Migliacco takes individual title, leads Wake Forest to ACC crown

   Wake Forest, No. 8 in the latest Golfstat rankings, continued its spring surge Saturday by claiming its first Atlantic Coast Conference team crown since 2010, finishing eight shots ahead of No. 9 Florida State with No. 3 Duke another 10 shots behind the Seminoles in third place at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

   The Demon Deacons held on behind individual champion Emilia Migliaccco, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. and the No. 15 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Siyun Liu, a junior from China who chased Migliacco home and was the runnerup in the individual standings.

   Wake Forest had grabbed a 10-shot lead in Thursday’s double-round as tournament officials, correctly anticipating some bad weather Friday, went with 36 holes Thursday with the final round Saturday. The original plan was to play 18 holes Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

   Migliacco fired a 4-under-par 68 to nail down the individual title with an 11-under 205 total, the lowest winning score in nine playings of the ACC Championship at the 6,089-yard, par-72 Sedgefield layout. Medalist honors for the day for Wake Forest, though, belonged to Liu, who carded a sparkling 5-under 67 to finish two shots behind Migliacco in second place in the individual standings at 9-under 207.

   They led Wake Forest to a final round of 5-under 283 that gave it a 14-under 850 total. It was the third lowest 54-hole total in program history with the two best performances coming earlier this spring.

   Florida State, which has been pretty hot itself, had the best team round of the day Saturday, a 7-under 281, but the Seminoles’ total of 6-under 858 left them eight shots behind Wake Forest.

   Duke had won the last two ACC crowns, but the Blue Devils didn’t have quite enough depth to keep up with the top two. They closed with a solid 1-under 287 for a 4-over 868 total, 10 shots behind Florida State.

   No. 17 Virginia finished up with a 2-over 290 that left it two shots behind Duke in fourth place at 6-over 870.

   There was some pretty serious separation between the top four and the rest of the field as No. 42 Louisville was 20 shots behind Virginia in fifth place at 26-over 890 after the Cardinals posted a final round of 299.

   No. 32 North Carolina struggled home with a 306 in the final round to finish in a tie for ninth with in-state rival North Carolina State, ranked 48^th, at 38-over 902.

   In what might have been the final collegiate appearances for seniors Emma Albrecht of Ormond Beach, Fla., and Isabella DiLisio, winner of the 2013 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a junior at Mount St. Joseph, No. 79 Notre Dame carded a 303 and finished 11^th with a 49-over 913 total.

   The team and individual berths to the NCAA regionals will be announced on The Golf Channel Wednesday with the selection show beginning at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.

   Migliacco and Liu had some pretty good backup in the form of the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, Jennifer Kupcho, a senior from Westminster, Colo. If you watched her win the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship a couple of Saturdays ago, you couldn’t help but be impressed, not just by Kupcho’s game, but the way she carried herself.

   As I’ve mentioned on this blog a couple of times this spring, Kupcho could be playing on the LPGA Tour right now. She earned her playing privileges with a runnerup finish in the LPGA Q-Series last fall. But she returned for the spring portion of her senior season, probably for a lot of reasons, winning an ACC team championship being one of them.

   While not playing her best at Sedgefield, Kupcho closed with a solid 1-over 73 to finish in the group tied for 12^th at 3-over 219. Her leadership on a young team has been evident this spring and the Demon Deacons have to be considered a national championship contender. And you’d have to give Kupcho a decent shot at repeating as the NCAA individual champion.

   The Demon Deacons also got strong showings from their two freshmen, Vanessa Knecht of Switzerland and Letizia Bagnoli of Italy. Knecht carded a final-round 76 that Wake Forest was able to throw out as she finished in the group tied for 14^th at 4-over 220. Bagnoli’s final-round 75 was the final counter for the Demon Deacons in Saturday’s final round and left her in the group tied for 44^th at 229.

   You have to give credit to first-year head coach Kim Lewellen, who replaced the legendary Dianne Dailey, a former LPGA Tour player. I’m pretty sure I see Dailey in the picture on the Wake Forest website celebrating the Demon Deacons’ conference championship. She’s certainly had a hand in putting this ACC champion together, too.

   It’s going to be an interesting next month for Kupcho and the rest of the Wake Forest program.

Duke’s top two players, Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia, and Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand and No. 25 in the Women’s WAGR, finished third and fourth, respectively, in the individual standings.

   Belac matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish alone in third at 4-under 212, five shots behind Wake Forest’s Liu. Boonchant matched the low round of the day Saturday with her 5-under 67 to finish a shot behind her teammate in fourth place at 3-under 213.

   Florida State’s freshman phenom, Frida Kinhult, the Swede who is No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR, shared fifth place with Virginia’s Anna Redding, a senior from Concord, N.C. and No. 30 in the Women’s WAGR, and Beth Lillie, a sophomore from Fullerton, Calif., at even-par 216, three shots behind Boonchant.

   Kinhult matched par with her final-round 72 while Redding, who has been so good for four years for the Cavaliers, and Lillie both matched the low round of the day, each firing a 5-under 67.

   Kinhult’s fellow Florida State freshman, Puk Lyng Thomsen of Denmark, and North Carolina’s Jennifer Zhou, a freshman from China, finished in a tie for eighth place at 1-over 217. Thomsen finished up with a solid 1-under 71 while Zhou capped a solid showing with a 2-over 74.

   The rest of the North Carolina lineup never got it going at Sedgefield. The Tar Heels should still be in line for an NCAA regional bid, but they’ll have to play better if they want to match their feat of two springs ago when they reached the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

   Kelly Whaley, a senior from Farmington, Conn., carded a solid 2-over 74 in her final ACC Championship round and finished alone in 35^th place at 10-over 226.

   Junior Brynn Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, got off to a good start with a 2-under 70, but added a pair of 79s to finish in the group tied for 38^th at 228.

   Ava Bergner, a sophomore from Germany, closed with a 79 to finish in a tie for 54^th at 235 and Mariana Ocano, a junior from St. Petersburg, Fla., carded an 81 in the final round to finish alone in 56^th place at 236.

   Emma Albrecht, as she has so many times over the last four years, led the way for Notre Dame as she closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied for 14^th place at 4-over 220. Albrecht earned a bid to play as an individual in the NCAA regionals two years ago and led the way last year as the Fighting Irish played in the NCAA Madison Regional as a team.

   DiLisio, a Hatfield resident, posted a solid 3-over 75 to finish alone in 52^nd at 233. She has had her ups and downs at Notre Dame, but, like Emma Albrecth, she has been a fixture in the lineup the last four years.

   Abby Heck, a sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., finished up with a 78 to end up in the group tied for 26^th at 225. Mia Ayer, a junior from Waco, Texas, carded a final-round 76 to finish among the group tied for 54^th at 225.

   Rounding out the Notre Dame lineup was Emma Albrecht’s younger sister, Claire, a freshman. She carded a final-round 80 to finish in 60^th place at 252.