Brinker, Blue Devils Go Low in Second Round at ACC Championship

Thursday, April 14

Pawleys Island, S.C. (The Reserve Golf Course)

Duke University

ACC Championship

Photo by: Andy Mead

Brinker, Blue Devils Go Low in Second Round at ACC Championship

4/14/2022 9:25:00 PM | Women's Golf

SCORING BROOKS INTERVIEW BRINKER INTERVIEW PHOTO GALLERY

PAWLEY'S ISLAND, S.C. – The Duke women's golf team caught fire on Thursday afternoon in the second round of the ACC Championship as the Blue Devils carded a team-best 8-under, 280, while sophomore Phoebe Brinker tied an ACC record with a 7-under-par, 65, to pace the Blue Devils at The Reserve Golf Club in Pawley's Island, S.C.

The Blue Devils came back from an opening round of 295 to shoot 8-under, 280, in the second round and sit third overall through 36 holes of action with a 1-under, 575. Florida State and Wake Forest are currently tied with an 8-under, 568, heading into the final round of stroke play on Friday. The 8-under, 280, for Duke was the lowest 18-hole ledger in school history in ACC Championship action.

Following the third round of stroke play, the top four teams advance to match play on Saturday, April 16. NC State (585) and Virginia Tech (585) currently sit in fourth place, while Clemson (587) and Virginia (590) are right behind.

After notching four birdies in round one on her way to finishing with a 2-under, 70, Brinker carded five birdies and an eagle on her way a bogey-free, 7-under, 65, in the afternoon. With her 9-under score of 135, she leads the individual action by four strokes over North Carolina's Krista Junkkari (139). Brinker, who hails from Wilmington, Del., matched her career best 36-hole score of 135 on the day.

"My whole game, it just fell into place today," said Brinker. "The putter was just on fire, especially in the second round. I just played solid all day. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. It was pretty stress-free golf, which is a really fun day when you are not in the trees or missing greens."

Opening her second round on hole No. 10, Brinker had it dialed in from the start as she birdied No. 10 and No. 12, before rolling in a 15-foot eagle putt on No. 13 to get to 4-under through four holes. She added another birdie on No. 18 to make the turn at 5-under, 31. Brinker collected a great birdie on No. 4 as her second shot landed off the green under a tree, but she was able to place a tremendous chip just a few feet from the cup and drain the putt. After her fifth birdie of the day on No. 8, Brinker hit her approach on No. 9 in the greenside bunker, but she calmly registered a sand save for par to close the day.

"I think that especially worked to my advantage a little bit," said Brinker on having the quick turnaround from round one to round two. "I had just played and come off a good round. I missed a couple of putts here and there, but I still played solid. I think that played to my advantage. Definitely just being able to get back out there and redo a couple of shots I wanted to."

Junior Erica Shepherd had a solid start to her morning with birdies on No. 1 and No. 2, but struggled on the way to dropping four shots over her final five holes in round one to finish with a 75. She turned around and signed for a bogey-free, 4-under, 68, in round two and is tied for 11th overall with a 1-under, 143. Shepherd, a product of Greenwood, Ind., parred the first five holes in round two, before rolling in back-to-back 6-foot birdies on No. 15 and No. 16. She parred the next seven holes and then drained a 9-foot birdie on the 370-yard, par-4 sixth and an 8-footer for birdie on No. 8 to get to 4-under. After missing the green on the right side on No. 9, she collected a key up-and-down for par to close the day. She hit 11 fairways, 15 greens and had 29 putts in round two.

With a 1-under score over her final 11 holes of the second round, sophomore Anne Chen posted an even-par-72 and is tied for 20th with a 147. She had a 3-over, 75, in round one and had eight pars over her first nine holes of round two. Chen opened the final nine holes on Thursday afternoon with birdies on No. 1 and No. 2 to get to 1-under for the afternoon round. She added another birdie on No. 6 and tied a season best with 27 putts.

Both freshman Rylie Heflin and junior Megan Furtney counted rounds for the Blue Devils on day one as Heflin shot a 75 in the morning and Furtney signed for a 75 in the afternoon. Heflin, who is from Avondale, Pa., totaled rounds of 75 and 77 and is tied for 38th with a 152. She was even-par over her final nine holes of round one, which included a 15-foot birdie on No. 18 as she hit her pitching wedge from 115 yards. Heflin was 1-over through 10 holes in the afternoon, but gave away four shots on the back nine to finish with a 77. She drained a 25-foot birdie on No. 16 for her lone birdie of the second round.

After opening the first five holes in the second round with a 2-over score, Furtney got her putter working with a 10-foot birdie on No. 16 and a 30-footer for birdie on No. 17 to get back to even. She suffered a double-bogey on No. 18, but closed the day with six pars, one birdie on No. 4 from 35 feet and two bogeys. She is tied for 45th with a 154.

Duke will tee off in the third round of stroke play on Friday morning beginning at 9:50 a.m., off No. 1 along with Wake Forest and Florida State.

Notes-
•   Phoebe Brinker notched her team-best fourth eagle of the season in the second round.
•   Erica Shepherd collected her fifth career round in the 60s and her second in ACC Championship play. She notched a 67 last year in the second round. In two second rounds of the ACC Championships, she has shot a combined 9-under-par.
•   Megan Furtney has counted a round for Duke in four out of the last six rounds.
•   Phoebe Brinker hit 25-of-28 fairways (all 14 in second round) and 31 greens (17 in round two).

