Louise Duncan's dream run continues as she gets set for Curtis Cup
The 21-year-old from West Kilbride became the name on lips of those involved in Scottish golf as she shone at Carnoustie, putting herself in contention for a stunning victory before eventually finishing tied for tenth and the tournament’s top amateur.
Her performance levels caught the eye of many of her peers – Georgia Hall, one of her playing partners for the week, waxed lyrical about her – and many of the crowd who turned up in Angus on the final day followed her around.
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Hide AdThere is no time to look back, though, for Duncan. Not when she is part of the Great Britain and Ireland team that is looking to take down their American amateur counterparts when the Curtis Cup kicks off on Thursday morning at the Conwy Golf Club in north Wales.
“Energy levels are pretty high and I’m riding that wave of emotion,” said Duncan. “I just want to keep it going into this week. It’ll be a good week and hopefully I can perform the same as last week.
“Getting in this team has been a goal. It’s one of the biggest teams you can get in the amateur game, so to be here I’m delighted and very proud.
“It’s been a good season for me, so to cap it off with a Curtis Cup is pretty unreal.
“It would be special to lift the trophy. It’s definitely a goal and we are going to try very hard to get that goal.”
Asked if she could have envisaged such a successful period, Duncan added: “No, that wasn't in the plan really. Wasn't in the crystal ball that I envisioned. It's been great. It's been a great season for me. To cap it off with Curtis Cup, it's been great. I couldn't have dreamt of it.”
The British team, captained by Elaine Ratcliffe, also contains another Scot in Hannah Darling, while Annabell Fuller, Charlotte Heath, Caley McGinty, Emily Toy, Lauren Walsh and Annabel Wilson make up the rest of the octet.
The USA won the last Curtis Cup 17-3 at Quaker Ridge three years ago and they will be captained by Sarah Ingram. Their team consists of Jensen Castle, Allisen Corpuz, Rachel Heck, Gina Kim, Rachel Kuehn, Brooke Matthews, Emilia Migliaccio and Rose Zhang.
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Hide AdThe two Scots have been paired together in the Foursomes, with Darling and Duncan taking on Heck and Zhang at 7.45am. The other opening matches include Fuller and Heath v Kuehn and Migliaccio and McGinty and Toy against Kim and Matthews.
Duncan and Darling are not the only Scottish golfers in action this week, with Oban’s Bob MacIntyre playing in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Ohio. This is the second of three events in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals as he bids to secure a PGA Tour card for next season.
Recent European Tour winners Grant Forrest and Calum Hill are part of a field that includes Henrik Stenson, Francesco Molinari, Martin Kaymer and Danny Willet for the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, while the BMQ PGA Championship in Maryland, the second of three FedEx Play-Offs, gets under way later on Thursday.