Duke golfer Phoebe Brinker put together her second top-10 finish at the NCAA Championship to lead the Blue Devils to a 14th-place finish.
The Duke women’s golf team finished 14th at the 2024 NCAA DI Women’s Championship on Monday after the Blue Devils ended the four-day tournament at the Omni La Costa North Course in California with a 32-over team total.
Senior Phoebe Brinker led the way as she finished in a tie for 10th at even-par. The Blue Devil shot a 3-under 69 in the opening round and made 15 birdies for the week, including four during Monday’s final round.
Teeing off on the 10th hole on Monday, she birdied three of her first eight holes to reach 3-under for the tournament. Four bogeys in her next six holes prevented her from competing for a top-five result, but she birdied the seventh to pull back to even for the tournament.
Brinker also finished tied for fifth at the NCAAs back in 2021 as a freshman, and she became the 10th Duke women’s golfer to finish inside of the top 10 at multiple national championship tournaments.
Emma McMyler and Katie Li, who both earned All-ACC nominations for the 2024 season, finished in a tie for 45th and a tie for 70th, respectively.
McMyler stood even-par after two rounds, but a 76-78 finish left her 10-over for the week. After seven birdies in her first two rounds, she made three over the final 36 holes. Li made a par or better on 28 of her closing 36 holes, but a quadruple bogey in the third round and two doubles in the fourth proved too much to overcome.
The high numbers weren’t out of the ordinary at the NCAAs as only nine of the 82 competition individuals finished under par. While he praised Brinker’s finish in a release from the team, Duke head coach Dan Brooks called the North Course one of the hardest the team has ever played.
Anne Chen finished in a tie for 43rd at 9-over, and she and Brinker were the only two Blue Devils to shoot 75 or better in all four rounds. Andie Smith finished in a tie for 72nd at 18-over, and her second-round 72 was tied for the third-best round on the team.
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.
Four golfers shared medalist honors after a crazy finish in Minnesota.
LAKE ELMO, Minn. — Kiara Romero stood next to her coach, Derek Radley, on the side of the 18th green.
The freshman at Oregon just walked in a birdie putt on the final hole of her first college tournament. She had no idea where it put her on the leaderboard, but everyone else did.
It gave her a share of the lead.
Radley whispered to Romero that she had won. She threw her hands over her mouth as tears filled her eyes.
Romero was one of four who shared medalists honors Wednesday after the final round of the 2023 Annika Intercollegiate at Royal Golf Club. She, along with South Carolina’s Louise Rydqvist, Duke’s Phoebe Brinker and Florida State’s Lottie Woad all finished at 8-under 208 for the tournament, a grand start to the year at one of the deepest events in women’s college golf.
Oregon freshman Kiara Romero birdies her final hole to move to 8 under, which will give her a tie for medalist honors in her first tournament. South Carolina will win the team title #ANNIKAInterpic.twitter.com/jgDbjgQgxh
“I thought I was going to have to make an eagle on the last hole to get the win,” Romero said. “I just wanted to make birdie so I could be in the top three or something.”
However, the birdie was good enough to earn Romero, the 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, a college win in her first start.
It was also the first win for Rydqvist, a junior who had a 4-foot putt for birdie on 18 to win outright, but it slid by. Nevertheless, she’s not going home empty handed, as South Carolina won the team title at 26 under, beating Oregon by three strokes and defending event champion and national champion Wake Forest by four.
Rydqvist also earned a coveted exemption into the inaugural The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican taking place Nov. 6-12 at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. One player from the winning team earned a spot in the field, and Gamecocks’ coach Kalen Anderson chose Rydqvist, from Sweden, for the honor.
South Carolina’s Louise Rydqvist earned an exemption to the 2023 The Annika after her team won the 2023 Annika Intercollegiate. (Photo: Ben Adelberg/The Back of the Range)
“I think I need a minute because it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Rydqvist said. “It feels absolutely incredible. I can’t wait to get down there.”
The Annika, an official LPGA event, will offer a $3.25 million purse, one of the largest outside of the majors. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Annika Foundation.
Each of the four medalists shot 2-under 70s in the final round. Wake Forest’s Mimi Rhodes and South Carolina’s Maylis Lamoure, who were the 36-hole leaders, both missed birdie putts on the final hole to join the winners and finished at even-par 72.
For Woad, a sophomore, it’s the third win of her collegiate career. Brinker, a senior, won for the second time, including a win at the 2022 ACC Championship. She finished fourth last year at the Annika Intercollegiate and lost in a playoff at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invite in the spring.
The four co-medalists of the 2023 Annika Intercollegiate, from L-R: South Carolina’s Louise Rydqvist, Duke’s Phoebe Brinker, Florida State’s Lottie Woad and Oregon’s Kiara Romero. (Photo: Ben Adelberg/The Back of the Range)
Meanwhile, South Carolina had a lead as big as 10 shots early in the final round, but it also shrunk to as small as one on the back nine. Two-time first-team All-American Hannah Darling and freshman Vairana Heck each made pivotal birdies down the stretch, as well as Rydqvist and Lamoure, to help South Carolina pull back away.
