EUGENE, Ore. – Duke has its fourth individual NCAA women’s champion; It’s probably not the Blue Devil that college golf fans may have thought.
While sophomore Leona Maguire has led Duke for the past two years it was Virginia Elena Carta who picked the perfect time to collect her first college victory. The freshman from Italy cruised to an eight-shot victory Monday at the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship and notched a 72-hole scoring record in the process.
Carta shot 69-68-66-69 for a 16-under-par total at Eugene Country Club. The previous record was 12 under par – set by Miami’s Penny Hammel in 1983 and Oklahoma State’s Caroline Hedwall in 2010 – and it’s the largest margin of victory dating back to 2000.