Two-time ANNIKA Award recipient and former Blue Devils star Leona Maguire made the championship match at the T-Mobile Match Play this weekend.
Former Duke women’s golf star Leona Maguire nearly won her third LPGA Tour event over the weekend, coming up short in the title match at the T-Mobile Match Play on Sunday.
The Blue Devil unfortunately ran into a buzzsaw in the championship match at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. World No. 1 Nelly Korda defeated Maguire 4-and-3 for her fourth consecutive victory and the 12th LPGA title of her career.
Maguire, 29, played for Duke from 2015 to 2018, and she became one of the most decorated amateur golfers of all time. She won the ANNIKA Award, given to the best women’s collegiate golfer in the country, in both 2015 and 2017, one of just three players to win the award twice. Maguire spent 135 weeks atop the World Amateur Golf Rankings, the second-most in the history of the women’s rankings. Golfweek declared her the best women’s collegiate golfer of the decade in 2019.
Now up to 23rd in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Maguire’s professional career has come into its own over the past two years. She broke through for her maiden title at the 2022 LPGA Drive On Championship before winning her second at the 2023 Meijer LPGA Classic last June. She’s finished inside the top ten at three majors since the summer of 2021, and she spent two weeks inside the top 10 in the world rankings last summer.
Sunday was Maguire’s third top-13 finish in seven LPGA Tour starts this season, promising form with the first women’s major two weeks away.
The Blue Devils women’s golf team ended the fall with a victory but couldn’t extend that momentum to their first tournament of 2024. However, a surging final round showed promise for the future.
The Duke women’s golf team played its first tournament of the spring season from Sunday to Tuesday at the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida.
The Blue Devils’ first action of 2024 ended with a tie for 13th place among the 17-team field with none of the team’s five individual competitors logging a top-25 finish, but a valiant finish offers promise for future tournaments.
After a four-stroke comeback in the Landfall Tradition for a victory to close the fall schedule, the Blue Devils seemed prime to capitalize on their momentum. However, Duke struggled to find any in the first two rounds. Phoebe Brinker, Emma McMyler, Anne Chen, Katie Li, and Rylie Heflin combined for 17 birdies across their opening 36 holes, and none of the team’s five golfers finished with a round better than a 76 across the second round.
The flat start left the Blue Devils at the bottom of the leaderboard with one round to play, a disappointing follow-up to their massive comeback to end the fall. However, Duke refused to throw in the towel, and a resurgent final day left a much better taste in everyone’s mouths.
Three different Blue Devils broke par over the final 18 holes in Melbourne. Chen, who started on the 16th hole, birdied two of her first three out of the gate en route to a 2-under 70. McMyler fired a bogey-free 69 to vault her up to a tie for 26th, finishing the week at 3-over, and Li made five birdies to put together a matching round of 69.
Overall, Duke ended the final day with a team score of 7-under 281, the third-lowest round in the field, to rise four spots.
Five other ACC teams participated in the Moon Golf Invitational. Louisville finished seventh, one spot ahead of Florida State and two spots ahead of Clemson. Wake Forest finished 12th, just four strokes above the Blue Devils, and Virginia Tech finished last among the 17 teams in attendance.
Duke golfer Phoebe Brinker, who was being celebrated for her invite to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, wowed the Cameron Indoor crowd with a crazy full-court putt on Saturday
Brinker and her teammate, Emma McMyler, were being celebrated for their invite to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in early April.
The Blue Devils asked the star golfers to try and make a full-court putt across the court during the halftime break.
Brinker proceeded to do exactly what you’d expect one of the best collegiate golfers in the country to do in that situation. She drained it, earning a big cheer from the home crowd.
Duke fans will get to see Brinker and McMyler in action for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur during the first weekend of April. It will be Brinker’s third appearance in the event.
The women’s golf team gets back into action next weekend with the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida. The tournament will be played from February 18-20.
“I am more than excited to start a new chapter of my life.”
The Duke women’s golf team has some big shoes to fill this Spring.
Senior Gina Kim, a key player for the Blue Devil’s 2019 national championship team, announced on Wednesday she will turn professional after earning her LPGA card during Q-Series last month.
