WICHITA, Kan. — LSU senior golfer Meredith Duncan steam rolled through the back nine of her afternoon round Wednesday to advance to the third round of the 101st United States Women’s Amateur Golf Championships being conducted over the Flint Hills National Golf Club.
Duncan won two matches on the day as the field of 64 was whittled to the final 16. The Shreveport native took out Yvonne Chou of Temple City, Calif., 6 and 4, in the morning match as the second-seeded Duncan had no problem with the 63rd qualifier.
The afternoon match appeared to be on paper a difficult one as she faced Young-A Yang of South Korea. But Yang was a very familiar face to Duncan as she plays No. 1 for the University of Tennessee.
Yang got the advantage in the afternoon match, taking a 1 UP lead when Duncan bogeyed the par 5 fifth and turned after nine two up after another Duncan bogey on the ninth.
But that was it was Yang. Duncan would win the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th with three pars and a birdie to turn the match back around to a 2-up advantage for the LSU golfer. When she birdied the par three, 149-yard 17th, Duncan had the 3 and 1 victory as Duncan won five holes on the back nine.
The win advances Duncan to the round of 16 against the 15th-seeded qualifier, Lisa Ferrero of Lodi, Calif. Ferrero advanced to the third round with a 2 and 1 win over Stacy Prammansudh of Tulsa.
Duncan’s morning win over Chou was a workmanlike effort in which the Byrd High product did not lose a hole, opening 5 UP through nine before ending it with a birdie on the par 3 14th. Duncan was 2-over par after 14 holes in her morning match and the same for her 16-hole afternoon encounter.
Duncan and Ferrero are scheduled to go off at 7:40 a.m. in the fifth match of the morning. If Duncan wins and advances to the quarterfinals, that match will then be part of ESPN’s coverage of the quarters from 2-4 p.m. (Cox Cable Channel 35 in Baton Rouge) on Thursday.