Taking a short trip over to Greensboro, N.C., the Blue Devils finished in 10th place to close out the ACC Championship. Although the team did not reach match play, a few players recorded impressive performances, including freshman Carla De Troia, sophomore Katie Li and junior Andie Smith.
Beginning the first round, Smith totaled a score of 2-under 70, accumulating four of her team’s 10 birdies during the entirety of round one.
“Her game has been very solid for a long time” head coach Dan Brooks said.
Additionally, freshman Anna Cañado Espinal and Li totaled a score of 78, De Troia had a 79 and senior Rylie Heflin had a 82 in the first round.
While posting a score of 79 in round one, De Troia turned things up a notch to play a fantastic second round. During the front nine she shot even-par but eventually shot 5-under par her last six holes to finish up with a score of 5-under 67. The Paris native had her lowest 18-hole score which included a few notable achievements. These spanned from hitting a 39-foot birdie on No. 13 to swinging a hybrid from 188 yards on No. 15 and landing only inches from the hole to secure an eagle. Her round of 67 was tied for the third-lowest individual round and Li also posted this score during her freshman season.
“That 67 was great. She's a freshman, so that was her first time on the golf course, and it's a really challenging course, very fast greens and a lot of undulations on the green, so the ball is always trying to roll off the green,” Brooks said. She did a great job in the tournament in general, especially that round.”
During the second round, Heflin, a senior having played her final ACC Championship, posted a score of 78 including an eagle and a birdie. The Avondale, Pa., native’s eagle was the second of her senior season.
Before heading into the final round, the Blue Devils sat at 14th overall. As the final round began, Li closed out the tournament with a great performance. She posted a bogey-free round of 7-under 65 which was a career low for the sophomore. Moreover, she had seven birdies throughout the 18-hole round while also accumulating four pars in a row.
De Troia’s amazing performance was not just limited to the second round. During the final round, she also shot under par with a score of 1-under 71. The freshman even recorded two birdies after her first five holes of the morning.
“I think Anna didn't have a great tournament, but it wasn't because she wasn't handling the situation. She was a little off, but I didn't get the feeling that it was because of the importance of the event,” Brooks said.
Putting her veteran skills to the test, Smith came up with a top-25 finish overall as she registered a 2-over 74 in the final round.
Overall, the Blue Devils did not play as well as they had hoped, However, there were some bright rounds, including Li scoring in the 60s for the ninth time as a Blue Devil and for the fourth time in her sophomore season. During one of the days of the tournament, she also birdied all four of the par-5-holes, and her 12 birdies were tied for eighth place.
Duke will now look ahead to the NCAA Regional Championship May 5-7, and Brooks still has great faith in his team.
“We've been preparing well, and we're going to keep doing that. A better choice would be to just be patient and keep believing in what you're doing and I've seen that pay off way more than any kind of blowing everything up and changing course,” Brooks said. So we'll just keep doing what we're doing and we’re a team that knows how to prepare.”
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