Women’s Golf Places Second; Moves on to Match Play at ACCs

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Behind an ACC-record 8-under-par, 64, by junior Phoebe Brinker on Friday, the Duke women’s golf team turned in a second-place finish in the stroke play portion of the ACC Championship with an 11-under-par, 853, to move on to match play at the 6,092-yard, par-72 Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

Brinker, the 2022 ACC Championship Individual Champion, turned in an impressive 12-under-par, 204, on her way to finishing second overall behind Virginia’s Amanda Sambach, who shot an ACC-record 14-under, 202.  The 54-hole total of 204 equals the lowest score by a Blue Devil in the ACC Championship, which was previously set by Brittany Lang in 2004.  

The Blue Devils featured four in the top-18 of the final leaderboard – Brinker (2, -12), Anne Chen (9, -2), Megan Furtney (T15, +3) and Andie Smith (T15, +3).  

Wake Forest earned the top seed with a 19-under, 845, followed by Duke (853), Clemson (857) and Virginia (865).  The second-seeded Blue Devils will face the third-seeded Tigers in match play on Saturday, while the top-seeded Demon Deacons will take on fourth-seeded Virginia.  

How It Happened

•    The Blue Devils were solid to start Friday’s final round of stroke play and remained in second place for most of the front nine.  Duke struggled midway through the round and fell into third behind Clemson.  The Blue Devils caught fire down the stretch shooting 9-under-par over the final five holes to increase their score to 11-under-par.  

•    Duke carded rounds of 283, 283 and 287 for an 853, which equaled the Blue Devils’ lowest 54-hole score of the season, which took place in the fall at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup.  

•    Junior Phoebe Brinker entered the final round six shots back of the individual leader, Amanda Sambach.  Brinker tried to mount a rally early by sinking an 8-foot birdie on No. 2.  She then headed to the par-5 fifth hole and got a friendly kick off the cart path on her drive.  Brinker had 150 yards into the green and used her 8-iron and placed it to 10 feet for eagle.  She rolled in her third eagle of the week and was 3-under early.  Brinker closed the front nine…