Duke, Clemson put the ACC's strong hand on display at the Landfall Tradition

 

   There’s been a lot going on locally that has kept me from posting much about the national college scene, but it's been busy.

   The Landfall Tradition, hosted by North Carolina Wilmington at the Country Club of Landfall’s Pete Dye Course in Wilmington, N.C., has always been an important gathering as the fall portion of the season comes to a close and that was certainly the case last weekend.

   As regular followers of this blog are aware, I’ve often relied on Golfstat for information on rankings and results. Last summer the NCAA decided to go in a different direction and said Golfstat would no longer be its official home for statistics and rankings.

   I’ve seen some snarky posts on X, the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter, about some other service being utilized, but fortunately Golfstat has continued to do its live scoring as it always has. Personally, I haven’t come across any service that does it better.

   There is no longer a spot on the Golfstat website for rankings, although I did notice in the results from the Landfall Tradition that there were rankings in the margins in the familiar small blue type, so I will refer to those.

   Rankings have always been a fun thing for sportswriters and former sportswriters like me to refer to, but in reality, they offer only a snapshot of what is going on at the moment they are issued. But the NCAA men’s and women’s championship teams will be decided on the course next spring at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif., as they should.

   You can count on seeing perennial national power Duke and Clemson at La Costa in May when the NCAA women’s championship is decided and the two Atlantic Coast Conference members landed at the top of the leaderboard in the Landfall Tradition, which wrapped up last Sunday.

   It looks like the setup for the 6,194-yard, par-72 Pete Dye Course at Landfall was a bit more favorable for scoring in the final round and the Blue Devils, ranked 19^th by Golfstat, and the Tigers, the surprising winner of the ACC crown for the first time in the program’s history last spring and No. 16 in the Golfstat rankings, took full advantage.

   The Dookies, owners of seven national championships, closed with a sparkling 17-under-par 271 that gave them a 21-under 843 total. Clemson finished strong as well with the Tigers’ 16-under 272 in the final round also landing them at 21-under.

   Duke was awarded the team crown, the fourth time the Blue Devils have won the Landfall Tradition title, on a tiebreaker, which was the best score of the two teams’ fifth players.

   Duke was led by the senior pair of Phoebe Brinker, a product of Archmere Academy and No. 55 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Anne Chen of Sugar Land, Texas as they finished in a tie for fifth place in the individual standings, each ending up with a 7-under 209 total.

   Brinker was her usual steady self, closing with a 4-under 68 after adding a 2-under 70 in the second round after opening with a 1-under 71.

   Brinker is quietly putting together one of the great careers in the storied history of the Duke women’s golf program. She began the fall portion of the wraparound 2023-2024 season by earning co-medalist honors in the Annika Intercollegiate at the Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn.

   Chen closed with a scintillating 8-under 64 that was tied for the fourth-lowest single round in program history. Chen had opened with a 2-over 74 before adding a 1-under 71 in the second round.

   Clemson was led by Annabelle Pancake, a senior from Zionsville, Ind. and No. 91 in the Women’s WAGR who closed with a sparkling 6-under 66 that earned her a share of second place in the individual standings with a 9-under 207 total.

   Pancake added a 1-under 71 in the second round to her opening-round 70.

   Duke had posted back-to-back 2-under 286s in the first two rounds and was in sixth place, but only four shots behind the leader, No. 25 Arizona, a perennial power in the Pac-12. Clemson had opened with a 3-under 285 and added a 2-under 286 in the second round and was only three shots behind the Wildcats in fifth place.

   After a rare spring in which Duke failed to advance to the NCAA Championship in 2022, the Blue Devils punched their ticket to Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. last spring with a runnerup finish in the Palm Beach Regional. Clemson also made it to Grayhawk, just the second time in the history of the program that the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Championship, with a runnerup finish in the Pullman Regional.

   Of course, the winner at Grayhawk was Wake Forest, another ACC power and the Demon Deacons appear ready to make another deep postseason run. In the days following the Landfall Tradition, Wake Forest reached the final of the East Lake Cup at the Atlanta Athletic Club and defeated Stanford, 3-2, to take the title.

