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Smith Wraps Up a Memorable Month, Eyes What's Next
5/23/2025 7:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
DURHAM, N.C. — In the span of a month, Duke women's golfer Andie Smith aced a hole at Augusta National, punched her ticket to the U.S. Women's Open and graduated a year early — all before turning the page to her final year competing in Durham.
Smith has managed to balance the demands of elite-level golf and academics while seizing opportunities that few college athletes ever reach. Her whirlwind spring reflects both the drive that's defined her Duke career and the momentum she's building heading into her final season.
A native of Hobe Sound, Fla., Smith has steadily risen through the ranks since arriving in Durham.
She is coming off a career-best season in 2024-25, in which she collected her first collegiate victory at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational. She carded rounds of 68, 66 and 69 for a 7-under, 203, to help Duke also win the team title at the event. Smith totaled a career-low 72.33 stroke average to go along with team bests in even/under-par rounds (12), rounds in the 60s (6) and birdies (86). She logged three top-10 and six top-20 finishes. With her tied for 17th finish at the NCAA Norman Regional, Smith became the 11th Blue Devil to finish in the top 20 in her first three NCAA Regional appearances.
In early April, Smith had the opportunity to play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur, which features the top amateur golfers in the world. Despite missing the cut, it still made for quite the valuable and memorable experience.
"It was a world-class event, a stage that I was grateful to be on," Smith said. "With my family and friends watching, it meant a lot."
The experience became even more special when she aced the par-3 eighth hole while playing the par-3 course during the practice round alongside her former and future Duke teammates.
"I went out with Phoebe Brinker and Avery McCrery," she said. "We were all joking about who was going to make a hole-in-one and it happened to be me."
Still riding high from her hole-in-one, she capitalized on another major opportunity before April was over.
On April 28, Smith had the chance to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Women's Open at the Duke University Golf Club, where she finished in second place with a 3-under, 141, earning one of the two qualifying spots from the site.
"It was a great experience to have the qualifier at our home golf course," she said.
After a successful junior season being named to the All-ACC Women's Golf Team, qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open was a testament to her dedication to the sport.
"The work that I'm putting in is paying off," she said. "It was definitely proof that a lot of things are falling into place."
The U.S. Open, one of the five major championships in women's golf, will mark Smith's first LPGA event, with this year's tournament being played May 28 through June 1 at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis.
Similar to playing at Augusta, she is ready to embrace the stage.
"I'm really looking forward to it," she said. "It's something that I've always dreamed of."
The conclusion of her junior season also marked a unique milestone as Smith became the first golfer to graduate in only three years under head coach Dan Brooks, who has coached Duke women's golf since 1984.
"Andie is special," Brooks said. "I say this for a few important reasons. First off, she's a natural leader — leading by example, on and off the golf course, in every way. By graduating in three years, Andie gained an 'extra senior year,' essentially, this past season, and absolutely stepped up and helped lead our team (along with senior Rylie Heflin) in that senior capacity. Second, she was blessed with abundant energy, passion and intelligence. No one fills up a day like Andie Smith. Third, no one explores options and makes thoughtful choices like Andie — sometimes even when convincing her coach is part of that process! Graduating in three years and pursuing an MMS is an example. Andie has been such a selfless leader that I haven't minded bending for her when possible. It's been loads of fun having her passion and leadership on our team."
She will return to campus in July to pursue a master's in management through Duke's MMS: Foundations of Business program, while also preparing for the upcoming season as a graduate student.
"I embraced that I could take on more of an academic load while still balancing the golf aspects," Smith said. "Now, going into the Fuqua MMS program, I'll really be able to hone in a lot of studies that I've been wanting to pursue with stuff that I'm very interested in, while also playing golf at Duke."
The tassel may have turned, but her summer is just heating up.
After playing the U.S. Open, Smith's next stop will be The Women's Amateur Championship in Nairn, Scotland, a tournament that's considered one of the highest honors in women's amateur golf alongside the U.S. Women's Amateur, which she is also looking to play in August.
With a degree in hand, a U.S. Open appearance on the horizon and her final collegiate season still to come, she is balancing the end of one chapter with the start of another.
This summer marks the start of a new phase, not the end of one.
"Golf is the game of a lifetime," Smith said. "I'm always learning on the golf course. There's never a day — whether it's practice or a tournament or just a regular round of golf — when I'm not learning something new about myself, and I really enjoy that aspect of it. Using these past three years at Duke in terms of development as a player, I'm so grateful for, and knowing that I have another year to improve and be in this program, I'm looking forward to the future."
To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's golf, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWGOLF".
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