RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — LSU senior Meredith Duncan, the defending United States Women’s Amateur, will make her second appearance ever in a Ladies Professional Golf Association major tournament when she tees off Thursday in the Kraft Nabisco Championships at the Mission Hills Country Club’s Diana Shore Tournament Course.
Duncan is appearing in the event as one of six amateurs given sponsor’s exemption in to the event with the pros playing for a total purse of $1.5 million and $225,000 for first place. Duncan also appeared as a qualifier in last summer’s United States Women’s Open and has a sponsor’s exemption to the Chick-Fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez in Atlanta, Ga., May 3-5.
Duncan, from Shreveport, is the leader on the LSU team with two wins this year and a 73.90 stroke average. Her four-year career average at LSU of 75.36 is presently the best in school history. Duncan is paired with Pearl Sinn and 2001 LPGA Rookie of the Year, Hee-Won Han, and will tee off at 12:15 CST on the course named for the tournament founder, the late entertainer Diana Shore.
The Kraft Nabisco Championship is a 72-hole event with a 36-hole cut after play on Friday. The event will be televised by ESPN and ABC with telecasts scheduled for 3-5 p.m. CST on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Sunday telecast will be from 3-6 with the first two hours on ESPN2 before switching to ABC for the final hour of the tournament.
Following the tournament, Duncan will return home to join the rest of the Lady Tigers for the team’s regular season home event at the University Club, the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic, April 5-7.