Duncan ‘Over The Moon’ As MacDonald Not Impressed Being ‘On The Clock’ At Carnoustie

3 years ago by Comments Off on Duncan ‘Over The Moon’ As MacDonald Not Impressed Being ‘On The Clock’ At Carnoustie

Scottish amateur sensation Louise Duncan was ‘over the moon’ in posting a 68 to be just a shot of the lead on debut in the AIG Women’s Open championship at Carnoustie.

Duncan, 21, grabbed an eagle and four birdies in bitterly cold conditions to be just one shot back of the leading trio of Olympic gold medal winning American Nelly Korda, Swede Madelin Sagstrom and Korean Sei Young Kim.

West Kilbride’s Duncan, and a student at Stirling University, qualified for the Women’s Open last June after becoming the first Scot in 24-years to win the Women’s Amateur and in the process demolishing her opponent 9 & 8 in the biggest defeat in the 118th hosting of the event.

Duncan was two under par after five holes but gave the shots back at the seventh and 11th holes before capping his round with birdies at 12 and 13th and then holing out for an eagle ‘3’ at the par-5 14th ahead of four strong closing pars.

Duncan said: “I had a lot of fun out there and wasn’t at all expecting to shoot 68, so I’m over the moon.

“I just took each shot as it came and just didn’t get too ahead of myself, and just managed to keep it rolling, really.

“I was really nervous on the first tee and shaking with my heart rate up, so very surprised I actually made contact and the ball going straight which was a bonus”.

“I settled down about the eighth hole and then had a nice birdie at 12 while I thought my putt on 13 was going to be short and then on 14, I also thought it was going to stop short but it managed to fall in, so it was a great putt”.

Duncan ended the day tied with playing partner Hall, winner of the 2018 Women’s Open winner Georgia Hall and with American Megan Khan, and the other member of the group, posting a five-over 77.

Duncan said: “I am really happy to finish off my round with four pars as it’s a tough finishing stretch.

“Also, to have my family and a few friends here has been really nice to have their support all the way around the course”.

Nairn’s Kelsey MacDonald was handed the honour of the opening tee shot at a very crisp 6.30am but just three holes further on her first group found themselves ‘on the clock’.

To add unnecessary pressure to the threesome, the rules official stayed with the group for the remaining 14-holes with MacDonald eventually posting a three-over 75 and for the group, out when conditions should be at their best, 10-over in total.

And with MacDonald, who played alongside Wales Chloe Williams and American Sarah Schmelzel, not wishing to reveal who was the tortoise in their group.

She said: “I know it wasn’t me, that’s all I am saying but being put on the clock from the fourth hole was not ideal.

“Unfortunately, it was one of those things, but it felt like I was having to run all round and it’s not really what you want in your first experience of the Women’s Open.  It’s also not nice when you have a referee following you the whole way round. I did find that quite hard.

“I’m a fairly quick player. You have to try and forget about that but, when your whole group is being monitored and you have just one shot you take a bit longer over, then you are going to be penalised and that’s a tough one.”

Other Scots –

71 – Kylie Henry

76 – Gemma Dryburgh

78 – Catriona Matthew 

 



Comments are closed.