Blue Devils Feature Strong Start Out West

Sunday, March 13

Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (Palos Verdes Golf Club)

Duke University

Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge

Photo by: Andy Mead

Blue Devils Feature Strong Start Out West

3/13/2022 8:15:00 PM | Women's Golf

SCORING

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – The Duke women's golf team featured its best start of the spring on Sunday at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, as the Blue Devils fired a 6-over, 290, and will enter the second round in fourth at the 6,017-yard, par-71 Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

Duke opened the day with a 2-under score on the front nine and was second overall making the turn, before finishing with a 6-over, 290. The Blue Devils are only four shots behind first round leader, Kent State (286). Oregon (287), Virginia (287), Duke (290) and Arizona State (291) rounded out the top five.

The Blue Devils were paced by sophomore Anne Chen, who carded a 1-under-par, 70, and is tied for fifth, individually. She rolled a season-best 27 putts with four birdies on the day for her seventh round of even or under par on the season, which is tied for a team best. Rachel Kuehn of Wake Forest signed for a 4-under, 67, and holds the individual lead.

Chen, who hails from Sugar Land, Texas, opened her day with four pars, before pitching her approach on No. 5 to five feet and draining the birdie. She added a second birdie on No. 7 as she hit her 50-degree wedge from 110 yards to 18 feet. Chen made the turn with a 1-under, 34, after suffering a bogey on No. 9. On the back, she hit her 50-degree wedge from 106 yards to two feet on No. 10 for birdie to get back to 2-under. Chen bogeyed No. 13 and 14, before two-putting for birdie on the par-5 16th to return to red numbers. She hit 13 fairways and 11 greens on the day.

Fellow sophomore Phoebe Brinker had a slow start with two pars and then was 3-over-par on holes three and four. She responded quickly by rolling in birdies on No. 5, No. 6 and No. 8 to return to even par. Brinker, a native of Wilmington, Del., suffered a double-bogey and bogey on No. 12 and No. 13, respectively, but closed with birdies on No. 16 and No. 18 to finish with a 1-over, 72.

Rookie Rylie Heflin featured one of the best starts to the day birding three straight holes from No. 3-5 to get to 2-under-par for the day through five holes. She had her putter working early by draining a 12-footer on No. 3 and a 15-footer for birdie on No. 4. Heflin then hit her 54-degree wedge from 65 yards to six feet on No. 5. Over the next 11 holes, she turned in seven pars and four bogeys to drop to 2-over. Heflin, who is from Avondale, Pa., carded her fourth birdie of the day on the 322-yard, par-4 17th to finish with a 72. She hit her 9-iron uphill to nine feet, before sinking the putt. Heflin hit 11 greens and 10 fairways, while rolling a season-best 28 putts.

Both Brinker and Heflin enter round two in a tie for 16th.

After carding nine straight pars to open the first round, junior Erica Shepherd struggled on the way in to finish with a 76. She was held without a birdie on the day, while collecting a season-high 35 putts, nine fairways and 12 greens. Junior Megan Furtney carded an 82 on Sunday and was limited to zero birdies.

Duke will tee off on Monday in the second round beginning at 1:12 p.m. (ET).

#GoDuke

Duke Results
- T5 Anne Chen Duke 70          -1
- T16 Rylie Heflin Duke 72          +1
- T16 Phoebe Brinker Duke 72          +1
- T43 Erica Shepherd Duke 76          +5
- T80 Megan Furtney Duke 82          +11

1 Team Scores
1 Kent State 286          +2
T2 Oregon 287          +3
T2 Virginia 287          +3
4 Duke 290          +6
5 Arizona State 291          +7
6 Wake Forest 292          +8
7 Arizona 293          +9
8 Southern California 295          +11
T9 Auburn 297          +13
T9 Texas 297          +13
T9 Pepperdine 297          +13
12 Ohio State 298          +14
13 Vanderbilt 301          +17
T14 California 304          +20
T14 Baylor 304          +20
16 Georgetown 321          +37

