Duke's Virginia Elena Carta hoists individual national championship trophy
(Photo Courtesy of Duke Athletics)M
EUGENE OR (May 23, 2016) - She is only a freshman
but Duke's Virginia Elena Carta can already call
herself
an individual national champion. Carta, who had
previously been winless this season, put together
four
rounds in the 60's at Eugene Country Club and
finished
16-under-par. In the process Carta set two NCAA
championship records, tying the 54-hole scoring
record
at 13-under and then setting the new 72-hole
standard.
“It means a lot,” Carta told the NCAA. “As I said, I
would have never thought [I would have been able]
to win this tournament, especially as a freshman.
Now my expectations are going to be high. But I
mean, it has been a great year. I've been working
really hard also with the team, and we've been
working so much, so I'm just excited that the work
paid off and that my putter finally worked, too.”
Finishing in a distant second place eight-strokes
behind at 8-under, were Arizona's Haley Moore and
Miami's Dewi Weber.
Carta, the fourth player in Duke history to win
the
individual championship fired rounds of 69-68-66-69
to
runaway with the title. During the four days Carta
tallied 20 birdies, just two bogeys and a double-
bogey.
Her best round came during
Saturday's second round when she carded six birdies
en
route
to a bogey-free 6-under 66. Carta, from Italy, was
able
to close the medalist honors out with a steady four
birdie, one bogey final round.
However, Carta will now have to turn her focus
solely to the team aspect of the tournament as
match
play begins on Tuesday. The eight remaining teams
will
compete in both
the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday before a
champion is crowned on Wednesday.
QUARTERFINAL MATCHES
(1) UCLA vs. (8) Oregon
(2) Stanford vs. (7) South Carolina
(3) USC vs. (6) Duke
(4) Washington vs. (5) Virginia
The most surprising team not advancing to the
quarterfinals is Alabama. After winning the SEC
Championship and
spending most of the season ranked near the top
nationally the Crimson Tide struggled and tied for
12th.
Another storyline to keep an eye on tomorrow,
and
throughout the remainder of the tournament is home
course advantage. Eugene Country Club is the home
course for Oregon and that is something that could
work
to their advantage.
-Duke athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE
NCAA Division I Women's Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
View Complete Tournament Information