AUBURN, Wash. — Surviving a roller coaster back nine, LSU senior golfer Meredith Duncan came home in 1-over par 73 in the first round Tuesday of the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at the University of Washington Golf Course.
Duncan is in a tie for 19th place after the first round of the 72-hole event, just five shots out of the lead of Duke’s Virada Nirapathpongporn. The Duke star had four birdies and 14 pars in shooting a 4-under 68 to take the first-day lead.
Duncan, in the first group of three off the tee in the 126-player field, parred the first eight holes to turn at 1-over 37. On the back nine, Duncan would encounter a bogey and a double bogey, but got three birdies, two in the final three holes to keep the round at 1-over at the end.
“I played solid,” Duncan said afterwards. “I kept making pars, and then took a stupid double bogey on 15 where I got into deep rough and couldn’t get out. But then I birdied two of the last three to get it back to one. This is my last college tournament, so I’m just here to enjoy myself. I obviously want to play well, but I’m not putting any more extra pressure on myself than I would at any other tournament.”
In the team competition, Arizona was the star of the day with a 3-under score of 285 and the Wildcats have opened an early nine-shot advantage over the winner of Baton Rouge’s East Regional 10 days ago, Duke, and defending national champion Georgia. Both are at 6-over 294. In a large group tied for fourth at 10-over 298 are Auburn, Florida and Southeastern Conference champion South Carolina.
After teeing off in the first group on Tuesday, Duncan will go late on Wednesday in the second round, teeing off at approximately 3:30 p.m. CDT. Live scoring for the day can be found on the Internet at www.golfstatlive.com or www.LSUsports.net.