COLUMBUS, Ohio — The top-seeded and second ranked Duke women's golf program got off to a solid start at the Columbus Regional Monday as the Blue Devils carded one of only two under-par rounds with a 1-under, 287, and are second overall at the 6,335-yard, Par 72 The Ohio State Golf Club Scarlett Course.
Duke sits only one stroke behind Oklahoma (286) with Michigan (288), Georgia (289), Arizona State (291), Kent State (291), Washington (296), Virginia (296), Vanderbilt (297) and Illinois (297) rounding out the top 10 teams. The teams will play 36 more holes with the top six advancing to the NCAA Championship in Arizona May 21-26.
"I thought we played really well," said Duke head coach
Dan Brooks. "We didn't have a practice round, and this is no easy golf course. Just real proud of what we did today. We had a great meeting (after) – went hole-by-hole and went through all the things we learned today. We sort of had our practice round today. There are a lot of teams playing well. To win this, we'll have to keep fighting hard."
As a team, Duke jumped out to a great start and was 5-under-par as a group midway through the first nine as the Blue Devils registered seven birdies and one eagle.
The Blue Devils were paced by junior
Gina Kim (70) and sophomore
Erica Shepherd (71) with under-par scores on day one. Coming off winning the ACC Individual title last month, Kim continued her stellar play and is only one stroke off the individual lead held by Hailey Borja of Michigan (69). Only 14 golfers shot under par in round one.
"I felt really comfortable coming into this tournament and I feel like all aspects of my game are pretty strong right now," said Kim. "I think I just played really smart – hitting into the middle of the green and taking advantage of birdie opportunities when they came up."
A product of Chapel Hill, N.C., Kim featured an excellent start to the day as she punched a 7-iron from 146 yards to five feet and rolled in a birdie on the 392-yard, par four second hole to get in the red early. She added a 12-foot birdie on No. 6 to move to 2-under and would stay that way until the 12th hole. Kim came up short on her chip from just off the green and could not get her par putt to drop to finish with her first bogey on the par five.
Kim responded with her third birdie on the 473-yard, par-5 14th as she hit her 60-degree from 20 yards to three feet and drained the putt. After a bogey on the par-3 17th, Kim rolled in a 27-foot birdie to close her day with a 2-under, 70. She has now collected seven straight rounds of even or under par dating back to the last three tournaments. Kim hit 12 greens, 12 fairways and had 28 putts in round one.
Shepherd collected her eighth round of even or under par Monday with a 1-under, 71, and is tied for seventh. After three pars to open the day, Shepherd headed to the 510-yard, par-5 fourth where she hit her 3-wood from 220 yards to eight feet for eagle. She calmly drained her second eagle of the season to quickly move to 2-under for the day. Shepherd bogeyed holes nine and 10, to drop back to even, but responded by sinking 3-footers for birdie on No. 12 and No. 15 to return to 2-under. A native of Greenwood, Ind., Shepherd's drive on No. 18 went short left and she would finish a bogey to close her day. She hit 11 fairways, 14 greens and had 31 putts Monday.
Seeing action in her third NCAA Regional with the Blue Devils, senior
Jaravee Boonchant signed for a 1-over, 73, on day one and is tied for 23rd overall. After missing the green short on hole No. 1, Boonchant opened her day with a bogey, but came back to drain a 4-foot birdie on No. 4 to get back to even. She went on to bogey No. 7, but opened the back nine with a 24-foot birdie putt on the 391-yard, par-4 10th. Boonchant missed the green again on No. 13 and had another bogey, but closed with five straight pars. She hit 10 fairways, 14 greens and had 33 putts on the day.
Freshman
Anne Chen had a strong start to her day as she sank a 5-footer for birdie on No. 3 and then hit her 7-iron from 152 yards to a foot and tapped in her birdie to get to 2-under through five. She went through a stretch where she had four bogeys over a span of seven holes to drop back to 2-over-par through 13. Chen, who is from Sugar Land, Texas, finished well with four pars and then sank an 8-foot birdie on No. 18 to conclude with a 1-over, 73. She hit 14 greens, 12 fairways and had 33 putts in round one.
Fellow freshman
Phoebe Brinker opened her first regional with a 2-over, 74, and is tied for 33rd. She had a colorful scorecard to open her day as she bogied hole No. 1, but hit out of the rough on No. 2 to within a foot for birdie. After a par on No. 3, she sank a 6-footer on the par-5 fourth to get to 1-under-par. Brinker, who is from Wilmington, Del., bogeyed No. 5 and would add two more bogeys on No. 10 and No. 11.
Helped by a solid up-and-downs on No. 12 and No. 13, Brinker played her final seven holes at even par with five pars, a birdie on No. 17 and a bogey on No. 18. She hit 10 greens and rolled 31 putts, while collecting four up-and-downs.
As a team, the Blue Devils carded seven birdies on the front and seven on the back.
Duke will tee off Tuesday in the second round beginning at 9:50 a.m., along with Michigan and Oklahoma.
