Wake Forest, Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, claim Darius Rucker Intercollegiate title

Wake Forest, powered by freshman Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, successfully defended their Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Invitational title. 

After starting Round 2 four strokes behind the lead, the Demon Deacons had a 4 under second round and jumped to the top of the leaderboard. Though they shot 6-over in the final round, they were able to hold their lead over the South Carolina Gamecocks, who finished in second place at 19 over, 9 strokes behind the Demon Deacons. It’s Wake Forest’s second win of the season. 

“What an incredible week for these student-athletes,” Wake Forest Head 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 Forest freshman Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, the nation’s 30th ranked player, took away the event’s individual title at 4 under, edging out Texas’ Bohyun Park by two strokes. The Spaniard is the first Wake Forest women’s golfer since Stephanie Neill in 1991-92 to win multiple events in her first year. In February, Chacarra and Wake Forest, the nation’s fifth-ranked team, both won the UCF Challenge with a record-breaking 54-hole team and individual score in relation to par in NCAA history.

The Demon Deacons 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 for her sixth top 25 finish in six events this year. Lauren Walsh and Mimi Rhodes were T-20, their fourth top 20 finish in six events this year for them both. 

With the victory, Wake Forest is establishing themselves as the nation’s second-best team, behind Stanford, who by shooting 50 under earlier this week, four shots lower than the previous NCAA best of 46 under, won the Gunrock Invitational.