May 23, 2000

DUKE WOMEN'S GOLF @ NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 24-27, 2000
Sunriver, Oregon - Crosswater Course - Par 72 6,502 Yards
72 Hole Medal Play - 18 Holes Each Day

The second and third rounds of the tournament on May 25-26 from 12:00-2:00 PM (PCT) will be aired live on ESPN2. Saturday's final round (May 27) will be on tape delay on ESPN2 at time TBA.

Duke will be teeing off at times beginning at 1:30 PM (PCT) in Wednesday's first round.

Quotes from Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks

Quoting Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks on the NCAA Championship
"So far everything is going along smoothly I think with the team. We had a very good practice round today [Monday]. I get the feeling everybody has the right amount nervousness and energy about the whole thing. Nobody is getting uptight. That is all you can hope for after the first practice round day as everyone is getting used to the golf course and taking it all in stride."

On winning the Fall Preview, any extra confidence
"I think it is more that they have played well here. Even if we hadn't won. I don't think it is a question of whether we won here on not, but if we have had good experiences on the golf course, and we have. They [the players] remember things really well and unfortunately they sometimes remember the negative things to. I think we have people that dwell on the good things that happen. We had more good things than bad things last time we played here. So I think it is a positive."

On No. 2 ranked Arizona
"Everything I can see with them is they are a united team and are motivated. They have people on that team [Arizona] which have been on that team long enough to really care a lot about winning something like this. They had to watch us win it last year, which is a really motivating experience. So they want it, but I think our team recognizes that so they know the stakes are high this year. Arizona is going to be playing hard."

On being back in your home state
"It feels really good to be back here. It is a neat way to make it back. Sixteen years later I am coming back here with a team from the East Coast, bringing them back to try to win a championship in my home state. It is neat to be on this side of the Cascade Mountains because the terrain is very similar to what I grew up in out here. That really brings it home. If I was in Portland it would be somewhat different because the two sides of the state are different from each other. We played at Portland back in 1994 for the NCAA Championship and it didn't fell quite the same. This feels like I am back at home."

Any incentive on winning it here in your home state
"Oh yea. I think it would be a neat little thing to think about for the rest of my life."

DUKE TRAVELS TO OREGON TO DEFEND NCAA TITLE
The No. 1 ranked Duke women's golf team will be traveling to Sunriver, Oregon on May 21 to defend their national crown at the NCAA Championships. Oregon State University will be hosting the competition at the Crosswater Course. There will be two practice rounds on May 22 and 23 before competition begins on May 24.

The Blue Devils are the defending NCAA Champions and will defend the title hosted by head coach Dan Brooks' alma mater, Oregon State. Brooks

received his Bachelor of Science degree in History in 1981. He was a four-year letterwinner on the OSU golf team. Duke heads to the NCAA Championships winning five straight tournaments, which includes the East Regional and its fifth straight ACC Championship

in record fashion. The Blue Devils won by 36 strokes over Wake Forest on April 16. Duke will be the No. 1 seed in the East Region and other teams competing from the East Region will be Northwestern, Purdue, Tennessee, LSU, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Georgia, and Florida. From the West Region Arizona will be the No. 1 seed with San Jose State, Southern California, Arizona State, TCU, Stanford, Oregon, Pepperdine, Texas, Tulsa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and New Mexico State attending.

BLUE DEVILS IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Duke is making the program's 13th trip to the NCAAs in school history. Of the previous 12 NCAA Championship appearances for the Blue Devils, Duke has finished in the top 10 seven times. The Blue Devils earned a fourth-place spot in 1994 and 1998, the best finishes for a Blue Devil team prior to the first place finish last year.

The Blue Devils boast three players in the lineup with NCAA Championship

experience. Last season, Beth Bauer and Candy Hannemann played in their

first NCAA competition. Hannemann turned in a second place finish, after shooting two rounds even or under par (71-72-70=213), and Bauer finished tied for 15th (72-82-73=227). Kalen Anderson has two years of experience under her belt with a tied for 12th place finish last year (73-76-77=226) and a tied for 39th place finish in 1998 (73-78-76=302).

