Duke Heads to ACC Championship Looking for 23rd Title

2024 ACC Championship
April 18-21, 2024 • Wilmington, N.C.
Porters Neck Country Club
54 Holes Stroke Play; Top 4 to Match Play

DUKE HEADS TO ACC CHAMPIONSHIP LOOKING FOR 23rd TITLE
              The sixth-ranked Duke women's golf team will head to the ACC Championship this week in search of its 23rd title in school history. The championship will take place from April 18-21 and will be contested at the 6,142-yard, par 72 Porters Neck Country Club in Wilmington, N.C.
              The format of the championship will feature 18 holes of stroke play on April 18-20 with the conclusion of play on April 20 deciding the individual champion. The top four teams in stroke play following 54 holes will advance to match play on April 21. The semifinal matches will be played on Sunday, April 21 followed by the championship match in the afternoon.
              The 2024 event will mark the 35th ACC Championship in league history and the first appearance at Porters Neck Country Club.
              The Blue Devils have had a history of success at the ACC Championship, claiming 22 titles in program history, including six out of the last 11 years (2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021). Duke has also collected ACC Individual Champions in 16 of the past 24 events. The Blue Devils have featured two out of the last three ACC Individual champions with Gina Kim and Phoebe Brinker winning in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
              Head coach Dan Brooks has led the squad to 21 of the 22 championships over his 39 seasons at Duke.

COVERAGE
              Fans will be able to follow the action with live scoring at www.GolfStat.com while ACC Network Extra will provide coverage for the semifinals and finals of match play on Sunday.   Ryan Burr (PXP) and Suzy Whaley (Analyst) will provide the call for ACC Network Extra. There will be a championship recap show that will air May 6 at 8 p.m., on ACC Network. Everyone can also follow along on Twitter (@DukeWGOLF), Instagram (DukeWGolf) and Facebook.

THE SEEDINGS/PAIRINGS
              The seedings for the 2024 ACC Championship were done by the latest Scoreboard rankings -- Wake Forest (1), Duke (2), Florida State (3), Clemson (4), Virginia (5), North Carolina (6), Miami (7), Virginia Tech (8), Louisville (9), NC State (10), Notre Dame (11) and Boston College (12). Duke will tee off on Thursday, April 18 in the first round beginning at 9:50 a.m., through 10:30 a.m., off hole No. 1. On Friday and Saturday, tee times will be from 9-10:30 a.m., off split tees. Following Saturday's round, the individual champion awards ceremony and match play lineup announcements will take place. Match play semifinal action will go from 8-8:36 a.m., off split tees on Sunday with the championship team match play lineups announced after the matches are concluded. Sunday's championship match will tee off from 1:15 p.m.

THE DUKE LINEUP
              Duke will feature a lineup of graduate student Emma McMyler, seniors Phoebe Brinker and Anne Chen, sophomore Andie Smith and freshman Katie Li. Sophomore Rylie Heflin will be a substitute.

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 $11,185.55 so far this season and over the seven years of the program, it has raised $118,962.05.
              In November of 2023, the Duke Children's Hospital dedicated a room for the program since the Blue Devils reached the $100,000 mark in earnings.
              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. 8 in the latest Scoreboard golf rankings, while also being No. 6 in the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) ledger.
              Individually, in the Scoreboard rankings five Blue Devils are ranked in the top 115 -- Emma McMyler (50), Katie Li (62), Anne Chen (91), Phoebe Brinker (93) and Andie Smith (115).

TRENDS/NOTES
              •           Duke heads back to Wilmington, N.C., for the second time this season. The Blue Devils won the Landfall Tradition to conclude the fall season in October. The ACC Championship has never been contested in Wilmington.
              •            Senior Anne Chen owns a career-best 72.05 stroke average this season with three top-10 finishes. She had six top-10 placements her first three years at Duke. Chen's average birdies (+0.6), greens (+1.6), fairways (+0.5) and putts (-0.5) are all improved from a season ago.
              •            Graduate student Emma McMyler has made an immediate impact with the Blue Devils in 2023-24. She leads the squad with a 71.62 stroke average and owns a tied for team-best 13 rounds of even or under par.
              •            As a team, Duke has posted a 4.82 scoring average and is 73-under-par on par-5 holes this season.
              •            Sophomore Andie Smith owns a tied for team best with five rounds in the 60s and ranks second on the team with 12 rounds of even or under par. She has dropped her average putts from 32.0 as a rookie to a team-best 31.0 this season.
              •            In the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings, Emma McMyler (80), Phoebe Brinker (99), Katie Li (107), Anne Chen (185) and Andie Smith (260) are listed. Duke's recruiting class of Anna Canado Espinal (162) and Carla De Troia (862) will join the squad in August.

BRINKER RETURNS TO ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
              Over her last two appearances in the ACC Championship, Duke senior Phoebe Brinker has been more than impressive. She has carded a combined 22-under-par in the events to finish first (2022) and second (2023).
              Brinker posted rounds of 70-65-71 to finish 10-under, 206, at the 2022 championship and then secured scores of 71-69-64 to finish 12-under, 204, in 2023.

GOING LOW THIS SPRING
              In three tournaments this spring, the Blue Devils have totaled a 72.83 stroke average and have been led by Andie Smith (71.50), Emma McMyler (71.78), Katie Li (72.00) and Anne Chen (74.17).

