Carta, Kim take 1st as Duke closes fall with Landfall title

WILMINGTON, N.C. (Oct. 28, 2018) – The fall season is over for Duke, but the Blue Devils will go into the offseason on the strength of back-to-back titles to end the fall. Duke hung on Sunday at the Landfall Tradition to prevail on a tough weather week on the North Carolina coast.

Duke bounced around the top of the leaderboard for the past three days, but never fell out of the top 5. The Blue Devils were fourth entering the final round but went 3 under on a tough scoring day at the Country Club of Landfall. Only Duke got under par on Sunday, and it helped the team pass South Carolina, Arkansas and Virginia to reach the top spot.

At 15 over, Duke was two ahead of South Carolina and three ahead of Arkansas, a team that took a six-shot lead into the final round. It helped considerably that Duke players Virginia Elena Carta and Gina Kim shared the individual title at even-par 216. It was the first individual win for Kim, a freshman, and the second for Carta, a senior. In fact, the last title Carta won was the NCAA Championship as a freshman.

“It’s such a honor to win this tournament,” Carta said. “It has been a very tough fall for me and to be able to finish it off with two team wins and an individual win means a lot. I’m very proud of our freshman, Gina, who really deserved a win and it’s an honor for me to share it with her. She works as hard as anyone I’ve seen and is such a great teammate!” After outpacing the field Saturday to build a lead, Arkansas sank back down the leaderboard on Sunday with a 9-over 297. Senior Dylan Kim finished third individually.

Virginia, at 28 over, was fourth and Michigan finished four shots farther back to round out the top 5.

Information from Duke Athletics used in this report