Blue Devils Advance to Championship of Cavalier Match Play

Tuesday, April 6

Charlottesville, Va. (Birdwood Golf Course)

Duke University

Cavalier Match Play

Photo by: Jim Daves, UVA Sports Information

Blue Devils Advance to Championship of Cavalier Match Play

4/6/2021 8:24:00 PM | Women's Golf

Scoring

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – It took extra holes, but the top-seeded and second-ranked Duke women's golf team advanced to the championship of the Cavalier Match Play Tuesday with a 5-0 win over eighth-seeded Richmond and a 3-2 victory over fourth-seeded Maryland at the 6,118-yard, par-71 Birdwood Golf Course in Charlottesville, Va.

In the morning, top-seeded Duke went up against eighth-seeded Richmond. After the first couple of holes, the Blue Devils took control of the match and didn't look back. Duke trailed by only two holes in the morning match against the Spiders.

Sophomore Erica Shepherd went out first against Muskan Uppal and won holes No. 2 and No. 3 to take a 2UP advantage. A birdie on the par-4 eighth gave Shepherd a 3UP lead and par on No. 9 sent her to the back nine with a 4UP advantage. Shepherd, who is from Greenwood, Ind., never led by less than 3UP the rest of the way and closed the match out with a birdie on No. 15 winning 4&3.

Tied through five holes early, freshman Anne Chen shot even par over the next eight holes on her way to taking down Naomi Mitchell, 6&5.

Duke sophomore Megan Furtney and Emily Ward faced each other in the third match. It was tied through seven holes, before Furtney went on a tear winning six straight holes to win the contest, 6&5. Furtney, who hails from St. Charles, Ill., birdied back-to-back holes on No. 10 and No. 12 during the run.

Senior Jaravee Boonchant never trailed in her match against Rory Weinfurther. Boonchant led 2UP through nine holes and then moved the ledger to 3UP with a birdie on the par-5 No. 10. Weinfurther won holes No. 13 and No. 14 to cut the Boonchant lead to 1UP with four holes remaining, but Boonchant parred No. 16 to take a 2UP lead and eventually won 2&1.

In the final match of the morning with Gina Kim and Wenqi Vicky Zhu, Kim was red hot from the start as she shot three-under-par through 12 holes to win 7&6. Kim, a native of Chapel Hill, N.C., won holes No. 7, No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10 to go 7UP.

With fourth-seeded Maryland defeating fifth-seeded Louisville, the Terrapins advanced to meet the Blue Devils in the semifinals.

After going last in the morning, Kim went out first in the afternoon against Laura Van Resale. The duo were tied through three holes, before Kim birdied the par-4 fourth hole to go ahead 1UP. Two pars in a row on No. 7 and No. 8 put Kim ahead 3UP. Kim stayed ahead by no fewer than 2UP the rest of the way before winning 2&1.

Maryland would even the match, 1-1, as Charlotte Lafourcade defeated Chen, 2UP, in a very tight match. Lafourcade parred the first hole to take the early lead, but Chen tied the match with a par on hole No. 2. Another par on No. 3 by Chen gave Duke's first lead of the match. She held a 1UP lead through five out of the next six holes. Heading to the back nine, Lafourcade tied the match and took her first lead with a birdie on No. 13. Chen could not get the match back in control and dropped a 2UP decision.

Trailing by as many as two over the first three holes, Shepherd got things turned around with a birdie on the par-4 fourth hole and then won hole No. 6 to tie the score. She would never trail the rest of the way, but didn't have larger than a 2UP lead. A birdie by Xiaolin Tian on No. 15 cut Shepherd's lead to 1UP, but Shepherd closed the match on No. 18 with a 1UP victory to put Duke ahead, 2-1.

Furtney faced hot golfer in Maria Vittoria Corbi as she shot 3-under-par over the first nine holes, but Corbi only led 1UP through nine holes. After Furtney's fourth birdie of the afternoon on No. 10, the match was tied. Corbi went back ahead for the next six holes, but Furtney evened the match with a par on No. 17. With a par on the 19th hole, Corbi collected the win in 19 holes.

It all came down to two Thailand golfers in Boonchant against Virunpat Olankitkunchai in the final match of the afternoon. Boonchant took a 1UP lead after hole No. 2 and led the entire match until hole 16 when she bogied to tie the match. Olankitkunchai would suffer a bogey on the third extra hole to eventually give Boonchant the win in 21 holes and send the Blue Devils into the championship.

Playing in the individual bracket, Duke freshman Phoebe Brinker came out in the morning and knocked off seventh-seeded Sky Sload, 3&2, and went up against third-seeded Lois Kay Go of South Carolina in the afternoon. Brinker, who hails from Wilmington, Del., leads 2UP through 14 as play was called due to darkness. Her match will resume at 7:45 a.m., Wednesday morning.

Duke will go up against third-seeded Virginia Tech Wednesday in the championship as the Hokies defeated Virginia, 3-2, in the semifinals and North Carolina, 3-2, in the quarterfinals. The title match is slated to start at 11:17 a.m.

Results will be available at www.GolfStat.com.

For more information on Duke women's golf, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWGOLF".

#GoDuke