   I’m hoping to put together a post on the outcomes of both the men’s and women’s competitions in the East Lake Cup, another important national event that marks the end of the fall portion of the college golf season.

   Bottom line: It looks like the ACC is going to have something to say when it comes to the national championship in women’s golf next spring.

   It was a strong showing at the Landfall Tradition for American Athletic Conference representative Central Florida as the No. 14 Knights closed with a 14-under 274 to finish just a shot behind Duke and Clemson in third place with a 20-under 844 total.

   UCF, which failed to advance to the NCAA Championship as a four seed in the Palm Beach Regional last spring, had opened with a 4-under 284 before adding a 2-under 286 in the second round.

   Arizona couldn’t keep up with the sizzling rounds posted by some of the other competitors as the Wildcats closed with a 1-under 287 to finish in fourth place, 11 shots behind UCF with a 9-under 855 total.

   The Wildcats, who came up just short of earning a spot in the match-play bracket at Grayhawk after claiming the team title in the Raleigh Regional last spring, had matched par in the opening round with a 288 before grabbing the lead heading into the final round with an 8-under 280 in the second round.

   A resurgent Alabama, out of the Southeastern Conference, finished a shot behind Arizona in fifth place with an 8-under 856 total. The Crimson Tide, ranked 35^th, matched par in the second round with a 288 after opening with a 3-over 291 before heating up in the final round with an 11-under 277.

   Big Ten power Michigan State, ranked 29^th, had grabbed the lead following an opening round of 9-under 279 before cooling off in the final two rounds to finish a shot behind Alabama in sixth place with a 7-under 857 total.

   The Spartans, winners of the team title in the Palm Beach Regional last spring, slipped back in the second round with a 3-over 291 before finishing up with a 1-under 287.

   First-year Penn State head coach Kristen Simpson got a decent showing from her Nittany Lions against a strong field in the Landfall Tradition. After opening with a 6-over 294, Penn State posted a solid 3-over 291 in the second round before slipping back a little with a final-round 301 that left it in 16^th place in the 18-team field with a 22-over 886 total.

   Backing up Brinker and Chen for Duke was talented freshman Katie Li, the Basking Ridge, N.J. native who put together a solid junior career before joining the Blue Devils. Li was steady over the Pete Dye Course at Landfill, matching par in the first two rounds with a pair of 72s before contributing a 2-under 70 to Duke’s final-round surge as she finished among the group tied for 19^th place with a 2-under 214 total.

   Graduate student Emma McMyler, who transferred to Duke after playing on four Big East championship teams at Xavier and is No. 88 in the Women’s WAGR, and Andie Smith, a sophomore from Hobe Sound, Fla., rounded out the Duke lineup as both landed in a large group tied for 32^nd place at even-par 216.

   McMyler added a 1-over 73 in the second round to her opening-round 74 before closing with a 3-under 69. Smith’s opening round of 3-under 69 made her low Dookie of the day. She struggled a little in the second round with a 77 before closing with a 2-under 70.

   Either McMyler or Smith could be credited with being that fifth player that gave Duke the tiebreaker edge.

   Junior Rylie Heflin, a Tower Hill School graduate and a resident of Avondale, competed as an individual and was right there with McMyler and Smith in the group tied at even-par 216. Heflin, winner of the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship in the summer at Sunnehanna Country Club, matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening with a 74 before closing with a 2-under 70, giving the Blue Devils six players in red figures in the final round.

   Backing up Pancake for Clemson was Chloe Holder, a junior from Anderson, S.C. who tied a program record with a sizzling final round of 9-under 63 to finish in a tie for seventh place at 6-under 210. Holder struggled to a 4-over 76 in the opening round before recording a 1-under 71 in the second round.

   Isabella Rawl, a sophomore from Lexington, S.C., was the picture of consistency as she posted three straight 1-under 71s to join the group tied for 15^th place at 3-under 213.

