Duke Heads into Final Round with Four Golfers in Top Eight; Second Overall as Team

CLE ELUM, Wash.  – The Duke women’s golf team continued its solid play Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA Cle Elum Regional as the second-seeded Blue Devils carded an even-par, 288, and sits in second overall heading into the final round at the 6,306-yard, par-72 Tumble Creek Club in Cle Elum, Wash. 
 
The Blue Devils feature four golfers in the top seven of the individual leaderboard and all five in the top-17.  Senior Phoebe Brinker leads the way at fourth overall with a 2-under, 142, while graduate student Emma McMyler is tied for fifth (-1, 143) along with sophomore Andie Smith and senior Anne Chen at tied for seventh (E, 144).  Freshman Katie Li is tied for 17th (+4, 148). 
 
Duke owns a 36-hole ledger of 6-under, 570, which is the second-lowest 36-hole score at a NCAA Regional in Blue Devil history.  Stanford (558) leads, while Virginia (585), Arizona State (591), San Jose State (595) and Long Beach State (595) round out the top five teams. 
 

The top five teams following Wednesday’s final round advance to the NCAA Championship, which will be contested May 17-22 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.  Duke will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championship for the 34th time in program history and the 32nd time under head coach Dan Brooks in his 40 seasons. 
 
How It Happened

• As the Blue Devils opened action on Tuesday morning, the team dealt with very windy and chilly conditions along with occasional rain and snow.Duke managed only one birdie on the front nine by Andie Smith on No. 3 and made the turn at 8-over.Once again the Blue Devils started rolling in birdies on the back nine and had 12 over the final nine holes to shoot 8-under to close the day.
• Emma McMyler led the charge for Duke on the back nine as she shot 4-under, 32, on the way in to finish with a 3-under, 69.  She was solid on the front nine with eight pars and a bogey on No. 5.  McMyler, a product of San Antonio, Texas, turned in a key 15-foot par putt on the eighth hole to keep her score intact.  She sank an 18-foot birdie on the 400-yard, par-4 10th, but suffered just her second bogey on No. 12.  McMyler then strung together three straight birdies from 14-16.  She rolled in a 6-footer for birdie on No. 14, 2-putted for birdie on No. 15 and drained a 10-foot birdie on No. 16.  After a par on…