Start Finish Player Team Scores
- 1 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 67          -4
- T2 Julie McCarthy * Auburn 68          -3
- T2 Carolina Melgrati Arizona 68          -3
- 4 Riley Smyth Virginia 69          -2
- T5 Briana Chacon Oregon 70          -1
- T5 Anne Chen Duke 70          -1
- T5 Auston Kim Vanderbilt 70          -1
- T5 Lilas Pinthier Arizona 70          -1
- T5 Noramol Nuchsila Kent State 70          -1
- T5 Chloe Salort Kent State 70          -1
- T11 Jennifer Cleary Virginia 71          E
- T11 Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen Oregon 71          E
- T11 Beth Lillie Virginia 71          E
- T11 Hsin-Yu Lu Oregon 71          E
- T11 Katherine Muzi Southern California 71          E
- T16 Rylie Heflin Duke 72          +1
- T16 Aneka Seumanutafa Ohio State 72          +1
- T16 Phoebe Brinker Duke 72          +1
- T16 Lion Higo Pepperdine 72          +1
- T16 Michaela Morard Southern California 72          +1
- T16 Alessandra Fanali Arizona State 72          +1
- T16 Ashley Menne Arizona State 72          +1
- T16 Emily Price Kent State 72          +1
- T16 Calynne Rosholt Arizona State 72          +1
- T25 Kaleiya Romero Pepperdine 73          +2
- T25 Kaleigh Telfer Auburn 73          +2
- T25 Lauren Gomez Pepperdine 73          +2
- T25 Anna Foster Auburn 73          +2
- T29 Megan Schofill Auburn 74          +3
- T29 Valentina Albertazzi Kent State 74          +3
- T29 Bentley Cotton Texas 74          +3
- T29 Eun Soo Jeon California 74          +3
- T29 Sophie Guo Texas 74          +3
- T29 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 74          +3
- T29 Sara Kouskova Texas 74          +3
- T36 Jillian Bourdage Ohio State 75          +4
- T36 Kailie Vongsaga Ohio State 75          +4
- T36 Ching-Tzu Chen Oregon 75          +4
- T36 Antonia Matte Baylor 75          +4
- T36 Alexandra Forsterling Arizona State 75          +4
- T36 Bohyun Park Texas 75          +4
- T36 Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Wake Forest 75          +4
- T43 Rosie Belsham Baylor 76          +5
- T43 Lauren Peter Ohio State 76          +5
- T43 Virginie Ding Vanderbilt 76          +5
- T43 Erica Shepherd Duke 76          +5
- T43 Amanda Sambach Virginia 76          +5
- T43 Britta Snyder Baylor 76          +5
- T43 Faith Choi Ohio State 76          +5
- T43 Vanessa Knecht * Wake Forest 76          +5
- T43 Katherine Zhu California 76          +5
- T43 Virunpat Olankitkunchai Wake Forest 76          +5
- T43 Brianna Navarrosa Southern California 76          +5
- T43 Mimi Rhodes Wake Forest 76          +5
- T43 Amari Avery Southern California 76          +5
- T56 Tze-Han Lin Oregon 77          +6
- T56 Mychael O'Berry Auburn 77          +6
- T56 Natasha Kiel Vanderbilt 77          +6
- T56 Gurleen Kaur Baylor 77          +6
- T56 Celeste Valinho Virginia 77          +6
- T56 Mika Jin California 77          +6
- T56 Elena Arias Quiros California 77          +6
- T56 Gile Bite Starkute Arizona 77          +6
- T56 Cristina Ochoa California 77          +6
- T65 Louise Yu Vanderbilt 78          +7
- T65 Elina Sinz Auburn 78          +7
- T65 Celina Sattelkau Vanderbilt 78          +7
- T65 Maya Benita Arizona 78          +7
- T65 Lauren May Georgetown 78          +7
- T65 Ya Chun Chang Arizona 78          +7
- T65 Cindy Kou Southern California 78          +7
- T72 Addie Baggarly Baylor 79          +8
- T72 Megan Dennis Pepperdine 79          +8
- T72 Jayna Choi * Vanderbilt 79          +8
- T72 Brigitte Thibault Texas 79          +8
- T72 Mayka Hoogeboom Kent State 79          +8
- T77 Reese Guzman Pepperdine 80          +9
- T77 Gabriella Gilrowski Georgetown 80          +9
- 79 Megan Gormley Georgetown 81          +10
- T80 Megan Furtney Duke 82          +11
- T80 Kristin Jamieson * Ohio State 82          +11
- T80 Amanda Linner Arizona State 82          +11
- T80 Kaitlyn Lees Georgetown 82          +11
- 84 Esther Park Georgetown 86          +15