GREENSBORO, N.C. – Duke University women's golf junior
Gina Kim carded her third straight round in the 60s on her way to claiming individual medalist honors at the ACC Championship Friday with a 10-under-par, 206, at the 6,132-yard, par-72 Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
Kim became the 14th Blue Devil to win an ACC crown and marked the 20th ACC individual championship in school history. She matched the lowest 54-hole score in Blue Devil ACC Championship history at 10-under-par along with three-time ACC champion Leona Maguire.
"I really stayed patient out there and that was key for me," said Kim. "I made some really smart choices out there and I think that's what helped me win. I had some luck too with it. I chipped in for birdie and I holed out for eagle from the bunker. I'm really grateful for everything that's happened so far."
As a team, Duke turned in a two-under, 286, Friday that included five late birdies to move past Wake Forest and finish with a team-best 11-under-par, 853. By finishing first, the Blue Devils earned the No. 1 seed in match play and will face fourth-seeded Virginia in the semifinals Saturday beginning at 9:50 a.m.
"We are very excited to be going on to match play," said Duke head coach
Dan Brooks. "It is the first time the conference has done this and its turned out to be really cool. I am glad we're cutting to four teams. I think it is a great way to do it. You know, we feel like we've won one tournament and we are going to try to win another one in a couple of days."
Duke (853) closed action three shots ahead of Wake Forest (856), while Florida State (871), Virginia (876) and Virginia Tech (878) rounded out the top five teams. The Blue Devils and Cavaliers both shot a team-best two-under, 286, in Friday's third round.
Over the 54 holes, Duke tied for the team lead with a 24-under-par score on par-5 holes and accumulated 49 birdies and a team-best six eagles.
The Blue Devils closed action with three golfers in the top eight individually with Kim in first, freshman
Anne Chen in fourth and sophomore
Erica Shepherd in tied for eighth.
Kim collected four pars to open her day, which included key 12-foot par putts on No. 3 and No. 4 to get her day going. She then hit her 4-hybrid from 195 yards to 10 feet and made her second eagle of the tournament. She went to the next hole and suffered a double-bogey to drop her back to even for the day, but responded by using her 60-degree wedge from the greenside bunker and holed out for birdie on No. 7. Kim parred the next seven holes to remain at 1-under-par and hold onto the individual lead. After runner-up Beatrice Wallin of Florida State stuck her second shot on the par-5 15th for an eagle putt, Kim hit her approach into the greenside bunker.
Kim, who is from Chapel Hill, N.C., then used her 60-degree wedge again and chipped in for her second eagle of the day to get to three-under-par. She went on to par the last three holes to claim the title. She hit 12 fairways, 16 greens and had 31 putts.
"I am very happy," said Brooks on Kim's victory. "We are a really good conference right now. So, this win is as good of a win as you can have in the country right now. We have a lot of really, really good teams and individuals on those teams. This is as good of win as you can get. I guess when she wins, she wins big."
She is just the second player in ACC Championship history to shoot three rounds in the 60s, joining two-time Duke All-American Brittany Lang in 2004.
Chen, a native of Sugar Land, Texas, turned in her third straight round of 71 on her way to finishing with a career-best 3-under, 213. She opened her final round by draining a 16-foot birdie on No. 1 and then a six-footer on No. 4 to get in the red early. After bogeys on No. 6 and No. 8, Chen made the turn at even par. She chipped up to five feet on the par-5 10th and connected on the birdie to move back to 1-under. After draining an 11-footer for birdie on the 363-yard, par-4 No. 13, Chen got back to 2-under. She missed the green on the par-3 16th and suffered a double-bogey, but closed with a key six-foot birdie on the 18th to finish under par. Chen hit 14 fairways, 12 greens and rolled 29 putts.
Shepherd also opened her day with a birdie putt on the first hole as she dropped in a 12-footer. She would struggle a little over the next 13 holes as she suffered five bogeys. Shepherd, who is from Greenwood, Ind., would catch fire over the final four holes birding four of those holes to finish with a one-over, 73.
