Amateur golfer ‘gutted’ after being denied £80k prize money
ROBERTSON HAILS STAR PUPIL AFTER STUNNING OPEN DEBUT
A SCOTTISH golfer who finished in the top ten at the AIG Women’s Open has said she is ‘gutted’ her amateur status saw her miss out on more than £80,000.
Louise Duncan, 21, was not eligible for prize money despite finishing five strokes behind the winner at the tournament at Carnoustie, Angus.
Miss Duncan, from Ayrshire, finished joint-tenth in her major debut. Had she been a pro, she would have left with £80,135 ($110,000) in prize money but instead had to settle for the Smyth Salver trophy as leading amateur and a place in next year’s event at Muirfield, East Lothian. She said: ‘I’m still a bit gutted. It was about $110,000. It would have set me up for a couple of years.’ Miss Duncan has secured spots in the US Women’s Open and Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022 after winning the R&A Women’s Amateur Championship at Kilmarnock (Barassie) this year.
AFTER one transformative week on arguably the most challenging links course in golf, Louise Duncan will find it tough to escape the subject that follows every amateur of such obvious promise and potential.
‘You’re asking the question she got fired at her all week,’ said Dean Robertson, the University of Stirling high performance golf coach. ‘She’ll straight bat that one right back at you and say: “I have no aspirations to be a professional golfer”. But it’s changing. It’s changing.’
Duncan’s performance on her major debut, challenging for the title before eventually settling for 10th place — and top amateur honours — in the AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie, certainly altered a few ideas about what the 21-year-old might achieve. Eventually.
‘The whole of Scotland and further afield have really warmed to her, as a player and person,’ said Robertson. ‘She has moved the dial, in terms of Scottish women’s golf — and women’s golf in general — just with the way she is, the way she comes across.
‘It was so refreshing for a lot of people to see this wee lassie from the west coast of Scotland who has such a big golf game.
‘Before this week, truth be told, she would always be quite self-deprecating, not quite believe in herself — and maybe even get embarrassed to talk about being a good player. But she believes it now.’
Knowing just how different she’d find the whole experience, former European Tour pro Robertson caddied for his student at Carnoustie.
He’d done the same down at Barassie, offering advice and making club selections as Duncan won the Women’s Amateur Championship with a record 9&8 victory in the final.
Pleasantly surprised by how she conquered nerves and excitement to compete with the professionals, the experienced coach insists there is no rush for the youngster to start chasing hard cash.
She is committed, after all, to another two years at Stirling in pursuit of her sports studies degree.
More immediately, Duncan is in Wales for this week’s Curtis Cup. No rest for the talented, right?
Like most golf folk, Robertson could give you a shot-by-shot account of Duncan’s entire Open week. Practice rounds included.
Certain memories stand out in bold, though, as he recalled: ‘She played with Georgia Hall in the first two rounds and Georgia was just incredible.
‘On the first day, when Louise shot four under, Georgia had been asking her what she was doing.
‘Louise said: “I’m still at university, I’ve got two more years”. Georgia asked if she was going to turn pro and she said: “No, I don’t really know what I’m going to do.” Oh really?
‘When Louise went to give her a timid wee knuckle tap after the round, Georgia just wrapped her arms around her, gave her a huge hug, which was just lovely.
‘After the second round, Georgia went up to her and said: “Louise, you’re the best amateur golfer I’ve ever played with. You just need to believe in yourself a bit more”.
‘I think those words meant the world to her, coming from a former Open champion, a Solheim Cup player, heaping praise on her. Louise would be silly not to finish her degree in sports studies.
‘When we debrief properly, she’ll see how much learning took place last week, the room she’s got for improvement.
‘She will have learned so much from the top professionals, how calm they remain, their wedge play, plotting their way around — and not making any silly amateur mistakes.
‘But there’s no doubt about it, it will cross her mind. She’ll be thinking: “Well, if I was a pro here,
I’d be earning a wee bit of money this week, wouldn’t I…”
‘The whole week at Carnoustie was just brilliant. It was an incredible experience for Louise — and an absolute pleasure for me to be on the bag to guide her and help her.
‘The aim was to make the most of the experience and enjoy it. And she didn’t half do that. It certainly exceeded my expectations — and hers, of course. But, I mean, she almost won the thing. The margins were so fine.’
Heading into the tournament, her entry secured by that win in the Amateur, Duncan was intent on soaking up information from more experienced players.
Explaining how she went about it, Robertson said: ‘Last Monday, Louise’s practice round was defending champion Sophia Popov, Leona Maguire and Catriona Matthew.
‘She was as nervous as you could be for a practice round. Her excitement levels were through the roof from the Monday.
‘She didn’t really know where to stand, didn’t want to get in their way, was always being apologetic … it was incredible.
‘That was brilliant for her because they were so great for her. ‘On the Tuesday, we got her out there at 7am so we could get some work done. ‘But the R&A had a film crew walking around with her every shot on the Monday, every shot on the Tuesday as well, because they’re doing a documentary to follow on from winning the Amateur, playing in the Open, playing in the Masters Amateur and the US Women’s Open. ‘So there was constant content getting filmed, a lot of distraction and chaos right in her face. She was having to deal with all that. ‘On Wednesday, we played a practice round right after lunch but actually walked off after seven holes. ‘We needed to get her rested because she was burning so much energy — and hadn’t even hit the first tee yet! ‘The draw was perfect, in terms of timings. The reception she got on the first tee on Thursday, with all those people, I could see her blowing hard. ‘Her eyes were filling up, literally almost in tears. Such a level of excitement, it was off the charts. ‘She made contact with the first ball, having done everything she would do in practice. She smashed it off the tee, hit her approach to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt. And we were off.’
Duncan was a transfer student from Edinburgh University, where she’d been studying to become a PE teacher.
Although her swing looks almost effortless at times, she’s worked like any other elite athlete to wring every last ounce of power out of her slight frame.
‘Louise is an athlete,’ said Robertson. ‘There’s not much to her but she’s strong, very strong — and getting stronger all the time.
‘The stats for the whole Championship showed she was the second longest player in the field, behind Lexi Thompson.
‘She absolutely bombs it and can overpower courses. She was aggressive off the tee and that helped, along with being smart into the greens. ‘Saturday was the best she played, shot a 68 and left a few shots out there.
‘Sunday was tough and she got some bad breaks, a couple of drives just creeping into bunkers, the tee shot at 16 just rolling off the side.
‘There were times when you were thinking: “Oh my word, give us break! But top-10 and an exemption for Muirfield next year is just brilliant.’
It’s a remarkable a chievement, even for a top-level amateur. And it hints at even better to come. In time.