Duncan finishes with a flourish
SCOTTISH AMATEUR ROARED ON BY HOME CROWD AT CARNOUSTIE
THE loudest cheer all week erupted at the 18th green at Carnoustie yesterday when Scottish amateur Louise Duncan rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt to leave the locals dreaming of partying like it’s 1999.
‘Go out and win it tomorrow, Louise,’ shouted one spectator, as the 21-year-old, from West Kilbride, completed a wonderful third-round 68 at the AIG Women’s Open that has given her a chance of creating history in becoming the first amateur to win this coveted major.
What a refreshing delight. The Stirling University student tamed the fearsome links to lie tied fourth and within two shots of the lead held by two Scandinavians, Anna Nordqvist, from Sweden, and Nanna Madsen, of Denmark.
While every other player was dressed in waterproofs and many resorted to hand-warmers between shots on a soggy Saturday in Angus, the slender Duncan played all 18 holes in shorts. ‘I’m a true Scot!’ she laughed. ‘I was actually going to take my jumper off at one point. My skin is waterproof.’
The locals will be hoping she is bulletproof today as she looks to follow in the footsteps of fellow Scot Paul Lawrie, who won an unforgettable edition of The Open on this links in 1999.
Duncan, of course, wasn’t even born when Lawrie took advantage of the French follies of Jean Van de Velde; playing the shot of his life to set up a clinching birdie to win the play-off at the 18th.
Duncan almost came up with a carbon copy, a perfectly struck six iron — and there were plenty of fist pumps as the putt dropped and appreciative handclaps for her devoted audience.
‘I came here just hoping to make the weekend and enjoy myself and I couldn’t have asked for anything more today,’ said Duncan, who earned her spot here as the British Women’s amateur champion.
‘The crowd were fantastic, I never expected that many to watch, especially in the rain. I struggled to get my tee in the ground on Thursday, I was so nervous, and I’m still shaking — but it is getting easy in some way.’
Duncan is ten shots ahead in the race to finish low amateur, so is all but assured of at least one cherished prize today.
She said: ‘I obviously don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know that Carnoustie has a record for disasters, so it’s important to just go out with the same attitude and see where it leaves me at the end of the day.’
The last amateur to win a major was Catherine Lacoste, from France, who claimed the US Women’s Open back in 1967.
Duncan finished the third round as the leading British player, after Georgia Hall, joint leader at halfway, had one of those rounds when putts shaved the hole rather than falling below ground, and the two loose iron shots she hit all day cost her strokes. The 2018 champion finished with a 73 but is still only three shots off the pace.
If Duncan does win, she will have to forego the £640,000 first prize, as an amateur. Two-time major champion Nordqvist came up with the round of the week as she needed just 65 strokes to move up no fewer than 22 places on the leaderboard.
World No 1 Nelly Korda is lurking dangerously just three shots behind, with another big-hitting American, Lexi Thompson, only two adrift. Both players shot 70.