Louise Duncan birdies last hole at Q-School to secure LET card at first attempt

Louise Duncan secured a Ladies European Tour card at the first attempt after producing “one of the best bunker shots of my life” to birdie the 90th and last hole in the circuit’s Qualifying School Final in Spain.

Louise Duncan in action during the LET Q-School Final at La Manga in Spain. Picture: Tristan Jones/LET.

The 22-year-old from West Kilbride had been inside the all-important top 20 and ties for most of a nerve-wrecking last circuit on the South Course at La Manga before running up an untimely double-bogey 6 at the 15th.

That left her needing a birdie in the final three holes and, though good opportunities went begging at both the 16th and 17th, her patience was rewarded at the par-5 18th.

In making a 4 there, Duncan signed off with a one-under 72 for a three-under total, which meant it was mission accomplished as she finished in a tie for 17th spot.

West Kilbride's Louse Duncan celebrates securing her LET card for the 2023 season after coming through nine rounds over two stages at La Manga.

“A little bit of a relief,” the 2021 R&A Women’s Amateur champion told The Scotsman of how it felt to have secured a coveted Category 12 status for the 2023 LET season. “It was a nervy last few holes and it’s been a long few weeks, so I am very happy for it to be over now.”

Having mixed birdies at the second, eighth, ninth and 11th with bogeys at the fifth and seventh, Duncan had avoided putting herself under any massive pressure until that slip up at the 15th.

“It was just a bad tee shot, which put myself in a hazard and I ended up making a double from it,” she said of that. “But I then played the next three holes pretty decent, hit the fairway and the green but the putts didn’t drop at 16 or 17 from relatively close range.

“On the par-5 18, we knew what we had to do as they had scoreboards after the 16th and 17th. It was reachable and I smashed a driver down the fairway but then left myself a nice 20-yard bunker shot, needing to get up and down for a birdie.

The 'Class of 2022' celebrate their card success in the LET Qualifying School Final at La Manga.

“I hit probably one of the best bunker shots of my life under the circumstances, hitting it to around two-and-half to three feet, which I was very happy with, and it was just about getting it in the hole from there. It’s been quite a ride!”

It certainly was bearing in mind that she’d been eight-over through just six holes in the opening round of a pre-qualifier and eventually signed for a 10-over 83 but managed to claw her way back from that. “I didn’t have high expectations after that,” she admitted. “To have come through it and actually be in the top 20 in the end is pretty special.”

Duncan heaped praise on Dean Robertson, who was on her bag for both stages. “Just another unbelievable week and he’s been a massive help,” she said of her mentor from Stirling University and a former European Tour winner,

“I probably would have been on a plane home after the first two rounds, to be honest. The fact I’m still here and we are still breathing, a big part of it is down to him.”

Duncan made her pro debut in the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open in July, missing the cut at Dundonald Links but then finishing joint-19th in the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield the following week.