ACC WGolf Championship: Blue Devils tied for second

Atlantic Coast Conference, TheACC.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Women’s Golf Championship began play at the 6,089-yard, par 72 layout at Sedgefield Country Club on Friday.

At the end of the day, the Duke Blue Devils were tied for second overall with a six-over-par, 294, trailing defending champion Virginia by 11 strokes.

The Cavaliers posted a five-under-par, 283.

Following Virginia (283), Wake Forest (294), Duke (294), NC State (297), North Carolina (298), Clemson (298), Florida State (299), Miami (301), Boston College (304), Notre Dame (304), Louisville (311) and Virginia Tech (320) closed out the field.

Reigning ACC individual champion and current No. 1 amateur golfer in the world, Duke’s Leona Maguire carded pars on her first four holes, including a key up-and-down from off the green on the 138-yard, par three third.

With three birdies over her final four holes, Maguire turned in a team-best two-under-par, 70, and was third overall with 36 holes remaining.

“The wind got up quite a bit today and I probably didn’t get off to as good of start as I would have liked,” Maguire said.

“The front nine here is definitely more challenging so I knew there would be chances on the back nine. I am just happy that I took them on the last four.  I am in pretty good shape heading into the weekend.”

Blue Devils freshmen Virginia Elena Carta and Sandy Choi each signed for rounds of 74 and enter second-round play tied for 12th overall.

Seeing action in her second tournament of the Spring season, sophomore Lisa Maguire finished with a 76 that included hitting 12 greens, eight fairways and rolling 35 putts on the day.

Senior Celine Boutier struggled from the opening hole and ended up with an 81.

Duke has posted three titles (2012, 2013, 2014), two third place (2009, 2010), and two second place (2011, 2015) finishes over the last seven years since the ACC Championship moved to Sedgefield in 2009.

The Blue Devils open second-round play on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., along with Virginia and Wake Forest.