Shepherd, Furtney Pace Duke in Opening Round at NCAAs

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Duke women’s golf team opened the NCAA Championship on Friday at 6,368-yard, par 72 Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., with an even-par, 288, and currently sits tied for seventh overall on the team leaderboard.  

The Blue Devils were paced by a pair of seniors as Erica Shepherd turned in a 2-under, 70, and Megan Furtney carded a 1-under, 71, as Duke featured the first tee time at 6:10 a.m., local time in Arizona.  Following the morning wave of teams, the Blue Devils’ score of 288 was the fourth-best 18-hole score.  

How It Happened

•    Duke opened its first round on hole No. 10 and was four-over-par on the hole.

•    The Blue Devils were 4-under-par following that opening hole and went on to make the turn at 1-under-par.

•    Following a flurry of birdies on holes No. 2-4, Duke took the team lead with a 5-under-par ledger.  The Blue Devils dropped eight shots on holes No. 4 and No. 5 to fall back down the leaderboard.  

•    On holes No. 10 and No. 5, Duke was a combined 9-over-par.

•    As a team, Duke posted 18 birdies on the day, which ranked tied for third among the field.

•    Erica Shepherd opened her round with Duke’s lone birdie on hole No. 10 as she rolled in a four-foot putt to get in the red.  She suffered a 3-putt bogey on No. 12, but got back in the red by draining an 18-foot birdie on No. 16.  Shepherd had a key 10-foot par putt on No. 18 to make the turn with a 1-under, 35.  On the back, she hit 7-of-9 greens and posted eight pars.  Shepherd collected her third birdie of the day on No. 4 as she stuck her approach to three feet and went on to finish with a 70.  She hit 10 fairways, 14 greens and rolled 30 putts.  Shepherd is tied for 10th overall, after day one.

•    Megan Furtney played bogey-free golf on Friday for her first 13 holes and was able to reach 3-under-par.  After an up-and-down par on No. 10, she collected a 6-foot birdie on No. 11 to get under par early.  Furtney hit all of her greens from No. 11-18 and made the turn with a 1-under, 35.  On the back, she hit her pitching wedge from 127 yards to 10 feet for birdie on No. 2 and then reached 3-under after sinking a 12-foot birdie on No. 4.  Furtney missed the green on the par-3 fifth hole and hit the fairway bunker on No. 9 to lead to her only…