“I am more than excited to start a new chapter of my life,” said Kim via a release. “Although it is bittersweet to say goodbye to my home for the past four years, I am more energized and determined to make my mark on the LPGA. I am immensely grateful to my team, coaches, and support staff here at Duke University and Duke Athletics for constantly supporting me and my passion for golf.”
According to a release from the school, Kim will attempt to Monday qualify for the first two LPGA events in Florida: the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio (Jan. 27-30) and the LPGA Drive on Championship (Feb. 3-5).
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In 24 starts Kim earned a pair of victories and a 72.92 scoring average. She finished in the top 10 in a third of her appearances for the Blue Devils and was a two-time All-American.
All eyes will be on Erica Shepherd to shoulder the load, with underclassmen Ryle Heflin, Anne Chen, and Phoebe Brinker all more than capable to step into a bigger role.
Boonchant will have the benefit of a direct line to Inkster as a result of winning the award designated for college seniors.
The unanswered questions of a newbie professional are many. Jaravee Boonchant, a member of Duke’s 2019 national title team who turned professional after the Blue Devils’ latest trip to the NCAA Championship in May, would like some sense of what faces her.
She’s about to have a direct line into one of the game’s greats to clear up some of the mystery.
Boonchant has been named the winner of the Juli Inkster Senior Award presented by Workday, recognizing the highest ranked women’s Division I collegiate golfer in her final year of eligibility for the 2020-21 season. Boonchant, from Thailand, is the second winner of the award, following 2020 winner Natalie Srinivasan of Furman.
Inkster’s name is particularly appropriate on the award, given that the three-time All-American at San Jose State (1979-82) elected not to turn professional until after receiving her college degree, winning 17 individual titles during her college career.
“Jaravee had an amazing college career at Duke and stuck it out through the challenges of the global pandemic to earn her college degree at one of the most respected higher education institutions in the country. That says a lot about not only her performance on the course but also about her goals and passions away from it,” Inkster said in a release. “I look forward to mentoring Jaravee as she navigates the next stage in her professional and personal journeys.
“I also want to thank the Women’s Golf Coaches Association and Workday for partnering with me on this award,” continued Inkster. “To have a player be honored for her commitment to her school, coaches and her teammates is what this award is all about.”
Duke golfs during the ACC Women’s Golf Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC. (Photo by Jaylynn Nash/ACC)
Boonchant graduated from Duke in April with a degree in Statistics. A three-time All-ACC and four-time All-American selection, she accumulated a 71.99 stroke average over four seasons, the third-best career stroke average in Duke history. She finished her senior season ranked No. 13 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
She turned professional after the national championship and began to chart her professional career, playing the Texas Women’s Open (she finished T5) and competing on the Women’s All-Pro Tour.
Not long after starting that adventure, she got a call from Inkster herself, who broke the news that Boonchant had won her namesake award. All Boonchant knew was that she was supposed to pick up the phone call that would be coming from a number she didn’t recognize.
“So when I got a call from Juli, I was like wow,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if she called to say that I won the award or if someone else won it.”
Boonchant Monday qualified for the LPGA’s Marathon Classic earlier this summer but hasn’t played another tour event. As a perk of the award, she’ll play the Cambia Portland Classic, taking place at the Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, Oregon, Sept. 16-19. Then it’s on to Stage II of LPGA Q-School – Boonchant also got a pass into the second stage based on winning the award.
“After I turned pro I didn’t really have a mentor,” said Boonchant, who says former Duke players like Ana Belac as well as Thai LPGA player Pajaree Anannarukarn have fielded some of her many questions. Duke assistant coach Jon Whithaus also helped her on her way.
Professional golf is a very different arena, however, and with her parents back in Thailand, Boonchant is largely navigating it alone. She has booked her own rental cars and made her own hotel arrangements in this first foray into the next stage.
“It would be nice if I could know beforehand the difficulties I might face on this journey,” said Boonchant when asked what she hopes to learn from her time with Inkster.
With the award, Boonchant receives $50,000 from WorkDay as starting-out money to help with expenses. But she also scores face time with Inkster in the form of a two-day retreat with the LPGA legend.
“I think I would love to just play a round with her,” Boonchant said. That would also offer the chance to pick her brain on all things LPGA, from choosing tournaments to mental game to dealing with the pressure.
