DURHAM, N.C. – The sixth-ranked Duke women's golf team received its 23rd consecutive bid to participate in NCAA Regional action Monday as the Blue Devils were seeded No. 2 in the South Bend Regional and will next travel to Notre Dame, Ind., from May 7-9 to play for an invitation to the NCAA Championship. The regional will be played at the 6,301-yard, par 72 Warren Golf Course.
Other teams competing in the Region are Arizona, Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, UC-Davis, Pepperdine, Tulane, Notre Dame, Purdue, Kent State, Louisville, San Jose State, North Carolina, Kentucky, Harvard, Troy, Eastern Kentucky and Youngstown State. The following individuals will also be competing – Madchen Ly (California State), Elizabeth Tong (Indiana), Martina Edberg (California State), Leilanie Kim (Idaho), Gabby Yurik (Michigan State) and Michaela Fletcher (Memphis).
The regional will be a three-day, 54-hole tournament with 18 holes played each day. Duke will open action on Thursday, May 7 on hole No. 1 at 9:39 a.m., along with Arizona and Oklahoma State.
The top six teams and top three individuals (not on one of those eight teams) advance on to the NCAA Championships to be played May 22-27 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. The Blue Devils have won a total of six NCAA Championships over the last 16 years ---1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2014.
The top three seeds in the other regions were – Raleigh (South Carolina, LSU, Mississippi State), San Antonio (UCLA, Washington, Texas A&M) and St. George (Southern California, Arkansas, Virginia). A record nine ACC squads received invitations to regionals – Duke, Virginia, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Florida State and Miami.
The team enters regional play with six top five finishes on the season, highlighted by wins at the Tar Heel Invitational and Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. Two different Blue Devils have collected individual victories on the season –
Sandy Choi at the Cougar Classic and
Leona Maguire at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and the ACC Championship.
In the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, Maguire is listed No. 1, while
Celine Boutier (10),
Sandy Choi (55) and
Gurbani Singh (84) are ranked.
Head coach
Dan Brooks has now guided the Blue Devils to 121 career wins and 18 of Duke's 19 ACC titles. Brooks has led the Blue Devils to six NCAA Championships (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2014) and has taken his squad to the NCAA Regionals every year since 1993.
Duke has won NCAA regional title in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2013.
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