May 26, 2005

By Johnny Moore, Blue Devil Weekly

When you walk into the office of Duke women's golf coach Dan Brooks, you can vividly see what he has accomplished. Tournament titles and championship trophies sit all over the top of file cabinets and on adjacent walls. But you can see what means the most to him on the wall right beside his desk.

On the wall are the plaques of 35 All-Americas and pictures of former Blue Devils such as LPGA players Beth Bauer and Candy Hannemann posing with their head coach. In 21 years, Brooks has reached a very lofty status in his sport, with 13 ACC championships and three NCAA titles, yet the most dominant feature in the room are the players -- the people who make it a team.

And Brooks will tell you very quickly that it is the makeup of the individual people that has made his teams so special.

"The first reason for the success has been talent," said Brooks, who has led the Devils to 63 event titles in the last seven years. "Some very talented players have been a part of this Duke women's golf program. But talent isn't all there is to team golf. Developing a team of golfers is not only about finding the most talented players. There is more to it than that. I think the underlying reason for our success in being able to obtain the talented players is that we have the reputation of having a good time on this team and we have players of high character.

"I think we have the right amount of structure for our golfers," he continued. "It's a structure that allows people to be the individual golfers they are because it is an individual sport, but it also feels like a team. That's what we have been able to develop on this team. But it is based on the people we get. You have to have a certain maturity level in order to do this.

"If you have children on the team then you have to over-structure. If you have to over-structure because you have children on your team, then you are running directly away from the nature of the game and that's a problem. So if you can get the right character on the team and get momentum with that character, you can coach golf the way golf needs to be coached to keep people from not burning out, to keep people excited about playing, which leads to birdies. And you can keep the culture right if you have the right maturity level."

That maturity level has been passed on to each Duke women's golf team for a number of years. Since 1992, the Devils have had at least one All-America player on the team, while capturing the national title in 1999, 2002 and now 2005.

"In recruiting I really listen hard to the players on the team, because they know who we should be recruiting and who should be a part of this team," explained Brooks, whose Blue Devils were ranked No. 1 in the nation all year. "I think that character recognizes character. People that can think outside themselves a little bit and recognize other people that can be a part of the team. There are a lot of self-centered people in the world of golf and you have to recognize the ones that will fit together well on a team."

The Blue Devils' latest conquest came at the NCAA Championships in Sunriver, Ore., where they grabbed their third national crown of the past seven years. Duke finished five shots ahead of last year's champion, UCLA.

Blue Devil sophomore Anna Grzebien claimed the individual national championship by one stroke over Virginia's Leah Wigger. A week before she won the East Regional title by one shot. Those marked her first two career victories.

"I didn't look at the scoreboard once. So I didn't know," Grzebien said after the NCAA final. "It was exciting. It's really special. I just put my head down and walked past the scoreboards. I didn't want to look at the numbers. I've played well, but I'm just starting to get where everything is coming together and I'm shooting better numbers."

Grzebien became Duke's third national champion, joining Hannemann (2001) and Virada Nirapathpongporn (2002). Teammate Brittany Lang, who won the ACC title the last two years and was named 2005 ACC player of the year, finished tied for third at the NCAA tourney.

The win was Duke's ninth tournament crown of the 2004-05 season and the 19th of the past two seasons. Earlier this spring Duke won its 13th ACC title, out of the 17 that have been contested.

After the NCAAs, Grzebien, Lang and Liz Janangelo were named first team All-Americas while Brooks was named national coach of the year. It was rewarding for him to see his team win the NCAA title in his home state, to finish off a season in which it took care of business one week at a time.

"My idea is to play each tournament one at a time, not look down the road too far. I think that is the way you need to be as an athlete, especially a golfer, where you don't worry about the next hole, you play them one at a time and stay in the present," explained Brooks, who now has 89 career victories, just two short of San Jose State's Mark Gale, the NCAA all-time coaching leader in women's golf with 91 victories from 1978-96.

"It is a worn out, boring idea, but that is exactly what we have to do. I am happy to say that I have a team, that when we go to dinner after day one or day two of a tournament, they have no idea what place they are in as a team or individuals. They know how they have played and what they need to do to better their games."