DURHAM, N.C. – The fifth-ranked Duke women's golf team received its 24th consecutive bid to participate in NCAA Regional action Monday as the Blue Devils were seeded No. 1 in the Baton Rouge Regional and will next travel to Baton Rouge, La., from May 5-7 to play for an invitation to the NCAA Championship. The regional will be played at the University Club Course.
Other teams competing in the region are Florida, Arizona State, Washington, Oregon, South Carolina, East Carolina, NC State, Houston, BYU, August, LSU, New Mexico, Denver, Harvard, North Florida, Wichita State and Fairleigh Dickinson.
The regional will be a three-day, 54-hole tournament with 18 holes played each day. Duke will open action on Thursday, May 5.
Duke will return to the University Club course for the second time over the last six weeks as the Blue Devils cruised to both the team and individual titles from March 20-22. As a team, Duke turned in a 54-hole ledger of 881 to win by 16 strokes, while senior
Celine Boutier won by a Blue Devil record 14 strokes with an eight-under-par, 208.
It will mark the third time in school history the Blue Devils have been sent to Baton Rouge, La., for a regional. In 2002 and 2007, Duke won the East Region titles. Amanda Blumenherst spearheaded a 20-under-par, 844, for the Blue Devils in 2007 as she turned in a 10-under-par, 206, as she shot nine-under, 63 in the final round.
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 20-25 at the Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore. The Blue Devils have won a total of six NCAA Championships over the last 17 years ---1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2014.
The top three seeds in the other regions were – Bryan, Texas (UCLA, Georgia and Arizona), Stanford, Calif. (Southern California, Arkansas and Stanford) and Shoal Creek, Ala. (Alabama, Northwestern and Oklahoma State). A record 10 ACC squads received invitations to regionals – Duke, Virginia, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Florida State, Clemson and Miami.
The team enters regional play with three victories and seven top five finishes on the season, highlighted by wins at the Tar Heel Invitational, Landfall Tradition and the LSU Tiger Golf Classic. Two different Blue Devils have collected individual victories on the season –
Leona Maguire at the Tar Heel Invitational and Boutier at the LSU Tiger Golf Classic.
In the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, Maguire is listed No. 8, while
Virginia Elena Carta (31),
Sandy Choi (50) and
Celine Boutier (55) are ranked. In the team rankings, the Blue Devils are listed No. 4 in the GolfStat ledger and No. 5 by Golfweek.
Head coach
Dan Brooks has now guided the Blue Devils to 125 career wins and 18 of Duke's 19 ACC titles. Brooks has led the Blue Devils to five 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, 2013 and 2015.
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