Duke Women’s Golf Opens Action in the Bahamas

BAHAMAS – The Duke women’s golf team opened action in the Bahamas on Monday at the Nexus Collegiate Invitational, which is being contested at the Par-72, 6,544-yard Albany Golf Resort.  The Blue Devils struggled on day one, but have 36 more holes remaining with 18 played each day.  

How It Happened

•    Duke featured only one birdie on the front nine, but came back on the final nine holes to roll in nine birdies.  

•    The Blue Devils had a rough start to the round shooting 33-over on the front nine as a squad, but was only 10-over on the back nine.

•    Freshman Andie Smith birdied two out of her final four holes to shoot a team-best 4-over, 76, on day one.  She tied for a team best with three birdies on the day.  Smith was 2-under over her final 12 holes to pace the Blue Devils.  She notched birdies on No. 9, No. 15 and No. 17.  Smith used her pitching wedge on No. 9 from 109 yards to two feet for birdie, rolled in a four-footer for birdie on No. 15 and drained a 25-footer for birdie on No. 17.  

•    Senior Erica Shepherd birdied both par-fives on the back nine as she shot 1-over on the final nine holes, while shooting 77 for the day.  Her first birdie of the day came on No. 11 as she stuck her approach tight and sank the 1-foot putt. She added another birdie on No. 15 from four feet.

•    Phoebe Brinker finished with an 82, Anne Chen shot 84 and Rylie Heflin signed for an 84 as well.

•    Playing as an individual, Megan Furtney shot an 82.  

•    In the team standings, Auburn shot even-par, 288, and leads the field by eight strokes. Wake Forest (296), Arizona State (302), LSU (305) and Oklahoma State (306) round out the top five.  Duke shot a 319 on day one.

Notes

•    Freshman Andie Smith and junior Phoebe Brinker led the Blue Devils with only 29 putts for the day.  

•    Only four golfers shot under par in round one – Chiara Tamburlini (Ole Miss), Paula Schulz-Hanssen (Arizona State), Mimi Rhodes (Wake Forest) and Carys Worby (Auburn) – who shot 1-under.  

•    Smith led all Blue Devils with 12 fairways hit on the day.

•    Smith and Erica Shepherd played the par-fives at 1-under for the day.

•    The average score of the first round was 78.22 for the field.

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