Leona Maguire won her eighth collegiate event on Tuesday
(Duke Athletics Photo)
THE WOODLANDS, TX (September 12, 2017) - Led by Leona Maguire the Duke Blue Devils started their season with a win at the Jim West Challenge hosted by The Fazio Course at The Club at Carlton Woods.
Maguire picked up her eighth career individual victory and in the process set a new tournament scoring record with a 13-under showing. The senior combined rounds of 67-63-70 as she won by three-strokes over Texas A&M's Maddie Szeryk (-10).
“I couldn't have asked for a better start to the season,” Leona Maguire, the second ranked player in the Women's Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com's Rankings told Duke Athletics. “I'm really proud of my performance and everybody on the team, we all stepped up and I'm excited for the season ahead of us.”
Maguire did most of her work during her 8-under 63 second round. During the round the 2016 Olympian for Ireland played bogey-free golf while carding eight birdies.
Although Maguire was the lead Blue Devil, she wasn't the only one setting records. As a team Duke, 33-under, set a new school and tournament scoring record. The opening tournament victory was the first to start a season for Duke since 2006-2007 when they won the Mason Rudolph Championship.
“It took us about five holes the first day before putts started to fall,” Duke head coach Dan Brooks who now has 129 career wins said. “Once they started it really kept going the rest of the tournament. Again, I was most happy that the team responded to favorable conditions with birdies.”
Behind Maguire in the Duke team standings came three other top-15 performers; Ana Belac (T3; -9), Jaravee Boonchant (T6; -8) and Virginia Elena Carta (T12; -3).
The top-five of the team standings was rounded out by Oklahoma (-11) in second, third place was taken by Texas Tech (-10), in fourth it was Kent State (-8) and in fifth it was Texas A&M (-1).
Behind Maguire and Szeryk in the medalist standings came a group of three at 9-under a tie for fourth. The group was comprised of Julienne Soo (Oklahoma), Jess Yuen (Missouri) and Belac.
Editors Note: Duke Athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE
Jim West Challenge
54-hole women's college tournament hosted by Texas
State University. Team (best four scores out of five
players each round) and individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information