Chen, Blue Devils Start Strong, Lead NCAA Regional

CLE ELUM, Wash.  – The second-seeded Duke women’s golf program featured a strong start Monday at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional as the Blue Devils carded a 6-under-par, 282, and hold the team lead with 36 holes remaining at the Tumble Creek Club in Cle Elum, Wash. 
 
Duke senior Anne Chen led the way for the Blue Devils as she fired a 5-under, 67, and leads the field by one stroke.  As the Blue Devils made the turn and early on the back nine, Duke fell down the leaderboard and were 4-over as a team.  Duke caught fire and rolled in 14 birdies over the final seven holes to roar into the lead. 
 
All five Blue Devils are in the top-22 of the individual leaderboard, including three in the top 10 – Chen (1, 67), Phoebe Brinker (T5, 70) and Andie Smith (T10, 72). 
 
In the team standings, Duke leads with a 6-under, 282, followed by Stanford (284), Arizona State (288), Virginia (289), Long Beach State (292), Kansas (294) and San Jose State (298). 
 
How It Happened

• After an early bogey on No. 2, Anne Chen was solid the rest of her round with six birdies, including one on each of the five par-5 holes.She got things started on No. 4 as she hit her sand wedge from 100 yards to four feet for birdie.Chen, a product of Sugar Land, Texas, rolled in a 6-footer for birdie on No. 8 to make the turn at 1-under, 35.On the back nine, she reeled off four birdies over a span of seven holes.Chen hit her 60-degree wedge from 79 yards on No. 12 to six feet for birdie and then drained a 4-footer for birdie on No. 14.She connected on a 16-foot birdie on No. 15 and then hit her second shot just short of the green on No. 18 and got up-and-down for birdie to close her round.Chen hit 11 fairways, 12 greens and had a career-best 24 putts.
• Senior Phoebe Brinker turned in a 2-under, 70, in the first round, which is her second-lowest score in NCAA Regional action over her career.After opening at 1-over-par through 10 holes, Brinker closed strong with birdies on No. 14, No. 15 and No. 17 to finish at 2-under.A native of Wilmington, Del., Brinker parred the first seven holes before collecting her first birdie on the par-5 eighth hole as she chipped to four feet and made the putt to get to 1-under.After back-to-back bogeys on No. 9 and No. 10, she parred three straight and then hit the green in two on both the 14th and 15th…