On the par-5 15th, she was just short of the green and putted to within a couple of feet and finished off her second birdie of the day. Shepherd then stuck her pitching wedge from 123 yards on No. 16 to four feet and rolled in a birdie. She made it three straight birdies on No. 17 as she hit her 9-iron from 125 yards to five feet and drained the putt. Shepherd finished the day with a par on 18. She hit nine fairways, 15 greens and had 34 putts to close stroke play.
Senior
Jaravee Boonchant closed the ACC Championship with her third consecutive top-20 finish in the championship with rounds of 73, 74 and 73 for a 220. Boonchant, who is from Bangkok, Thailand, parred the first four holes and then sank an eight-footer for birdie on No. 5. She played the next eight holes at three-over-par, but closed the day at 1-under over the final five holes with a birdie on No. 18. Boonchant hit 15 greens in the final round.
After turning in two rounds of 74, freshman
Phoebe Brinker held a 1-over-par score through 14 holes Friday, but dropped five strokes over her final four holes to finish with a 78. She tried going for the green in two on the par-5 15th and got unlucky as her ball bounced on the green and went in the bunker. The ball was at the back of the bunker next to the lip and she ended up with a double-bogey. Brinker posted birdies on No. 4 and No. 13.
Saturday's match play action will be the first in ACC history with Duke against Virginia and Florida State versus Wake Forest. The winners will advance to Sunday's final, which will be aired live on ACC Network Extra.
Match Play Pairings
9:50 a.m. –
Phoebe Brinker (DU) vs. Riley Smyth (UVA)
10:00 a.m. –
Jaravee Boonchant (DU) vs. Virginia Bossi (UVA)
10:10 a.m. –
Anne Chen (DU) vs. Celeste Valinho (UVA)
10:20 a.m. –
Erica Shepherd (DU) vs. Beth Lillie (UVA)
10:30 a.m. –
Gina Kim (DU) vs. Jennifer Cleary (UVA)
#GoDuke
Duke Results
1 1
Gina Kim Duke 68 69 69 206 -10
T5 4
Anne Chen Duke 71 71 71 213 -3
T7 T8
Erica Shepherd Duke 76 67 73 216 E
T21 T20
Jaravee Boonchant Duke 73 74 73 220 +4
T23 T32
Phoebe Brinker Duke 74 74 78 226 +10
1 2 3 Team Scores
1 2 1 Duke 286 281 286 853 -11
T2 1 2 Wake Forest 288 277 291 856 -8
T2 3 3 Florida State 288 289 294 871 +7
7 5 4 Virginia 297 293 286 876 +12
5 4 5 Virginia Tech 294 289 295 878 +14
4 7 6 Clemson 293 304 293 890 +26
T8 T8 T7 Miami 301 299 297 897 +33
10 T8 T7 Louisville 304 296 297 897 +33
6 6 9 North Carolina 296 299 316 911 +47
T8 10 T10 North Carolina State 301 315 312 928 +64
12 11 T10 Notre Dame 313 304 311 928 +64
11 12 12 Boston College 307 312 318 937 +73
Start Finish Player Team Scores
1 1
Gina Kim Duke 68 69 69 206 -10
2 2 Beatrice Wallin Florida State 67 71 71 209 -7
4 3 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 70 71 70 211 -5
T5 4
Anne Chen Duke 71 71 71 213 -3
3 5 Siyun Liu Wake Forest 73 67 74 214 -2
