Wake Forest, powered by freshman Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, successfully defended its Darius Rucker Intercollegiate title on Wednesday in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
The Demon Deacons began Wednesday’s final round with a six-shot lead over Arizona State before shooting 6-over 290 and finishing at 9 over, nine shots ahead of South Carolina, which charged five spots up the leaderboard to finish second. The victory was the second straight to begin the spring for Wake, which won twice in four fall events.
“What an incredible week for these student-athletes,” Wake Forest coach Kim Lewellen said. “There was outstanding competition on a difficult course with phenomenal crowds all week. We are proud of this. Congratulations to our team and to Carolina.”
Out of the 17 teams, Arizona State (third), Baylor and Texas (T-4) rounded out the top 5.
Full-field scores from the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate: Teams | Individual
Wake freshman Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, the nation’s 30th-ranked player, captured the event’s individual title at 4 under, edging out Texas’ Bohyun Park by two strokes for her second straight individual win. The Spaniard, who also helped the Demon Deacons sweep at the UCF Challenge last month, is the first Wake Forest women’s golfer since Stephanie Neill in 1991-92 to win multiple events in her first year
The Demon Deacons, who are ranked fifth by Golfstat, led the field with 43 birdies over three rounds, and Chacarra led the event individually with 15 birdies.
Aside from Chacarra, Rachel Kuehn placed T-13 while Lauren Walsh and Mimi Rhodes were T-20 for the winning squad.
With the victory, Wake is establishing itself as the nation’s second-best team behind Stanford, which won the Gunrock Invitational on Tuesday by shooting 50 under earlier this week, four shots lower than the previous NCAA best of 46 under, and has lost just one tournament this season.
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