Blue Devils Head to Tennessee for Franklin Regional

2022 NCAA Franklin Regional
May 9-11, 2022 • Franklin, Tenn.
Vanderbilt Legends Club
54 Holes Stroke Play; Top 4 Advance to Nationals

DUKE TRAVELS TO TENNESSEE FOR FRANKLIN REGIONAL
   For the 29th straight season, the Duke women's golf program will participate in NCAA Regional action as the Blue Devils will travel to Franklin, Tenn., to compete in the Franklin Regional May 9-11 at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
   The Blue Devils, who are currently listed at No. 21 in the most recent GolfStat and Golfweek rankings, will be joined in the regional along with Wake Forest (4), Alabama (9), Texas A&M (15), Oregon State (27), Vanderbilt (35), BYU (41), Kent State (45), UTSA (52), Augusta (63), Boston University (106) and Austin Peay (164).The teams are listed in seed order and the rankings in parentheses are from the GolfStat team rankings.
   Duke will tee off Monday, May 9 at 9:00 a.m. (ET) off hole No. 10 along with Oregon State and Vanderbilt. Tee times for Tuesday and Wednesday will be determined by standings beginning at 9 a.m., or 10:06 a.m. (ET).
   The regional will be a three-day, 54-hole tournament with 18 holes played each day. The top four teams and top two individuals (not on one of those four teams) advance to the NCAA Championship to be played May 20-25 at Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

COVERAGE
   Fans will be able to follow the action with live scoring at www.GolfStat.com each of the three days.
Golf Channel will deliver expanded coverage of the final day of the NCAA regional championship, Wednesday, May 11. Coverage will feature updates throughout the day that will be published to Golf Channel Digital and through Golf Channel social media handles, concluding with live news segments announcing the teams and individuals who qualified for the national championship.
   Coverage can also be found on Duke accounts via Twitter (@DukeWGOLF), Instagram (DukeWGolf) and Facebook (DukeWGolf) for all three days of the regional.

THE DUKE LINEUP
   Duke will feature a lineup of juniors Erica Shepherd and Megan Furtney, sophomores Phoebe Brinker and Anne Chen and freshman Rylie Heflin.

BIRDIES FOR BABIES
   Spearheaded by 2019 Blue Devil graduate Virginia Elena Carta, the Duke men's and women's golf programs have continued their fundraising program benefitting the Duke Children's Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units called Birdies for Babies. Duke has raised $10,142.20 so far this season and over the four years of the program, it has raised $78,480.20.
   Those looking to support the partnership with the Duke Children's can make pledges per birdie. Pledges will start at $0.50 and high pledge increments are welcome. If the Blue Devils register an eagle (counts as two birdies), albatross (three birdies) and hole-in-one (four birdies) they will count as stated.
   For more information, head to https://giving.dukechildrens.org/ways-to-give/duke-athletics-partnerships

IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
   Duke is currently ranked No. 21 in the latest GolfStat.com, No. 23 in the WGCA Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the Golfweek ledgers.
   Individually, in the Golfweek rankings -- Erica Shepherd (24), Anne Chen (71) and Phoebe Brinker (72) are listed. In the GolfStat.com listing, Shepherd (31), Chen (67) and Brinker (99) are ranked.