T18 T6 Lauren Hartlage Louisville 71 75 69 215 -1
T7 T6 Nataliya Guseva Miami 71 72 72 215 -1
T10 T8 Monika Vicario North Carolina State 69 75 72 216 E
T7 T8
Erica Shepherd Duke 76 67 73 216 E
T5 T8 Charlotte Heath Florida State 70 72 74 216 E
T16 T11 Becca DiNunzio Virginia Tech 70 75 72 217 +1
T23 T11 Jennifer Cleary Virginia 74 74 69 217 +1
T10 T11 Emilia Migliaccio Wake Forest 75 69 73 217 +1
T7 T11 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 73 70 74 217 +1
T16 15 Celeste Valinho Virginia 76 69 73 218 +2
T10 T16 Alyssa Montgomery Virginia Tech 76 68 75 219 +3
T10 T16 Keera Foocharoen Virginia Tech 72 72 75 219 +3
T23 T16 Ivy Shepherd Clemson 72 76 71 219 +3
T18 T16 Savannah Grewal Clemson 70 76 73 219 +3
T10 T20 Lauren Beaudreau Notre Dame 72 72 76 220 +4
T21 T20
Jaravee Boonchant Duke 73 74 73 220 +4
T30 T22 Riley Smyth Virginia 71 79 72 222 +6
T10 T22 Amelia Williamson Florida State 73 71 78 222 +6
T33 T24 Beth Lillie Virginia 76 75 72 223 +7
T30 T24 Emily Mahar Virginia Tech 76 74 73 223 +7
T26 T24 Sara Byrne Miami 77 72 74 223 +7
T33 27 Kristyna Frydlova Miami 75 76 73 224 +8
T26 T28 Kayla Smith North Carolina 73 76 76 225 +9
T18 T28 Jennifer Zhou North Carolina 73 73 79 225 +9
T30 T28 Margot Bechadergue Louisville 78 72 75 225 +9
T21 T28 Hana Ryskova Louisville 76 71 78 225 +9
T26 T32 Nicole Adam North Carolina 73 76 77 226 +10
T23 T32
Phoebe Brinker Duke 74 74 78 226 +10
39 T32 Alice Hodge Florida State 78 75 73 226 +10
38 35 Annabelle Pancake Clemson 77 75 75 227 +11
T41 36 Abby Heck Notre Dame 75 80 73 228 +12
T26 T37 Mimi Rhodes Wake Forest 72 77 80 229 +13
T33 T37 Callista Rice Clemson 74 77 78 229 +13
T41 T39 Angel Lin Boston College 79 76 76 231 +15
T49 T39 Alexandra Swayne Clemson 79 78 74 231 +15
T33 T41 Virginia Bossi Virginia 76 75 81 232 +16
T33 T41 Nathalie Irlbacher Boston College 72 79 81 232 +16
T49 T41 M. Agustina Gomez Cisterna Louisville 79 78 75 232 +16
T45 T44 Lea Klimentova North Carolina State 75 81 78 234 +18
T41 T44 Bibilani Liu Boston College 78 77 79 234 +18
T49 46 Daniella Barrett Miami 78 79 78 235 +19
T52 47 Taylor Roberts Florida State 78 82 76 236 +20
T45 T48 Jessica Spicer Virginia Tech 77 79 81 237 +21
T45 T48 Isabel Amezcua North Carolina State 76 80 81 237 +21
40 50 Natalia Aseguinolaza North Carolina 80 74 84 238 +22
T41 T51 Crista Izuzquiza North Carolina 77 78 84 239 +23
T45 T51 Julia Bordeaux Notre Dame 83 73 83 239 +23
T55 53 Anna Backman Miami 83 79 79 241 +25
T52 54 Ananya Barthakur Boston College 80 80 82 242 +26
T55 55 Claire Albrecht Notre Dame 83 79 84 246 +30
58 T56 Ryann Sinclair North Carolina State 81 85 81 247 +31
57 T56 Natalie Ambruester North Carolina State 85 79 83 247 +31
54 T58 Leah Temple Lang Boston College 78 83 88 249 +33
59 T58 Madelyn Jones Notre Dame 87 83 79 249 +33
60 60 Mairead Martin Louisville 88 89 89 266 +50