#GoDuke
Duke Results
- T2
Gina Kim Duke 70 -2
- T7
Erica Shepherd Duke 71 -1
- T23
Jaravee Boonchant Duke 73 +1
- T23
Anne Chen Duke 73 +1
- T33
Phoebe Brinker Duke 74 +2
1 Team Scores
1 Oklahoma 286 -2
2 Duke 287 -1
3 Michigan 288 E
4 Georgia, U. of 289 +1
T5 Arizona State 291 +3
T5 Kent State 291 +3
T7 Washington 296 +8
T7 Virginia 296 +8
T9 Vanderbilt 297 +9
T9 Illinois 297 +9
T11 Kentucky 298 +10
T11 Coastal Carolina 298 +10
T11 Campbell 298 +10
14 Clemson 299 +11
15 Nebraska 307 +19
16 New Mexico 310 +22
17 Youngstown State 322 +34
18 Evansville 323 +35
Start Finish Player Team Scores
- 1 Hailey Borja Michigan 69 -3
- T2 Caley McGinty Kent State 70 -2
- T2
Gina Kim Duke 70 -2
- T2 Kaitlin Milligan Oklahoma 70 -2
- T2 Monet Chun Michigan 70 -2
- T2 Leah Onosato * Old Dominion 70 -2
- T7 Virginia Bossi Virginia 71 -1
- T7 Olivia Mehaffey Arizona State 71 -1
- T7 Candice Mahe Georgia, U. of 71 -1
- T7
Erica Shepherd Duke 71 -1
- T7 Linn Grant Arizona State 71 -1
- T7 Jenny Bae Georgia, U. of 71 -1
- T7 Libby Winans Oklahoma 71 -1
- T7 Sophia Carlsen Coastal Carolina 71 -1
- T15 Chloe Salort Kent State 72 E
- T15 Isabella Holpfer Georgia, U. of 72 E
- T15 Louise Yu Vanderbilt 72 E
- T15 Beth Lillie Virginia 72 E
- T15 Celina Sattelkau Vanderbilt 72 E
- T15 Alexandra Swayne Clemson 72 E
- T15 Hannah Screen Oklahoma 72 E
- T15 Rino Sasaki Washington 72 E
- T23
Anne Chen Duke 73 +1
- T23 Mayka Hoogeboom Kent State 73 +1
- T23
Jaravee Boonchant Duke 73 +1
- T23 Ashley Menne Arizona State 73 +1
- T23 Maria Villanueva Kentucky 73 +1
- T23 Mikhaela Fortuna Oklahoma 73 +1
- T23 Ashley Lau Michigan 73 +1
- T23 Tristyn Nowlin Illinois 73 +1
- T23 Ivy Shepherd Clemson 73 +1
- T23 Brittany Kwon Washington 73 +1
- T33
Phoebe Brinker Duke 74 +2
- T33 Riley Smyth Virginia 74 +2
- T33 Isabel Sy Illinois 74 +2
- T33 Tomita Arejola Campbell 74 +2
- T33 Frantiska Lunackova Coastal Carolina 74 +2
- T33 Patricia Garre Munoz Campbell 74 +2
- T33 Katlyn Shutt Youngstown State 74 +2
- T40 Jo Hua Hung Georgia, U. of 75 +3
- T40 Tess Davenport Vanderbilt 75 +3
- T40 Marissa Wenzler Kentucky 75 +3
- T40 Ali Morallos Illinois 75 +3
- T40 Maria Fernanda Martinez Oklahoma 75 +3
- T40 Rikke Svejgaard Kentucky 75 +3
- T40 Crystal Wang Illinois 75 +3
- T40 Laney Frye Kentucky 75 +3
- T40 Jensen Castle Kentucky 75 +3
- T40 Stefanie Deng Washington 75 +3
- T40 Alice Duan Nebraska 75 +3
- T40 Emily Hawkins Campbell 75 +3
- T40 Anna Nordfors Campbell 75 +3
- T53 Amanda Linner Arizona State 76 +4
- T53 Alessandra Fanali Arizona State 76 +4
- T53 Kory Nielsen Kent State 76 +4
- T53 Caterina Don Georgia, U. of 76 +4
- T53 Ashley Kim Michigan 76 +4
- T53 Lauren Lehigh New Mexico 76 +4
- T53 Martha Lewis Washington 76 +4
- T53 Megan Whittaker Nebraska 76 +4
- T53 Nicole Abelar Coastal Carolina 76 +4
- T62 Emily Price Kent State 77 +5
- T62 Callista Rice Clemson 77 +5
- T62 Annabelle Pancake Clemson 77 +5
- T62 Napat Lertsadwattana New Mexico 77 +5
- T62 Caitlin Evans-Brand Coastal Carolina 77 +5
- T62 Tiffany Arafi Coastal Carolina 77 +5
- T62 Camille Boyd Washington 77 +5
- T62 Sophia Rohleder Evansville 77 +5
- T70 Auston Kim Vanderbilt 78 +6
- T70 Mikaela Schulz Michigan 78 +6
- T70 Myah McDonald New Mexico 78 +6
- T70 Monika Hartl * North Carolina State 78 +6
- T70 Samantha Vodry * High Point Univ. 78 +6
- T70 Michaela Vavrova Nebraska 78 +6
- T70 Isabell Ekstrom Campbell 78 +6
- T70 Kate Smith Nebraska 78 +6
- T78 Celeste Valinho Virginia 79 +7
- T78 Caroline Jansson New Mexico 79 +7
- T78 Savannah Grewal Clemson 79 +7
- T78 Maria Loza * Hartford 79 +7
- T78 Rory Weinfurther * Richmond 79 +7
- T78 Mallory Russell Evansville 79 +7
- T84 Morgan Baxendale Vanderbilt 80 +8
- T84 Serena Chon New Mexico 80 +8
- T86 Jennifer Cleary Virginia 81 +9
- T86 Nicole Adam * North Carolina 81 +9
- T86 Puthita Khuanrudee Youngstown State 81 +9
- T86 Danae Rugola Youngstown State 81 +9
- 90 Allison Enchelmayer Evansville 83 +11
- T91 Reena Sulkar Illinois 84 +12
- T91 Caitlin O'Donnel Evansville 84 +12
- T91 Alyssa McMinn Evansville 84 +12
- 94 Kirsten Baete Nebraska 85 +13
- 95 Christina Lewis Youngstown State 86 +14
- 96 Jenna Vivo Youngstown State 90 +18