TRENDS/NOTES
   •   After Phoebe Brinker won the ACC Championship, she was tabbed the Golfweek Performer of the Week, ACC Golfer of the Month for April and the PNC Duke Student-Athlete of the Week.
   •   Duke will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championship for the 10th straight year that the event has been contested. Head coach Dan Brooks has taken 32 of his 38 teams to the NCAA Championship, including 22 out of the last 23 championships. The 2020 championship was canceled due to COVID-19.
   •   Anne Chen has made big moves in her sophomore season collecting a career-best 72.96 stroke average and leading the team with 11 rounds of even or under par. In 16 rounds as a freshman, Chen only had four rounds of even or under par. She also notched her first collegiate victory at the Chattanooga Classic this spring as well.
   •   Phoebe Brinker has placed in the top 20 of each of her last three tournaments, which includes winning the ACC Championship. Over the last three events, she has notched a 71.33 stroke average with five even or under par rounds.
   •   Erica Shepherd has collected a team-best four top-five finishes on the season and her nine rounds of even or under par is second on the squad.
   •   Duke caught fire in the ACC Championship and shot a season-best 8-under, 280, in the second round.
   •   Phoebe Brinker went a career-best 38 straight holes without a bogey in the ACC Championship. It marked the tied for third-longest streak in Duke history (dating back to 2015-16).
   •   In the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings, Erica Shepherd (34), Phoebe Brinker (76) and Anne Chen (127) and are in the top 130.
   •   In the fall, Erica Shepherd was on the ANNIKA Award Watch list.
   •   With Gina Kim turning professional, Duke features a roster this spring without any seniors for only the second time over the last 23 years. The only other time was in the 2011-12 campaign. It will mark only the second time under head coach Dan Brooks that he has taken a lineup of no seniors to regionals in 2022. The squad tied for sixth in 2012.
   •   Duke is one of five teams at the Franklin Regional, which features two golfers who have won individual events this season - Duke (Phoebe Brinker, Anne Chen), Wake Forest, Boston University, BYU and Wake Forest.
   •   Phoebe Brinker currently features four eagles on the season, which currently ranks tied for fourth on Duke's record charts. The record is five by Jaravee Boonchant (2017-18), Lindy Duncan (2011-12) and Candy Hannemann (2000-01).
   •   Megan Furtney has counted four out of her last six rounds she has played this spring.

BLUE DEVILS IN THE NCAA'S
   This marks the 29th consecutive year there has been a regional system for women's golf. Duke has advanced 25 of the last 27 times, finishing in the top four of the regional in 23 of the 25 years the squad has advanced.
   Duke has posted five individual medalists at the regionals as Beth Bauer won the East Regional in 1999 after shooting 74-70-71=215, Virada Nirapathpongporn won in 2001 with a 65-73-71=209, Leigh Anne Hardin won in 2002 with rounds of 71-67-72=210, Anna Grzebien won in 2005 with rounds of 73-69-67=209 and Leona Maguire won in 2015 with rounds of 72-78-72=212.

NCAA REGIONAL TITLES
   Duke owns 10 NCAA Regional titles over school history, which ranks second all-time in NCAA action. Southern California owns 13 titles, while Duke (10), UCLA (8), Arizona (5), Arizona State (5), Georgia (5), Stanford (5) and South Carolina (5) have won five or more regional championships.
   The Blue Devils have won regional titles in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 and 2018.

NCAA REGIONAL EXPERIENCE
   Duke will travel a team that features very little experience playing in the NCAA Regionals. Erica Shepherd, Phoebe Brinker and Anne Chen will all see action in their second NCAA Regional since the NCAAs were canceled in 2020.
   All three were members of the 2021 squad that finished second in Columbus, Ohio last year. Megan Furtney and Rylie Heflin are seeing action in their first postseason.
   Shepherd placed tied for 13th last year with rounds of 71, 77 and 72 for a 4-over, 220. Chen turned in a tied for 29th ledger with rounds of 73, 75 and 76 for a 224. Brinker was tied for 33rd with scores of 74, 75 and 76 for a 225.

LAST TIME AT VANDERBILT LEGENDS
   The last time Duke competed at the Vanderbilt Legends Golf Club was in the 2012 NCAA Championship. The Blue Devils placed 15th out of 24 teams with rounds of 289, 302, 301 and 300 for a 1,192 ledger. Lindy Duncan led Duke with a tied for sixth finish.

AVERAGES
   Go in depth with the Blue Devils to see how many birdies, greens, fairways and putts they have averaged during rounds in 2021-22.

