Women’s golf: National Champions yet again

Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Chalk another national title up for Duke, this time, the national champions are women’s golf. The 2014 NCAA title was the sixth ever for women’s golf, all six coming in the last 15 years (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014). All six championships are under head coach Dan Brooks.

“Fortunately we have had other championships,” said Brooks.” I don’t ever want to say one is more special than another because there were all great experiences, but to be able to have this group of people on this team to have fallen behind to a team like USC that has done so much in the last several years is special. They are starting to get their momentum and we are losing strokes. To have this group keep fighting and get those birdies and come back, to have my two seniors shoot 68, and my freshman shoot a 69. Celine [Boutier]’s golf was just tremendous out there this entire tournament. I can’t imagine one of the other championships being better. This was just a tremendous experience.”

Pulling off the feat wasn’t easy. The Blue Devils and the Trojans of the University of Southern California were neck and neck during the four days of competition. Duke’s final combined team score was 1130, with Southern California coming in just two strokes behind with 1132. Rounding out the top ten were UCLA (1145), Oklahoma (1147), Arizona State (1150), Mississippi State (1157), Arizona (1158), Ohio State (1158), Alabama (1161), Vanderbilt (1163), Texas A&M (1163) and North Carolina State (1163).

“All I ever saw was that we were up by three,” said Brooks after the final round on Friday. “My reliable sources told me six. To be honest with you, I think they were all aware of it. We didn’t talk about ‘don’t look at the

board or anything like that. These players are just very solid and poised. They kept on playing and I don’t think they let it bother them.”

Winning the individual title was Doris Chen of Southern California, totaling 274. Duke’s Celine Boutier finished in second, two strokes behind Chen with a 276. This marked the second consecutive season that Boutier finished in the top five in the NCAA Championship. Last season during her freshman campaign she tied for fourth.

The Blue Devils are graduating two seniors from their national championship team. Both seniors, Alejandra Cangrejo and Laetitia Beck scored combined 290s.

“It’s hard to describe,” said Cangrejo about going out as a national champion. “I felt like I was dying, because I was the first one that finished and I was really nervous waiting for everyone else to come in.  When I finished, we were only two ahead. It was really nerve-racking, but it is a great feeling to have my last college tournament and to finish it like this. It is just amazing and I have amazing people by my side to be happy with.”

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