TRINITY, Texas — LSU senior women’s golfer Meredith Duncan, representing the United States, posted an even par round of 72 and stands in fourth place after the first round of The Spirit International Amateur Championships Thursday at Whispering Pines Golf Course.
Duncan, the 2001 United States Amateur champion from Shreveport, La., is joined on the women’s side in this multi-country event by Laura Myerscough, the 2000 United States Women’s Amateur runnerup and a member of the Arizona women’s golf team. Robert Hamilton and Casey Wittenburg are the men’s portion of the team.
The 72-hole event features five competitions in one event. Besides the men’s and women’s individual competition, there is a men’s and women’s team competition with the best score on each hole counted and a four-player international team event with the best score from the four players counted on the hole.
Duncan is two shots out of the lead held by Lorena Ochoa, who plays for Arizona, but is representing her native Mexico in the competition. Ochoa posted a 70, one shot better than Thailand’s Aree Wongluekiet and Joo Mi Kim of Korea at 71. Duncan is tied for fourth with Violeta Retamoza of Mexico and Sung Ah Lim of Korea. Myerscough of the U.S. is tied for 13th after a 5-over 77. Former LSU golfer Tina Howard, representing her native New Zealand, is in a tie for ninth at 2-over 74.
As a team, the United States women are tied for fourth with New Zealand at 3-under par. Mexico is the leader with a best-ball score of 8-under 64, with Korea in second at 65 and Thailand third at 67. The men’s twosome of Hamilton and Wittenberg are also tied for fourth after a best ball 6-under 66, tied with four other teams. Korea led the way with a 9-under 63.
On the International overall leader board, Korea’s men’s and women’s two-round best ball of 128, 16-under par, is the leader, three shots ahead of Mexico. The United States is alone in fifth place with a 9-under combined score of 135, tied with Switzerland. In all, 24 countries from around the world are participating in the event which runs through Sunday.