IMPRESSIVE FRESHMAN
              Duke rookie Katie Li has turned in an impressive freshman campaign with the Blue Devils.
              Li is currently ranked No. 62 nationally and is the second-highest ACC freshman ranked in the Scoreboard listing behind Wake Forest's Macy Pate (42).
              A product of Basking Ridge, N.J., Li is the only ACC rookie to win a tournament and one of only six freshmen nationally in the top 70 of the rankings that have won a tournament -- Maria Jose Marin (Arkansas), Kiara Romero (Oregon), Farah O'Keefe (Texas), Molly Smith (Central Florida) and Lauren Kim (Texas).
              Li currently features the seventh-best single-season stroke average for a rookie in Duke history (72.52), is tied for 10th on the freshmen list with 12 rounds of even or under par and is one of 16 rookies in Blue Devil history to win a tournament.

BLUE DEVILS IN THE 60S
              Duke currently features five golfers who have shot 68 or better in a round this season -- Emma McMyler, Anne Chen, Katie Li, Andie Smith and Phoebe Brinker.
              The Blue Devils have featured this only four other times in Duke history --2018-19 (Jaravee Boonchant, Ana Belac, Gina Kim, Virginia Elena Carta, Miranda Wang), 2013-14 (Celine Boutier, Yu Liu, Laetitia Beck, Sandy Choi, Alejandra Cangrejo), 2005-06 (Amanda Blumenherst, Liz Janangelo, Anna Grzebien, Jennie Lee, Jennifer Pandolfi), 2003-04 (Liz Janangelo, Brittany Lang, Virada Nirapathpongporn, Leigh Anne Hardin, Anna Grzebien).
              Of the four previous seasons this has taken place, the Blue Devils won the NCAA Championship in three of those -- 2018-19, 2013-14 and 2005-06.

TOP STROKE AVERAGE
              The Blue Devils currently feature a 72.38 stroke average heading into ACC Championship play. It currently ranks as the second-lowest in school history.

Lowest Scoring Average in a Season
1.           72.23    2013-14
2.           72.38    2023-24
3.           72.72    2017-18
4.           72.73    2018-19
5.           72.74    2003-04
6.           73.02    2020-21
7.           73.63    2019-20
8.           73.68    2005-06
9.           73.81    2016-17
10.         73.88    2012-13

AVERAGES
              Go in depth with the Blue Devils to see how many birdies, greens, fairways and putts they average during rounds in 2023-24.

                                           Birdies Greens Fairways Putts
Emma McMyler               3.5         13.8       11.2       31.6
Phoebe Brinker                3.3         13.4       10.3       32.0
Anne Chen                       3.3         13.7       11.4       31.7
Andie Smith                     3.2         13.0       10.8       31.0
Rylie Heflin                       2.5         12.2       9.3         31.8
Katie Li                              3.0         13.0       10.4       31.5

ACC CHAMPIONS
              A total of 15 different Blue Devils have won ACC individual titles -- Mary Anne Widman, 1984; Evelyn Orley, 1985; Kathi Poppmeier, 1994; Jenny Chuasiriporn, 1996 and 1997; Beth Bauer, 1999; Maria Garcia-Estrada, 2000; Virada Nirapathpongporn, 2001; Candy Hannemann, 2002; Brittany Lang, 2004 and 2005; Amanda Blumenherst, 2006, 2007 & 2008 Lindy Duncan, 2012; Celine Boutier, 2014; Leona Maguire, 2015, 2017 and 2018; Gina Kim, 2021; Phoebe Brinker, 2022.
              As a team, Duke has won 22 ACC titles -- 1984, 1985, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2021. The Blue Devils won 13 in a row from 1996-2008.

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE
              Duke will travel a team that features two members of the 2021 ACC Championship squad. Phoebe Brinker and Anne Chen.
              Both were members of the 2021 squad that won the ACC Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. Andie Smith will see action in her second ACC Championship, while Emma McMyler and Katie Li will compete in their first.
              While at Xavier, McMyler competed in the Big East Championship three times placing T1st as a sophomore, first as a freshman and first as a junior.
              Chen turned in a fourth place ledger with rounds of 71, 71 and 71 for a 3-under, 213, in 2021, was tied for 24th in 2022 with rounds of 75, 72 and 77 for a 224 and was ninth in 2023 with scores of 75, 71 and 68 for a 2-under, 214.
              Brinker was tied for 32nd with scores of 74, 74 and 78 for a 226 as a freshman and then won the ACC title in 2022 with scores of 70, 65 and 71 for a 10-under, 206. Last year, Brinker posted rounds of 71, 69 and 64 for a 12-under, 204, to finish second.
              In her first appearance in 2023, Smith turned in scores of 68, 73 and 78 for a 219, which was tied for 15th.

Full set of notes are attached...

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's golf, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWGOLF".

Duke Centennial
In 2024, Duke celebrates its Centennial, marking one hundred years since Trinity College became Duke University. Duke will use this historic milestone to deepen the understanding of its history, inspire pride and strengthen bonds and partnerships, and prepare for a second century of continued excellence and impactful leadership. To learn more, please visit 100.duke.edu

Duke Heads to ACC Championship Looking for 23rd Title

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