   Savannah Grewal, a graduate student from Canada and the author of the only two other 63s in program history at Clemson, opened with a 4-under 68 on her way to a tie for 29^th place with a 1-under 215 total. Grewal cooled off with a 3-over 75 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Rounding out the Clemson lineup was Katherine Schuster, a junior from Kill Devil Hills, N.C. who finished in the group tied for 64^th place with a 224 total as she bounced back from an opening-round 78 with back-to-back 1-over 73s in the final two rounds.

   The individual title went to Furman’s Anna Morgan, a fifth-year player from Spartanburg, S.C. who jumped 16 spots in the Women’s WAGR up to No. 47 in the aftermath of an impressive five-shot victory.

   Morgan opened with a 5-under 67 and never looked back, adding a sparkling 6-under 66 in the second round before finishing up with a 3-under 69 for a 14-under 202 total.

   Morgan’s sixth career victory gave her the Paladin record as she had been tied with Berks County’s own Betsy King, Beth Daniel, Dottie Pepper and Jennifer Perri at five wins. Pretty elite company there.

   Joining Clemson’s Pancake in the tie for second place at 9-under, five shots behind Morgan, was Alabama’s Taylor Kehoe, a sophomore from Canada who closed with a scintillating 8-under 64. Kehoe had matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 1-under 71 in the second round.

   Illinois’ Isabel Sy, a senior from San Gabriel, Calif., closed with a sparkling 6-under 66 to finish alone in fourth place with an 8-under 208 total, a shot behind Pancake and Kehoe. Sy had opened with a 3-under 69 before adding a 1-over 73 in the second round.

   Joining Clemson’s Holder in the tie for seventh place at 6-under, a shot behind Duke’s Brinker and Chen, was Michigan State’s Paula Balanzategui, a sophomore from Spain. After opening with a 4-under 68, Balanzategui carded a pair of 1-under 71s in the final two rounds.

   A pair of UCF players from Thailand, graduate student Pat Piddon and sophomore Pimpisa “Sandwich” Sisutham, headed a group of four players tied for ninth place at 5-under 211.

   Piddon went low in the final round with a 7-under 65 after she had opened with a 2-under 70 before struggling a little in the second round with a 4-over 76. After opening with a 3-under 69, Sisutham matched par in the second round with a 72 before closing with a 2-under 70.

   Rounding out the quartet at 5-under were Sy’s Illinois teammate, Erica Lee, a freshman from Arcadia, Calif., and North Carolina State’s Isabel Amezcua, a senior from Mexico.

   After carding back-to-back 2-under 70s in the first two rounds, Lee closed with a 1-under 71. Amezcua was another player who took advantage of the more favorable scoring conditions for last Sunday’s final round to register a 7-under 65. Amezcua had struggled to a 3-over 75 in the opening round before carding a 1-under 71 in the second round.

   Penn State got a couple of solid showings from junior Michelle Cox, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier who lost in a playoff for the state title as a senior at Emmaus in 2020, and Drew Nienhaus, a junior from St. Louis, Mo., both of whom landed in the group tied for 19^th place at 2-under 214.

   For Cox, it was the second straight strong showing as she was coming off a tie for seventh place in the Evie Odom Invitational at Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach, Va. in early October. Cox opened with a solid 5-under 67 at the Pete Dye Course at Landfill and added a 2-over 74 in the second round before closing with a 1-over 73.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Nienhaus ripped off a career-best 7-under 65 that tied the Penn State program record for a single round before closing with a 4-over 76.

   Mathilde Delavallade, a senior from France who has been Penn State’s best player the last two seasons, finished in the group tied for 57^th place at 5-over 221. Delavallade, who is rounding into form after returning from an injury, matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 2-over 74 in the second round before closing with a 3-over 75.

   Victoria Tip-Aucha, a senior from Vienna, Va. via Thailand, matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish in 92^nd place at 240. Tip-Aucha struggled in the opening round with an 85 before bouncing back with a 6-over 78 in the second round.

   Jami Morris, a junior from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, couldn’t solve the Pete Dye Course at Landfall as she added an 81 in the second round to her opening-round 82 before closing with an 84 to finish in 96^th place with a 247 total.