The Blue Devil duo posted a 2&1 victory over 27th seeded Jillian Bourdage and Casey Weidenfeld Monday afternoon in a match they never trailed.
"We wanted to be aggressive the entire time, so just to start off and take advantage of how we refocused," said Shepherd. "We did that great and Megan drained some birdies early."
Furtney/Shepherd registered back-to-back birdies on No. 2 and No. 3 to go ahead, 2-up, early in the championship match. After Bourdage/Weidenfeld collected a birdie to win No. 4, the Duke duo posted its third birdie over a four-hole span to go back ahead, 2-up. The Blue Devils made it 3-up after another birdie on the 382-yard, par four seventh.
"The first birdie I made on No. 2, I was in the fairway bunker," added Furtney. "I like the club I had. Went up one club, and I knew if I caught a little bit thin side and just got it up high it would be tight. That's what I was able to do. Then the third hole we had gotten a pretty good idea for that pin placement earlier in the day when we played our first match and so I kind of knew where I wanted to place that wedge. I've been able to have pretty good control of my wedges this week, so I was pretty confident in being able to kind of stick that shot within ten feet, which is what I was able to do."
Over the final 10 holes, Furtney and Shepherd shot two-over-par with bogeys on No. 9 and No. 13, but only lost one hole. The Duke tandem closed the match with a par on No. 17.
Furtney, of South Elgin, Ill., and Shepherd reached the semifinals of U.S. Amateur Championship last April, before falling to eventual champions Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor. The Blue Devils' longest match this week was a quarterfinal battle that went 19 holes, with Shepherd, who hails from Greenwood, Ind., making a birdie that advanced them into Wednesday morning's semifinals.
In the Wednesday morning semifinal match against eighth-seeded Amari Avery and Alexa Pano, the Duke duo went down, 1-up, for the first time in four match play contests with a bogey on hole No. 1. This was a day after birding the 377-yard, par four first hole a total of three times on three tries.
Furtney/Shepherd responded by making par on hole No. 2 and getting the match back to all square. The Blue Devils then struck fire notching birdies on No. 3, No. 4, No. 6, No. 8 and No. 9 on their way to going 2-up. After both sides made par on three straight holes, Furtney/Shepherd went 3-up with a par on No. 13 and then sank their sixth birdie of the day on the 274-yard, par four 14th. The Duke incoming freshmen made par on No. 15 to clinch the 4&3 victory.
"I've said it before and I'll say it a hundred more times," said Furtney. "We know each other's games so well and we're so good about communicating with each other on the golf course. I think we're one of the few teams who didn't use caddies this week. I like to say that we caddie for each other in a sense. Being able to talk shots through and have a lot of options open is really important for us as a team."
The USGA title by Shepherd is the second of her career as she claimed the 2017 U.S. Girls' Junior title.
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On This Date: Furtney, Shepherd Claim Four-Ball Title - Duke University - GoDuke.com
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