Brinker Vaults Up Leaderboard with 68 in Round Two

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – With a 3-under-par, 68, on Tuesday at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, Duke women’s golf junior Phoebe Brinker vaulted up the individual leaderboard into a tie for third and only three shots off the lead at the 6,220-yard, Par-71 Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C.

Brinker, a native of Wilmington, Del., owns a 1-under-par, 141, through 36 holes, after carding her eighth career round in the 60s.  Blue Devil freshman Andie Smith turned in her fourth career even or under par score with an even-par, 71, in the second round to help Duke shoot the tied for fifth-best score of the day.  

How It Happened

•    Duke opened the second round on the back nine and had four birdies over its first four holes.  

•    Phoebe Brinker had things working early as she hit her 9-iron to 15 feet and drained the downhill birdie putt to get to 1-under.  She made the turn at 1-under, 34, as she had eight pars and one birdie.  After suffering her lone bogey of the day on No. 1, Brinker sank a 15-foot birdie on No. 4 to get back to 1-under.  She added another birdie on No. 8 as she hit a 6-iron from 168 yards to 10 feet and drained the putt to get to 2-under.  Brinker hit 16 greens, 11 fairways and had 33 putts.  

•    Freshman Andie Smith turned in Duke’s first birdie of the day as she sank a 10-footer on No. 10 to move into the red numbers.  After bogeys on No. 12 and No. 14, Smith rolled in a 15-footer on No. 18 to make the turn at even-par, 35.  On the final nine, she opened par, bogey and then drained a 17-foot birdie on No. 3 to get back to even.  Smith parred the final six holes of the day to finish with a 71.   She is now tied for 35th with a 148.  

•    After opening the day with six pars and three bogeys, sophomore Rylie Heflin shot 1-under-par over the final nine holes to finish with 2-over, 73.  She had a key 2-putt par from 35 feet on No. 2 and then rolled in a 25-foot birdie on No. 4 from off the green.  Heflin had a sand save on No. 7 as she drained a 15-foot par to help her finish strong.  She is tied for 44th with a 149, after hitting 12 fairways, 11 greens and rolling 30 putts.  

•    Senior Erica Shepherd opened the day with a 1-over-par, 36, on the front nine as she sank an 11-footer for birdie on the 345-yard, par-4 11th.  Shepherd struggled on…