The women’s golf team concluded their fall season at the Landfall Tradition tournament this past weekend in Wilmington, N.C., finishing seventh in a field of 18 teams.

Although they entered the annual tournament armed with high hopes of claiming their third-consecutive golden trophy, a rocky opening round gave the team some catching up to do for the rest of the tournament.

Sophomore Cheyenne Woods had a good start to the weekend, carding her previous career-low round of 2-under 70 for the third time this season, which put her two strokes behind the day’s individual leader in a tie for third place.

Although Woods was assisted by steady play from senior Dolores White, who shot a 4-over 76 for the day, it wasn’t enough to put the Deacs in the top 10 and they finished the day at 16-over in 13th place.

Junior Natalie Sheary got off to a rough start with a season-high of 5-over 77, followed by freshmen Michelle Shin and Stephanie Kim, who racked up an 81 and 82, respectively.

“This is the second tournament in a row where we haven’t really gotten into the swing of things until the second round,” White said.  “I don’t think it’s something we necessarily need to improve on physically – lately we’ve been discussing with our sports psychologist how to better mentally prepare for an opening round, which hopefully will pay off in the spring season.”

But this is also the second tournament in a row where the team has orchestrated a staggering comeback.  At the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Tennessee, the team moved up from a first-round rank of 17th out of 18 teams to a tie for fifth-place overall by Oct. 25.

The comeback was even more drastic this weekend.  Woods fired a new career-low of 69 on Oct. 24 to help the team score the lowest round of the day, taking a colossal leap over 11 spots to second-place and chalking up the only sub-par round of the day, a 1-under 287.  This round put Woods in the individual lead after carding her second-straight sub-par round, the first time Woods has held a lead heading into the final round.

White also aced the second round with a season-low of 2-under 70.  A vision of consistency, she made three birdies in the first seven holes to make the turn at 2-under par, and then parred all nine holes on the second-nine to card her first sub-par round of the season.

Kim rebounded with a solid score of 1-over 73, her lowest round of the year. Sheary carded a solid 4-over 75, and freshman Michelle Shin bounced-back as well with a score of 76.

“It’s so important to stay upbeat after the first round and keep up your concentration,” White said of the collective effort that propelled the Deacs into second-place on Oct. 24.  The senior did just this, finishing off a very good weekend on Oct. 25 with a 3-over 75 Sunday, to finish tied for 17th. She finishes the fall with a 75.1 stroke average through nine rounds.

Falling back into seventh place on Sunday at 31-over par, the second-round proved to be the high point for the team after they couldn’t quite keep up the pace they had set for themselves on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Fighting illness, Woods had a final-round of 77. She finished the tournament in a tie for third, the best finish of her career and an indicator of tremendous improvement.  Last year as a freshman, she had just three rounds all season at or under par, as opposed to this season’s seven.  Woods concludes the fall with the lowest stroke average on the team at 72.8.

Shin had a good final round of 2-over 74 on the final day of play to finish tied for 54th, which she shared with Sheary, who carded a third round of 79.

Although Duke entered the final round in fifth-place, the team carded one of two even-par rounds on the final day of play to finish at 17-over, earning the team first-place by one shot over second round leaders UCLA and Auburn. It was the first victory for the Blue Devils in just under two years.

“It hit a bit of a sore spot to see another ACC team took first place in the tournament, since we were the defending champions,” White said.  “But it also really helps us compare ourselves as a team to the other programs out there that we’ll be competing against in the spring.”