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George Shutt Memories - No. 6
8/12/2020 7:48:00 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.
#GoDuke
George Shutt Top Moments No. 6
The 2010-11 Season
My first tournament of the fall was the Tar Heel Invitational where I got to see and meet Laetitia Beck and Aleja Cangrejo for the first time. I also met Laetitia's twin sister who I discovered does not play golf. I also met Aleja's Mother, who came to all her tournaments with only a few exceptions over the next four years, and with whom I thoroughly enjoyed walking the fairways with her and always looked forward to seeing her.
The conditions were extremely good and many of the teams shot low scores under par, but as I remember, Alabama shot something like 10-under-par while Duke was at even par. Duke shot something like -10 on the second day, but Alabama was still under par and Duke was not able to catch them. The best score for the tournament was by Laetitia. I was so impressed with her swing that never changed.
The next tournament was at Landfall in Wilmington. Duke played well the first couple of days and was leading the tournament going into the final round. As a team I do not ever recall a worse scoring round. The team was something like 26-30 shots over par. What I most recall is that Coach Brooks came over after the round and apologized that I came that far to see the team and they had not performed. I had heard him say in the past on several occasions that no matter how a tournament turned out, he was OK as long as he had seen some improvements. So I asked him if he had seen any improvements during the three days considering the lack of experience. When he replied that he had, I said that the trip was worth it. He liked that.
The only tournament in the spring I was able to attend was the ACC Championship in Greensboro at Sedgefield. I don't recall much about it other than the scores were high for all the teams. I do recall that the only player to break par was Cheyenne Woods from Wake Forest and yet Wake Forest finished below Duke, who finished second to the University of North Carolina.
2011 was the only year since I began attending the NCAA Championship that Duke did not qualify. I had made plans for Texas that involved a visit with my daughter and her family in Keller, Texas. Lindy Duncan qualified to play as an individual and I decided to keep all my original plans intact. Although I certainly wished the team was there, it was still fun being with her and Coach Brooks. One memory that stands out is witnessing the longest drive that I have ever seen hit. Another player by the name of Jessica Negron from Florida State was also playing as an individual with Lindy. On one par four hole that runs along a creek before bending in front of the green was playing at about 400 yards.
Jessica hit her tee shot that hit the cart path on the left and bounced along the path and across the bridge continuing along the cart path until the banking rough behind the green stopped the ball.
The other thing I remember was that on the second or third day, a lady with no identifying uniform came up and wanted to know if I knew where the group with Lindy Duncan was playing. I told her she had found the right group. As we walked several holes, I learned that she was Dr. Pat Cornett from California and was the 2012 Curtis Cup Captain. She said she was not that familiar with players east of the Mississippi and was attending Nationals to scout some of them. She obviously liked this group as she selected two of the players, Lindy and Amy Anderson.
#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.
#GoDuke
George Shutt Top Moments No. 6
The 2010-11 Season
My first tournament of the fall was the Tar Heel Invitational where I got to see and meet Laetitia Beck and Aleja Cangrejo for the first time. I also met Laetitia's twin sister who I discovered does not play golf. I also met Aleja's Mother, who came to all her tournaments with only a few exceptions over the next four years, and with whom I thoroughly enjoyed walking the fairways with her and always looked forward to seeing her.
The conditions were extremely good and many of the teams shot low scores under par, but as I remember, Alabama shot something like 10-under-par while Duke was at even par. Duke shot something like -10 on the second day, but Alabama was still under par and Duke was not able to catch them. The best score for the tournament was by Laetitia. I was so impressed with her swing that never changed.
The next tournament was at Landfall in Wilmington. Duke played well the first couple of days and was leading the tournament going into the final round. As a team I do not ever recall a worse scoring round. The team was something like 26-30 shots over par. What I most recall is that Coach Brooks came over after the round and apologized that I came that far to see the team and they had not performed. I had heard him say in the past on several occasions that no matter how a tournament turned out, he was OK as long as he had seen some improvements. So I asked him if he had seen any improvements during the three days considering the lack of experience. When he replied that he had, I said that the trip was worth it. He liked that.
The only tournament in the spring I was able to attend was the ACC Championship in Greensboro at Sedgefield. I don't recall much about it other than the scores were high for all the teams. I do recall that the only player to break par was Cheyenne Woods from Wake Forest and yet Wake Forest finished below Duke, who finished second to the University of North Carolina.
2011 was the only year since I began attending the NCAA Championship that Duke did not qualify. I had made plans for Texas that involved a visit with my daughter and her family in Keller, Texas. Lindy Duncan qualified to play as an individual and I decided to keep all my original plans intact. Although I certainly wished the team was there, it was still fun being with her and Coach Brooks. One memory that stands out is witnessing the longest drive that I have ever seen hit. Another player by the name of Jessica Negron from Florida State was also playing as an individual with Lindy. On one par four hole that runs along a creek before bending in front of the green was playing at about 400 yards.
Jessica hit her tee shot that hit the cart path on the left and bounced along the path and across the bridge continuing along the cart path until the banking rough behind the green stopped the ball.
The other thing I remember was that on the second or third day, a lady with no identifying uniform came up and wanted to know if I knew where the group with Lindy Duncan was playing. I told her she had found the right group. As we walked several holes, I learned that she was Dr. Pat Cornett from California and was the 2012 Curtis Cup Captain. She said she was not that familiar with players east of the Mississippi and was attending Nationals to scout some of them. She obviously liked this group as she selected two of the players, Lindy and Amy Anderson.
#GoDuke
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