THE FAB FRESHMEN
When Duke travels to the NCAA Championships on May 24-27, it will mark the second year in a row in which the Blue Devils will take two freshmen

along. This season Maria Garcia-Estrada (Tenerife, Spain) and Kristina Engstrom (Djursholm, Sweden) have made a big impact on the Duke squad, after losing two seniors off of last year's national championship team. Garcia-Estrada ranks second on the team in 2000 with a 74.83 stroke average and picked up her first collegiate victory in the ACC Championships on April 14-16. Her 74.83 stroke average is the third-best freshman average under coach Brooks. Garcia-Estrada has posted four top 10 finishes and eight top 20 finishes in 10 tournaments. She was featured in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated

in the "Golf Plus" section for her ACC Championships victory. Engstrom has the fifth-best stroke average in her freshman campaign at 75.65. Her freshman stroke average is the fourth best under coach Brooks. She has played in eight tournaments and in her first collegiate

tournament she won at the Topy Cup in Japan. She has finished in the top 10 five different times and in the top 20 in six tournaments.

THE HEAD COACH
Dan Brooks is in his 16th season as the head coach of the Blue Devils. The 1981 graduate of Oregon State has led Duke to 12 NCAA Tournaments during his coaching career, including seven of the last eight years, and

the school's first National Championship last season. Brooks' teams have

finished with a top 20 ranking 13 times (looking for the 14th this season), while six of his teams have earned a top 10 finish in an NCAA Tournament (1987 tied for seventh, 1988 finished fifth, 1994 finished fourth, 1996 finished tied for seventh, 1998 finished fourth, 1999 finished first).

In 16 years, his teams have won 44 tournaments. This year the Blue Devils have won eight events, which ties a school record set in 1999. He was named the 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 ACC Coach of the Year for his efforts. Duke has collected seven ACC Championships during Brooks' term with the program.

IN THE RANKINGS
Duke University is the only school in Division I which has their top five players all ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Beth Bauer is No. 2, Maria Garcia-Estrada is No. 13, Kalen Anderson is No. 16, Kristina Engstrom is No. 22, and Candy Hannemann is No. 25. The next closest team is Arizona with three in the top 17.

THE LINEUP
The Blue Devils are led by sophomore All-America Beth Bauer (73.09 stroke average). Bauer, ranked No. 2 in the country, has recorded nine top five finishes and two individual wins this year. She owns the second-lowest stroke average in the 16 years Dan Brooks has been the head coach as she heads into the NCAA Championships. Her two victories this season came at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic and the Arizona Invitational. In the last seven tournaments she has finished no lower than fourth place. So far this spring she has recorded a 72.72 stroke average.

Freshman Maria Garcia-Estrada is ranked No. 13 and posted three top five

finishes in the past four tournaments. For the season, she has a 74.83 stroke average and won her first collegiate tournament on April 16 at the ACC Championship. She finished the final three tournaments of the regular season with a fifth, third, and first place finish, while posting a 73.22 stroke average. Garcia-Estrada was featured in Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section in the latest issue and was named Golf World's Collegiate Player of the Week in the April 21 issue.

Kristina Engstrom, who won her first college tournament she played in (Topy Cup), is ranked No. 22 and has recorded five top 10 finishes. She

has a 75.65 stroke average in her first season. Her last four tournaments of the regular season she finished no lower than 11th. Junior Kalen Anderson (Edina, Minn.) is ranked No. 16 with Duke's third best stroke average at 75.09. She has notched six top 10 finishes this season and has finished no lower than ninth in the last five tournaments. Her stroke average in those last five tournaments is 75.07.

No. 25 ranked Candy Hannemann (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has notched five top 10 finishes this year with a 75.62 stroke average. She finished tied

for second at the ACC Championships on April 16. She has played in 10 tournaments this season.

SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORE
In just her second season with the Duke women's golf team sophomore Beth

Bauer has established herself as one of the best women's golfers Duke has had. In two years she has competed in 22 tournaments and has a remarkable 73.13 stroke average. She has posted four tournament wins, 19 top 10 finishes, and 20 top 20 finishes in two years. Bauer has also led Duke with 26 even or under par rounds, a .968 percentage of rounds counted, and a 1.58 strokes behind the leader average.

Her 19 top 10 finishes already ranks tied for sixth on Duke's career list and is on her way to posting the second best season stroke average at Duke this season (73.09). The season-best stroke average was notched

by Jenny Chuasiriporn (72.90) in 1997-98.

DUKE VICTORIES
On the season the Blue Devils have picked up five tournament wins in a row and eight on the season. Duke won its first three tournaments it competed in (NCAA Fall Preview, Topy Cup, and Lady Tar Heel). In the next three tournaments Duke posted two second place finishes and one fourth place finish. Since then the Blue Devils have won their last five in a row at the Casa de Campo, Lady Gamecock, Liz Murphey, ACC Championship, and NCAA East Regional.

The eight tournament wins ties a school record, which happened last season.

ALL-ACC BLUE DEVILS
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) released the All-ACC women's golf team on May 4. The Duke Blue Devils dominated the six-member team with five selections.

Leading the Duke contingent is ACC Player of the Year Beth Bauer. Bauer has been named the Player of the Year in each of her two seasons at Duke. Last year as a freshman, she shared the award with fellow teammate Jenny Chuasiriporn.

Freshman Blue Devil Maria Garcia-Estrada earned Rookie of the Year honors after capturing medalist honors at the ACC Championship. It marks the third year in a row a Blue Devil has earned Rookie of the Year

honors. Three other members of the Duke squad join Bauer and Garcia-Estrada on the All-ACC team as sophomore Candy Hannemann, junior Kalen Anderson, and freshman Kristina Engstrom were selected to the team.

Hannemann received the honor for the second year in a row after posting

a tie for second place at the ACC Championship. Anderson was also named

for the second year in a row as she finished tied for fourth at the ACC Championships. As a freshman, she was named Co-Rookie of the Year.

Engstrom played in eight tournaments in her first year at Duke, while capturing one individual medalist honor and a sixth-place tie at the ACC

Championships. For the fifth straight year and sixth time overall, head

coach Dan Brooks of Duke was selected ACC Coach of the Year.

This marks the first time in ACC women's golf history a single team has

received five members on the All-ACC squad and the second year in a row Duke has swept the individual honors. Senior Marcy Newton of North Carolina was the only other player selected to the All-ACC team.

GARCIA-ESTRADA IN THE MAGAZINES
Duke University women's golfer Maria Garcia-Estrada was named Golf >World's Collegiate women's Player of the Week for the April 21 issue. Garcia-Estrada, a freshman from Tenerife, Spain, fired a second-round 67 which equaled her personal best and guided Duke to its fifth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title. She became the third consecutive freshman to win the ACC title and the second in a row >from Duke. Last year Beth Bauer won the honor.

"It's sweet. I was actually very nervous coming in because I didn't know what anyone else's score was. It is really exciting. When I made that put, I said oh my god I can't believe I've won a tournament," commented Garcia-Estrada.

For the tournament she finished one-under-par after rounds of 76-67-72. It marks her first collegiate win following three top-10 and seven top-20 finishes in eight starts.

FIFTH STRAIGHT ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
For the fifth straight year the Duke women's golf team brought home the ACC Championship trophy from the ACC Tournament. This year, though, it was won in record fashion. The Blue Devils won by a record 36 strokes over Wake Forest at the 6,355-yard par-72 Salem Glen Country Club in Clemmons, N.C.

Duke (295-286-290=871) broke the previous 54-hole team total of 890 by 19 strokes on April 14-16. Freshman Maria Garcia-Estrada won individual

honors for Duke as she shot a 1-under-par 76-67-72=215. She became the third straight freshman to win individual honors at the ACC Championship.

As a team the Blue Devils posted all five players in the top six, including the top three finishers (Beth Bauer and Candy Hannemann tied for 2nd).