It’s the third time South Carolina has won the Annika Intercollegiate.
“It was awesome, what a great way to start the season,” Anderson said. “We had a really great qualifier, and it’s nice to see them come out and play great golf.”
Heck shot 4-under 68 on Wednesday, which tied the low round of the day, and finished T-9. Darling finished 17th at 3 under.
Thanks to a pair of 18th-hole eagles from Briana Chacon and Minori Nagano, Oregon moved into second place past defending champ Wake Forest. Freshman Macy Pate finished T-9 at 6 under for the Demon Deacons while Carol Chacarra tied for 15th at 5 under.
Chacon, Lamoure, Rhodes and Texas freshman Farah O’Keefe finished runner-up at 7 under.
Virginia is looking to clinch the victory come Wednesday.
LAKE ELMO, Minn. – Lauren Walsh stepped to the tee knowing she had a special round going.
The senior for Wake Forest knew the closing stretch at Royal Golf Club outside of Minneapolis provided multiple birdie opportunities. A short par 4. Two par 5s. After birdieing five of her past six holes, Walsh had an opportunity to go even lower.
“I made bogey on 15, which was plenty frustrating,” Walsh said while cracking a smile, “and then I missed a short birdie putt on 16. so I was determined to birdie one of the last two.”
And she did just that, bringing a loud cheer from her three teammates sitting greenside.
Walsh fired a 6-under 66, tied for low round of the day, to help propel herself and Wake Forest up the leaderboard during Tuesday’s second round of the ANNIKA Intercollegiate. The Demon Deacons, third in Golfweek‘s preseason women’s college team rankings, moved up four spots to second on the team leaderboard after a 9-under performance but still trail Virginia heading to Wednesday’s final round. Walsh sits tied for second place at 5 under for the tournament, and Emilia Migliaccio shot 4 under on the day and moved up to 2 under overall.
“Today gives us a lot of confidence moving forward,” Walsh said “We’ve all worked hard on our games over the summer at home. To come back together and see some good scores is always good.”
The 2022-23 Wake Forest women’s golf team at the 2022 ANNIKA Intercollegiate. (Photo: Taylor Britton, ANNIKA Foundation)
Wake Forest at one point was in a three-way tie for first with Virginia and South Carolina, which won last season’s tournament. But the Demon Deacons teed off before the Cavaliers and Gamecocks, and there was plenty of leaderboard shuffling before the conclusion of the second round.
Royal Golf Club played almost two strokes easier during the second round Tuesday compared to the first round. The five most difficult holes come on the front nine through two rounds, according to Golfstat. Meanwhile, of the six holes playing under par, four come on the back nine, with three of the four being Nos. 15, 17 and 18.
Virginia finished strong, as it leads following the second straight round at 9 under, six strokes ahead of Wake Forest. Sophomore Amanda Sambach, who shot 7-under 65 in the first round, is at 11 under for the tournament after a second-round 4-under 68 that included birdies on three of her final four holes. She leads by six strokes in the individual competition.
“The team stayed really patient on the front,” Virginia coach Ria Scott said. “There’s a stretch of really challenging holes. They did a great job of sticking to what they were doing and waiting for the opportunities on the back.”
South Carolina fell back after holding the lead alone about halfway through the second round. Mathilde Claisse and Hannah Darling both moved into the top five on the leaderboard, as the duo are tied for second with Walsh. Claisse was 5 under on the day, and Darling tied Walsh for low round of the day at 6-under 66. The Gamecocks are at 2 under, one behind Wake Forest and seven behind Virginia.
Duke had a strong back nine and sits at even par, tied with Michigan for fourth. Phoebe Brinker had four birdies, including three straight, on the back nine and she’s tied for seventh on the leaderboard at 3 under. Freshman Andie Smith birdied six holes on her back nine and shot 3 under for the day.
Florida’s Maisie Filler also finished strong, making birdie on her final three holes to finish 5 under in the second round. Filler is at 3 under for the tournament, in a tie for seventh. Michigan’s Monet Chun and Texas’ Bohyun Park are tied for fifth at 4 under. Auburn’s Megan Schofill is tied for ninth with Migliaccio at 2 under, rounding out the top 10.
The Duke sophomore claimed medalist honors at the 2022 ACC Championship, finishing at 10 under after 54 holes of competition at the The Reserve Golf Club in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. Brinker was the lone player to shoot under par in all three rounds and beat the runner-up, her Duke teammate Erica Shepherd, by an impressive six shots.
“I hit it pretty far, so the par fives are reachable, which always helps, but overall, I just hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and I had my game this week,” said Brinker.
