Duke, Maguire reestablish Blue Devils presence at ACC Women’s Golf Championship

Led by the world’s top-ranked female amateur, Duke took the early lead in its bid to regain the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Golf Championship trophy on Thursday at The Reserve Club in Pawleys Island.

The Blue Devils shot a 4-under-par 284 as a team and hold just a one-stroke lead over Miami heading into Friday’s second round of the 54-hole tournament.

Leona McGuire’s 4-under 68 has her tied for the individual lead with North Carolina’s Bryana Nguyen. Maguire, of Ireland, is ranked first in both the Golfstat collegiate rankings and Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Wake Forest’s Sierra Sims, Miami’s Renate Grimstad and Florida State’s Kim Metraux are one shot back after 69s and seven golfers are two shots back at 70.

Chasing Duke and Miami are Florida State, North Carolina and Clemson all at 1-under at 287. Defending champion Virginia is tied for 10th and 20 strokes back at 16-over 304.

The Blue Devils seek their 20th ACC title and their 19th under veteran coach Dan Brooks. Their most recent conference title came in 2014. Maguire was joined by Sandy Choi (71), reigning NCAA champion Virginia Elena Carta (72) and Gurbani Singh (73) in posting Duke’s first-day score.

Tee times are from 8-11:10 a.m. Friday and spectators are welcomed for free. The tournament is being held at The Reserve Club for the first time after being held for nine consecutive years at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Duke, Maguire reestablish Blue Devils presence at ACC Women’s Golf Championship."