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Greensboro, N.C. (Seminoles.com) – The Florida State women’s golf team has finished in second place in the ACC Women’s Golf Championship in both of the last two seasons. In 2017, the Seminoles finished second to Duke by nine strokes. In 2018, they finished behind the Blue Devils, again.
Florida State Head Coach Amy Bond and her Seminoles arrive at Sedgefield Country Club for the 2019 ACC Championship looking to put an end to Duke’s reign and win their first-ever ACC Championship this weekend. The Seminoles enter the two day-day (Thursday and Saturday), 54-hole tournament as the third-highest ranked team in the conference (behind Duke and Wake Forest) but as the team with the best stroke average.
Florida State will play in the event for the 28th time and has finished in third place or better in three of the last four seasons. The Seminoles have finished as high as second (1992, 1995, 1999, 2017 and 2018) and have earned four third-place finishes since joining the nation’s top conference for women’s golf in 1992.
“I think the biggest thing is that we have worked really hard at getting better each and every day we’ve come out here,” said Bond. “Now it’s the postseason and you really just treat it as any other day. It’s still 54 holes, and they’ve got to go out and play the golf course instead of other people. I’m really excited to see them compete with the best teams in the ACC and see how we compare as we head to the big part of the postseason.”
The event returns to Sedgefield for the first time since 2016, but it’s a course Bond knows well. In her nine seasons as the Seminoles’ head coach, the ACC Championship has been played at Sedgefield seven times. During that period (2011-16), the Seminoles finished in the top four a total of four times and earned a tie for a third-place finish in 2015.
“I think I am the only one, including Matt (Whall, Florida State’s assistant coach) who is going with us this week, that has seen the golf course,” said Bond. “Amanda (Doherty) hasn’t played it, and of course, the four freshmen haven’t played it either.”
The Seminoles’ lineup will feature Doherty (a 2018 All-ACC selection) along with four seasoned freshmen (Frida Kinhult, Puk Lyng Thomsen, Beatrice Wallin and Amelia Williamson), a lineup that has carried Florida State to two team championships this spring. The Seminoles won the power-packed Darius Rucker Intercollegiate by a record margin (with Kinhult winning the individual championship) and roared back from fourth place entering the final round to win the Evans Derby Experience (with Kinhult and Wallin both finishing in a tie for third place in the individual race).
Florida State’s lineup may very well be the most talented Bond has ever brought to an ACC Championship, despite the major contributions from four players who have yet to tee off in a conference championship.
Playing with these four freshmen is something Bond is not worried about.
“One of the things I like about this team is they play hard golf courses really well,” said Bond. “If they can keep that in perspective and make a lot of pars, I think Saturday we will be in good shape.”
Kinhult, the No. 1-ranked freshman and the No. 2-ranked collegiate player in the country, is also unfazed by her first appearance in the ACC Championship, which is generally considered to be the best collegiate conference tournament in the nation.
“I’m very excited to go into the postseason starting with the ACC,” said Kinhult. “Coach told me some holes are going to be long and I’m excited for that. I like when a course is a bit tough – it’s the game from the tee to the greens – that’s what I like. I’m excited to get there and play the course.”
Kinhult enters the 2019 ACC Championship as the conference leader with a 69.65 stroke average in 20 rounds during seven events. She is the only ACC golfer with a stroke average below 70 and has carded more than half of her rounds (11 of 20) in the 60s. Kinhult’s score of 7-under par 65 is tied for the best round vs. par in the ACC this year. Kinhult enters the ACC Championship an incredible 35 strokes under par in seven tournaments as a Seminole.
This year has been exciting,” said Kinhult. “I tried not to have too many expectations coming in, but it’s been great. I have finished all top-10s with two wins which is good. I’m just trying to do my best and improve all of the time.”
The gravity of the tournament is certainly not lost on Doherty, who will play in her third career ACC Tournament. She finished in a tie for fifth place with a spectacular round of 67 in the second round in helping the Seminoles to a runner-up finish a year ago.
“I’m excited to play Sedgefield,” said Doherty. “None of us – and very few of the players on the other teams – has seen it so it will be very interesting to see how it plays. It’s a nice course. I feel really good going into ACCs with my game personally and I think everybody else is feeling pretty good, also. We have played a lot of these teams that we’ll see and played well against them, so I think it will be a fun week.”
Doherty, a junior, also has complete confidence in her teammates despite their relative youth as collegians.
“I think they’re prepared. They are all good golfers. They know what they are doing. I think they are prepared. I think everybody is prepared.”
Bond, too, has confidence in her entire squad.
“Sedgefield is going to present a challenge both with the weather and with the course itself, but I think it will be fun,” said Bond, who led the Seminoles to a second-place finish as player in the 1999 ACC Championship.
Play gets underway Thursday morning for the Seminoles at 8:30 a.m. The teams will play 36 holes on Thursday and complete the tournament with 18 holes on Saturday.
