GREENSBORO — Wake Forest claimed its fifth ACC women's golf championship in dramatic fashion, entering Sunday with a 15-stroke lead and exiting with a four-stroke victory (869) over Virginia (873) at Sedgefield Country Club.
Wake Forest won last year at Sedgefield and had back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995.
"We gave up a lot of shots there on the front nine, but they came back and held it together," Wake Forest head coach Dianne Dailey said. "They really showed what true champions they are."
The individual race was close with Wake Forest freshman Michelle Shin capturing medalist honors with a two-under-par 211. Shin is the first freshman to win the individual honor since Duke's Amanda Blumenherst in 2006.
"I've been playing well for the last few weeks," Shin said, "so it felt really good to play consistently this week and pull it out in the end."
Second-round co-leader Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, shot a final-round 78 and finished tied for sixth.
The Demon Deacons started the final round with a 15-stroke lead.
Duke was four-under-par at one point and took the lead by one stroke over Wake Forest at 12:59 p.m., but the Blue Devils dropped eight strokes during the back nine to fall into third place at the finish.
Virginia finished second and was led by freshman Brittany Altomare and junior Calle Nielson, who tied for second with a 1-under par 212.
Duke (874) was led by two freshmen in Lindy Duncan and Stacey Kim, who tied for fourth with a 3-over par 216.
North Carolina senior Kate Thomas led her team to a fifth-place finish (906) and individually had a 5-over par 218.
N.C. State senior Emily Street led the seventh-place Wolfpack. She tied for 19th at 15-over par 228.
ACC teams now await selections for NCAA regionals, held May 6-8.
TEAM SCORES
Wake Forest 286-285-298—869; +17 over par
Virginia 288-298-287—873; +21
Duke 288-298-288—874; +22
Florida State 301-298-302—901; +49
North Carolina 302-291-313—906; +54
Maryland 299-305-311—915; +63
N.C. State 301-304-322—927; +75
Miami 318-324-323—965; +113
Boston College 324-323-340—987; +135
TOP 20 INDIVIDUALS
Michelle Shin, Wake Forest 70-70-71—211 -2 under par
Brittany Altomare, Virginia 72-69-71—212 -1
Calle Nielson, Virginia 70-73-69—212 -1
Lindy Duncan, Duke 71-74-71—216 +3
Stacey Kim, Duke 70-73-73—216 +3
Kate Thomas, North Carolina 74-69-75—218 +5
Cheyenne Woods, Wake Forest 70-70-78—218 +5
Alison Whitaker, Duke 69-76-74—219 +6
Dolores White, Wake Forest 73-70-76—219 +6
Maria Salinas, Florida State 72-74-74—220 +7
Nicole Agnello, Virginia 71-77-76—224 +11
Kim Donovan, Duke 78-76-71—225 +12
Lauren Greenlief, Virginia 75-79-71—225 +12
Macarena Silva, Florida State 76-72-77—225 +12
Natalie Sheary, Wake Forest 77-75-74—226 +13
Courtney Ellenbogen, Duke 79-75-73—227 +14
Courtney Gunter, North Carolina 74-74-79—227 +14
Carly Hunt, Maryland 72-78-77—227 +14
Allie Bodemann, Wake Forest 73-78-77-228 +15
Christine Shimel, Maryland 74-76-78—228 +15
Complete results: At TheACC.com (.pdf)
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