                             Birdies   Greens   Fairways   Putts
Phoebe Brinker         2.6        13.0        10.0        32.6
Anne Chen                3.0        12.3        10.8        30.4
Megan Furtney          1.8        9.9            7.3        31.9
Rylie Heflin                2.3        12.0          9.5        31.8
Erica Shepherd         3.1        12.6        10.7        30.6

BRINKER WINS ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
   Duke sophomore Phoebe Brinker became the 15th Blue Devil in school history to win an ACC Championship as she carded an impressive 54-hole ledger of 10-under-par, 206, at the 6,212-yard, Par-72 The Reserve Golf Club in Pawley's Island, S.C.
   Brinker equaled former Duke standout Gina Kim's 10-under-par, 206, from a year ago for the Blue Devils' lowest 54-hole score in ACC action. The win for Brinker was her first collegiate victory and it marks the 16th time a Blue Devil has won the ACC individual crown over the past 23 championships.
   A native of Wilmington, Del., Brinker notched rounds of 70, 65 and 71 for a 10-under, 206, finishing six strokes ahead of Duke teammate Erica Shepherd, who turned in rounds of 75, 68 and 69 for a 4-under, 212. Brinker and Shepherd were two of only three golfers on the day to shoot under par.
   2022 marked the fifth time in school history Blue Devil teammates have placed in sole possession of first and second place in the ACC Championship. Brinker also became the sixth Duke golfer to win their first collegiate event at the ACC Championship and the first since Maria Garcia-Estrada in 2000. Brinker hit 37-of-42 fairways and 46-of-54 greens during the stroke play portion of the event.
   As a team, Duke placed third overall in stroke play and advanced to face second-seeded Florida State in the semifinals of match play, before falling, 3-0-2.
   Over the three rounds, the Blue Devils turned in scores of 295, 280 and 298 to finish with a 9-over, 873, which was the lowest 54-hole score of the spring for Duke.

SHEPHERD NAMED TO ARNOLD PALMER CUP SQUAD
   For the second straight summer, Erica Shepherd will don the red, white and blue as the junior was selected to participate in the Arnold Palmer Cup and will represent the United States July 1-3 at the Golf Club de Geneve in Vandoeuvres, Switzerland.
   Named after the late Arnold Palmer, the Ryder Cup-style tournament features the top male and female collegiate golfers, with the United States facing off against an International team.
   Shepherd, who hails from Greenwood, Ind., collected a 3-1 individual record, while helping the United States to a 33-27 victory over the Internationals last summer in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup at Rich Harvest Farms. A 2021 WGCA and Golfweek All-American, Shepherd recently placed second at the ACC Championship with rounds of 75, 68 and 69 for a 4-under, 212. She was the only golfer in the field to collect two rounds in the 60s over the 54 holes.
   On the season, Shepherd has notched a team-best 72.36 stroke average to go along with four top-five finishes. She placed second at both the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational and the ACC Championship. Shepherd owns nine rounds of even or under par and four scores in the 60s on the year. With her recent finish at ACCs, she moved up to No. 22 nationally in the Golfweek individual rankings.
   It will mark the fifth straight year Duke has featured a golfer in the annual event as Jaravee Boonchant (2018), Ana Belac (2019), Gina Kim (2021, 2020) and Shepherd (2021) have all participated. Blue Devil head coach Dan Brooks was the United States coach in 2020, while Duke associate head coach Jon Whithaus was an assistant coach in 2021 as well.

Blue Devils Head to Tennessee for Franklin Regional

Players Mentioned

Jaravee Boonchant

Phoebe Brinker

Anne Chen

Megan Furtney

Rylie Heflin

Gina Kim

Erica Shepherd

Duke information

Blue Devils Head to Tennessee for Franklin Regional

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Players Mentioned

Jaravee Boonchant

Phoebe Brinker

Anne Chen

Megan Furtney

Rylie Heflin

Gina Kim

Erica Shepherd

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Duke information