidence of the severe flooding throughout the area. Leona won the medal play and three of the other four players broke par.
My next tournament was at the Ruth Chris Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill at Finley. It was nip and tuck all the way. As always, the last day is a shotgun start. Miranda Wang started on the third hole. Ana Belac and Jaravee Boonchant started on the second hole. Leona Maguire and Virginia Elena Carta started on the first hole.
Coming into the final holes, it was hard to tell which team was leading, but everyone knew that birdies were needed if Duke had a chance to overtake Alabama. Leona parred her last two holes and Virginia birdied the last two holes. Jaravee parred 18 and Ana birdied the hole. At that point it seemed that Duke was tied. Jaravee parred the first hole (her 18th of the day) and Ana bogied. This put Duke one shot behind. Miranda still had two holes to play. Everyone was standing around the clubhouse to await her coming back. As she walked toward the group no one wanted to ask how she did. Finally, someone did and she in almost an embarrassed voice said, "Birdie, birdie." What an eruption of joy and excitement as Duke won by one shot.
Leona won the medal play portion and all five players were par or better.
Next and the last tournament of the fall was the Tradition at Landfall. Again, Duke won by beating Alabama by one shot. After the first round Duke led by one shot over Alabama and held on that one-shot lead though the second round. Weather caused the third round to be canceled so Duke won its third tournament of the fall. Ana tied for the individual medalist.
After a very successful fall, expectations were high for the Spring, but not to be. Duke started off the Spring tournaments with a return to Palos Verdes for the Northrup Grumman tournament. The weather was not all that conducive, and Duke played poorly. I had not seen the team play as bad for a long time. Next tournament was the Darius Rucker and while Duke played better, they never really challenged for the lead. Virginia was injured and did not play in the next couple of tournaments. The next couple of tournaments were at Auburn and Georgia. Saw some better shots and more consistency. Last tournament of the Spring was the ACC at Grandover Resort in Greensboro as it was moved from Sedgefield to Grandover. Duke led from
start to finish and certainly was one of the bigger margins ever. Four of the five players finished in the top 10 for individual scores. Leona and Jaravee tied for individual honors and had a four hole playoff before Leona won. Both played extremely well and it was apparent throughout the playoff that someone would need to make a mistake or get lucky as both were making clutch shots to tie and to advance to the next hole.
From Greensboro Duke advanced to the Regional in Wisconsin where Duke won the region to advance to Nationals in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
What I most remember about Nationals was the disappointment of not advancing to the semifinal round of match play and the realization that this was Leona and Lisa's last round of playing for Duke. The course was very challenging out and outside of Stillwater.
It was the home course of Oklahoma State and thus contained no buildings other than those that were part of the course. There were lots and lots of trees and undergrowth. It was set up for Nationals and ensured that spectators were able to follow the action. Every hole had a roped area to allow spectators to walk to the edge of the fairway and every hole had water dispensers. At that time of year, there were signs warning the spectators to not veer off the cart paths due to snakes and ticks. Fortunately, never saw any ticks but saw plenty of snakes.
#GoDuke
Players Mentioned
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
/ Women's Golf
PLAYER
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