Smith Totals Top-15 Finish to Pace Blue Devils in Florida

Sunday, February 15

Melbourne, Fla.

Duke University

Moon Golf Invitational

Photo by: Todd Drexler

Smith Totals Top-15 Finish to Pace Blue Devils in Florida

2/17/2026 5:21:00 PM | Women's Golf

Scoring

MELBOURNE, Fla. – Duke women's golf graduate Andie Smith collected a top-15 finish to pace the Blue Devils at the Moon Golf Invitational at the Suntree Country Club in Melbourne.

Smith, who played in her home state of Florida, carded rounds of 71, 75 and 72 for a 2-over-par, 218, to finish tied for 14th. It marked her fifth top-20 placement of the season and 19th of her four-year career. As a team, Duke turned in a ninth-place finish with rounds of 298, 292 and 295 for a 54-hole ledger of 885.

HOW IT HAPPENED – ROUND THREE

Andie Smith closed the week with an even-par, 72, with three birdies. She opened with back-to-back birdies on No. 7 and No. 8. Smith, who is from Hobe Sound, hit her 6-iron from 167 yards to seven feet for birdie on the seventh and then rolled in a 35-footer for birdie on No. 8. After a bogey on No. 9, Smith had a tap-in birdie on the par-5 No. 10 hole to return to 2-under-par for the day. Smith parred the next eight holes of the back nine. After heading back to the front nine, she was 2-over over her final six holes to finish with a 72.
After opening her day on No. 7, Avery McCrery registered two pars and a bogey on No. 9. On the 10th hole, she was in the greenside bunker in two and hit it to six feet for birdie. McCrery suffered bogeys on No. 11 and No. 16, while closing with another birdie on No. 2 to finish with a 73. She played her final 15 holes at even-par. McCrery hit 14 greens and 11 fairways on the day.
Junior Katie Li was even par through 14 holes with three birdies, three bogeys and eight pars. After parring her first four holes, Li drained a 27-foot putt for birdie on No. 13. She then bogeyed three out of the next four holes. Li, a native of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, struck her 54-degree wedge on No. 18 from 76 yards to five feet for birdie and then rolled in a 12-foot birdie on No. 2 to return to even par for the day. Li suffered a double-bogey on No. 5 and had pars the rest of the way to finish with a 74. She had 29 puts on the day.
Anna Cañado Espinal and Carla De Troia signed for rounds of 76 and 77, respectively, Tuesday. They combined for three birdies on the day.
Auburn won the team title with a 7-under-par, 857, while Texas A&M's Vanessa Borovilos won the individual title with a 7-under, 209.
As a team, Duke shot 295 in the final round. The Blue Devils held around 4-over or better for most of the day, but closed with seven bogeys, a double-bogey and two pars.

HOW IT HAPPENED – ROUND TWO

With a 4-over-par, 292, Duke dropped to 10th in the team standings Monday with a 36-hole total of 590. The Blue Devils were only five strokes out of fifth place with 18 holes remaining.
Freshman Avery McCrery paced the Blue Devils Monday with a 2-under-par, 70, to move up into the top-25 of the individual leaderboard. After opening with a par and bogey, McCrery registered back-to-back birdies on No. 3 and No. 4. She hit her 6-iron from 160 yards to eight feet for birdie on No. 3 and then stuck her approach on No. 4 from 106 yards to six feet for birdie. McCrery added another birdie on the seventh to get in the red as she rolled in an 8-foot birdie. After a bogey on No. 8, she played the final 10 holes at 1-under with an 8-footer for birdie on No. 15. She hit a team-best 17 greens on the day.
Katie Li parred the first four holes to start her day and then rolled in a 16-footer for birdie on No. 5. After a bogey on six, Li drained an 18-foot birdie on No. 7 to get back to 1-under. She parred seven holes in a row and then had a double-bogey on No. 15. Li returned to even for the day with a 10-foot birdie on No. 17, but suffered a bogey on No. 18 to finish with a 73.
Andie Smith had a slow opening nine holes as she was 3-over making the turn. She opened the back by hitting her 3-wood from 250 yards to the greenside and chipped to 10 feet for birdie. Smith closed the day with seven pars and a bogey on No. 15 to finish with a 75. She had 29 putts on the day.
Sophomore Anna Cañado Espinal also had a slow start to her morning with a 4-over score through nine holes. She finished strong though with birdies on No. 10, No. 14 and No. 15. Cañado Espinal turned in two pars and a bogey on No. 17 to finish with a 74.
With a couple of birdies on the day, sophomore Carla De Troia signed for a 75. She was even par through 12 holes, but dropped two shots on No. 13 and No. 14 en route to a 3-over score.
Duke turned in 13 birdies in the second round.

HOW IT HAPPENED – ROUND ONE

Duke opened the tournament with a 10-over, 298, in the first round and was eighth overall. The Blue Devils were 3-over-par over nine holes, but closed the afternoon 6-over on the final nine holes. Duke finished with 11 birdies on the day.
Andie Smith led the way for the Blue Devils in round one with a 1-under-par, 71, and was tied for sixth after 18 holes. After a bogey on No. 1 and double-bogey on No. 4, Smith played the final 14 holes at 4-under-par. She got things rolling on the par-5, 491-yard fifth hole as she hit her 3-wood short greenside and then chipped to three feet for birdie. Smith hit her 5-iron on No. 9 from 193 yards to 10 feet for birdie. She made it back-to-back birdies with a 5-footer on No. 10, before closing with a 10-footer for birdie on No. 14. Smith had 28 putts and four up-and-downs on the day.
Anna Cañado Espinal opened her morning with a par and then birdied the second hole to get in the red early. She played the next 12 holes at 3-over-par. Cañado Espinal closed the final four holes with three pars and a birdie on No. 17 to finish with a 1-over, 73.
The trio of Avery McCrery, Carla De Troia and Katie Li signed for a 5-over, 77.
McCrery was even par through 12 holes, but dropped five strokes over the final six holes. She totaled two birdies on the day on No. 2 and No. 12.

NOTES

As a team, Duke shot 4-under-par on par-5 holes, which ranked tied for fourth overall.
The Blue Devils finished with 35 birdies on the week, which was sixth-best.
Andie Smith ranked tied for fifth with a 4-under-par ledger on par-5 holes and tied for fourth with a 1-under score on par-3 holes.
Smith now owns a team-best 11 rounds of even or under par, while Avery McCrery has nine on the season. Smith moved her career even or under par rounds total to 47.

Quotes

"I have a mixture of feelings about the event. Day one we learned a lot about a course only one of our players had previously competed on. Day two was pretty solid. Today we were even par for the day with four holes left and wound up 7-over. So, we put some solid golf out there today, then it slipped away. I guess it's just golf -- hard to figure sometimes. Everyone fought hard, all three days, every hole." -- Duke head coach Dan Brooks

WHAT IS NEXT

Duke will next travel to Hilton Head, South Carolina as the Blue Devils compete in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate March 2-4 at the Long Cove Club.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's golf, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWGOLF".

#GoDuke

Duke Results
Andie Smith                     71-75-72=218 (T14, +2)
Avery McCrery                 77-70-73=220 (T24, +4)
Anna Cañado Espinal     73-74-76=222 (T42, +6)
Katie Li                             77-73-74=224 (T48, +8)
Carla De Troia                  77-75-77=229 (T67, +13)
Team                                298-292-295=885 (9, +21)