Bedeviled

By the time college seniors reach the midpoint of their final semester, nostalgia often has become a familiar acquaintance. At least that's the experience for Amanda Blumenherst and Jennie Lee. Set to graduate from Duke University in two months, the standout golfers admit their minds have wandered lately toward all things sentimental. Attending her final basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Blumenherst said she literally got teary-eyed, while Lee has a "must-do" list of campus activities for the coming weeks, taking a nap in Duke Gardens at the top.

A similar wistfulness has begun to surface on the golf course as well. "Every time we tee off [at an event]," Blumenherst says, "someone always seems to mention, 'This is the last first shot at such-and-such tournament.' "

Earlier this month at Red Tail GC near Orlando, it was the last first shot at the UCF Challenge, an event the Blue Devils won in 2007 and 2008, two of 19 team victories Blumenherst and Lee have been part of during their All-American careers. Both professed to be hitting the ball as well as they had all semester after playing practice rounds with teammates Alison Whitaker, Kim Donovan and Yu Young Lee and believed the squad would contend against a field with 12 of the country's top-15 teams.

Fifty-four holes later, all the fond memories of the past, however, had failed once again to change the harsh reality of the present for the 2008-09 Duke women's golf team.

After a decade of dominance that included five NCAA titles (two with Blumenherst and Lee on the roster), the Blue Devils are in the midst of their most difficult season since the mid-1990s—and running out of time to reverse it.

A 20-over 884 showing at Red Tail left the Blue Devils in 13th place, 34 strokes behind victorious UCLA, 27 back of Arizona State and 12 behind USC, the Pac-10 trio considered the favorites as the NCAA postseason approaches. It wasn't just Duke's worst performance in seven starts this season, but also its worst showing in any event since finishing 14th at the 2000 NCAA Championship.

"We wanted our senior year to be memorable. Right now, though, we're making different memories than we expected," says Blumenherst, the nation's top collegian the past three years, who has a 72.75 average as a senior but just two top-10s after never finishing worse than T-10 in her first three years.

By this point in each of the past five seasons, Hall of Fame coach Dan Brooks' squads have had no fewer than three victories. Yet with two regular-season events left before next month's ACC Championship, Duke has won just once (the Hooters Match Play) and finished in the top five only three times. Ranked eighth in the Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll, the Blue Devils' record against the rest of the top 10 is 7-24.

"Our team is having to do what all golfers have to do," says Brooks, back at full strength after missing much of the fall while addressing a medical scare involving his hearing—a foreboding sign of the season to come. "They have to keep getting after it, remain patient and stay focused."

Of immediate concern for Duke fans is the health of Whitaker, a 23-year-old junior from Australia who has yet to play all three rounds of any tournament this spring after straining her back during an aerobic workout Feb. 10. In the four rounds she has failed to start, the Blue Devils have been forced to play just four golfers. In the five she has played, she has shot no lower than a 77, with an 80.4 average.

"It's getting better, but I'm still never really sure how it's going to feel each morning," says Whitaker, who undergoes regular massage therapy to loosen her muscles. "The best thing for it is rest, but we don't have that luxury."

Because of a small roster, Whitaker has continued to play despite having a back injury. Photo: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Indeed, Whitaker has had to keep playing despite the injury because the Blue Devils have just five players on their roster. A lean line-up is something Brooks has lived with in the past—winning NCAA titles with only five in 2005 and 2006—but this time it wasn't by choice. Instead it resulted from circumstance when freshman Mina Harigae, the team's leading scorer through the fall with a 71.13 average, announced Jan. 10 she was not returning to school in the spring.

A former U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion and U.S. Curtis Cup team member, Harigae says she wanted to focus solely on her game in order to turn pro by the summer. Her departure actually wasn't a shock to teammates because the California native seemed to have trouble getting comfortable so far from home.

After addressing Harigae's departure in a meeting in early January, the Blue Devils say they have moved on, their spirits buoyed by Brooks' return. Doctors still aren't sure just what went on with the 50-year-old, who in early October began hearing a roaring sound in his head. Lying down only exacerbated the problem, which became so intense that on three occasions he rushed himself to the emergency room.