#GoDuke

Duke Results
T4 1 Phoebe Brinker Duke 70 65       135 -9
T25 T11 Erica Shepherd Duke 75 68       143 -1
T25 T20 Anne Chen Duke 75 72       147 +3
T25 T38 Rylie Heflin Duke 75 77       152 +8
51 T45 Megan Furtney Duke 79 75       154 +10

1 2 Team Scores
1 T1 Florida State 286 282       568 -8
2 T1 Wake Forest 287 281       568 -8
6 3 Duke 295 280       575 -1
3 T4 North Carolina State 289 296       585 +9
7 T4 Virginia Tech 296 289       585 +9
8 6 Clemson 297 290       587 +11
4 T7 Virginia 293 297       590 +14
9 T7 Louisville 299 291       590 +14
5 9 North Carolina 294 298       592 +16
10 10 Miami 300 295       595 +19
11 11 Boston College 303 297       600 +24
12 12 Notre Dame 310 304       614 +38

Start Finish Player Team Scores
T4 1 Phoebe Brinker Duke 70 65       135 -9
T1 2 Krista Junkkari North Carolina 69 70       139 -5
T1 3 Lea Klimentova North Carolina State 69 71       140 -4
T7 T4 Virunpat Olankitkunchai Wake Forest 71 70       141 -3
T4 T4 Rachel Kuehn Wake Forest 70 71       141 -3
T1 T6 Alice Hodge Florida State 69 73       142 -2
T25 T6 Lauren Walsh Wake Forest 75 67       142 -2
T12 T6 Beatrice Wallin Florida State 72 70       142 -2
T16 T6 Kendall Griffin Louisville 73 69       142 -2
T4 T6 Amanda Sambach Virginia 70 72       142 -2
T25 T11 Erica Shepherd Duke 75 68       143 -1
T7 T11 Emily Mahar Virginia Tech 71 72       143 -1
T12 T11 Charlotte Heath Florida State 72 71       143 -1
T12 T14 Melena Barrientos Clemson 72 72       144 E
T7 T14 Mimi Rhodes Wake Forest 71 73       144 E
T16 T14 Amelia Williamson Florida State 73 71       144 E
T16 17 Callista Rice Clemson 73 72       145 +1
T21 T18 Savannah Grewal Clemson 74 72       146 +2
T25 T18 Sara Byrne Miami 75 71       146 +2
T7 T20 Inja Fric North Carolina State 71 76       147 +3
T25 T20 Anne Chen Duke 75 72       147 +3
T41 T20 Cecilie Finne-Ipsen Florida State 77 70       147 +3
T21 T20 Celeste Valinho Virginia 74 73       147 +3
T7 T20 Carmen Griffiths Louisville 71 76       147 +3
T41 T25 Ginnie Lee Virginia Tech 77 71       148 +4
T16 T25 Keera Foocharoen Virginia Tech 73 75       148 +4
T36 T25 Nathalie Irlbacher Boston College 76 72       148 +4
T25 T28 Symone Henriques Virginia Tech 75 74       149 +5
T21 T28 Lauren Olivares North Carolina State 74 75       149 +5
T25 T28 Daniella Barrett Miami 75 74       149 +5
T12 T28 Natalia Aseguinolaza North Carolina 72 77       149 +5
T41 T28 Mairead Martin Louisville 77 72       149 +5
T36 33 Chloe Schiavone Notre Dame 76 74       150 +6
T25 T34 Natalie Ambruester North Carolina State 75 76       151 +7
T16 T34 Bibilani Liu Boston College 73 78       151 +7
T36 T34 Kayla Smith North Carolina 76 75       151 +7
T25 T34 Nataliya Guseva Miami 75 76       151 +7
T25 T38 Rylie Heflin Duke 75 77       152 +8
T46 T38 Isabel Amezcua North Carolina State 78 74       152 +8
T46 T38 Gabriella Tomanka Clemson 78 74       152 +8
T41 T38 Riley Smyth Virginia 77 75       152 +8
T21 T38 Beth Lillie Virginia 74 78       152 +8
T25 T38 Jennifer Cleary Virginia 75 77       152 +8
T46 44 Andie Shukow Boston College 78 75       153 +9
51 T45 Megan Furtney Duke 79 75       154 +10
T36 T45 Montgomery Ferreira Notre Dame 76 78       154 +10
T25 T45 Kristyna Frydlova Miami 75 79       154 +10
T36 T45 Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Wake Forest 76 78       154 +10
T46 T49 Jackie Feldman Notre Dame 78 77       155 +11
T41 T49 Crista Izuzquiza North Carolina 77 78       155 +11
56 T51 Eubin Shim Boston College 84 72       156 +12
T53 T51 Anna Backman Miami 82 74       156 +12
T46 53 Lauren Thibodeau Louisville 78 79       157 +13
T53 54 Nicole Adam North Carolina 82 76       158 +14
T53 55 Katherine Schuster Clemson 82 77       159 +15
52 56 Caroline Wrigley Notre Dame 80 80       160 +16
60 Canice Screene Boston College 79       79 +7
58 Carly Haines Louisville 74       74 +2
59 Jessica Meyers Notre Dame 75       75 +3
57 Alyssa Montgomery Virginia Tech 72       72 E