Louise Duncan finishes with flourish in just her second event as LET card holder

Louise Duncan handed herself an early confidence boost on the Ladies European Tour after signing off with three straight birdies in the final round of the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.

In just her second event since securing a card at the Q-School in December, the West Kilbride woman had dug deep to make the cut as she covered her final seven holes on the Blue Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in two-under-par on Friday.

In the final circuit, Duncan was level-par for the day after starting at the tenth before finishing 3-4-3 for a closing 70, which lifted her 16 spots into a tie for 24th on two-over.

The encouraging effort earned the 2021 R&A Women’s Amateur champion, who had a local caddie on her bag, just under £5,000 in an event won by Sweden’s Maja Stark.

Louise Duncan in action during the final round of the LET's Lalla Meryem Cup at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco. Picture: Tristan Jones/LET

After missing the cut in the season-opening Magical Kenya Ladies Open after running up back-to-back double-bogey 7s in her second round at the difficult Vipingo Ridge, this was just the boost Duncan would have been looking for early on in her new working environment.

Kylie Henry (73) finished in a tie for 31st on four-over, but a closing 82 saw Laura Beveridge, the top Scot on the circuit last season, slip to just outside the top 60 on 12-over.

As Stark landed her sixth LET title triumph with a four-shot success over compatriot Linn Grant, Canada’s Stephen Ames competed a wire-to-wire win at the same venue in the Champions Tour’s Trophy Hassan II.

Ames closed 18 straight pars to finish five shots clear of the field nine-under, with Colin Montgomerie (72) tying for seventh on two-under, seven shots better than Paul Lawrie following his closing 79 that included a sore quadruple-bogey 7 at the ninth.

On the DP World Tour, Grant Forrest and Scott Jamieson both sit just four shots off the lead heading into the final round of the Singapore Classic at Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

And, in the second event of the new Challenge Tour season, Craig Howie shares seventh spot, albeit eight shots behind leader Oliver Bekker, with a round to go in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt in South Africa.