AUBURN, Wash. — LSU’s Meredith Duncan, the top-ranked Golf World and Golfweek female amateur from 2001-02 has been named the 2002 recipient of the Diana Shore Trophy Awards, sponsored by The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Foundation.
The award was presented Friday night at the annual National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) Women’s Golf Banquet, here in conjunction with the 2002 Division I NCAA Women’s Golf Championship.
Duncan was chosen based on her academic excellence, natural leadership style, dedicated community service work and extraordinary golf ability. As part of the Diana Show Trophy Award, the LSU women golf program will receive a $7,000 grant in Duncan’s name. The award and the grant are funded through the LPGA Foundation’s Dinah Shore Scholarship Fund and the Friends of Golf.
Duncan, who has a scoring average of 73.14, was the captain of the LSU golf team in 2001-02. During her LSU career, she captured three individual collegiate golf titles: 2001 Furman Lady Paladin; 2002 Sun Trust Lady Gator; and the 2002 LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic. She had 20 top-10 finishes during her career at LSU and finished tied for seventh at the 2000 NCAA Championship.
In addition, she was named to the All-SEC First team (2000-02), was a second team All-American in 2001, an honorable mention All-American in 2000 and a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll from 2000-02. In 2001, she was the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, Women’s Western Amateur champion, Women’s North-South Amateur champion, Independence Bowl Sportsman of the year and the Tiger Athletic Foundation Female Athlete of the Year.
In April, she received the Nancy Lopez Award, which is presented annually to the world’s most outstanding female golfer from the previous calendar year.
The award is given in conjunction with the LPGA’s Chick-fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez in Stockbridge, Ga. Duncan played in both Lopez’ Tournament and the former Diana Shore event, the Kraft Nabisco Championships, earlier this year, making the cut in the latter and finishing in 73rd place.
In addition to her academic and athletic achievements, Duncan has also been extensively involved in community service during her LSU days. She participated in the LSU “CHAMPS” program, a specially designed volunteer program that annually holds Halloween, Thanksgiving and Holiday foo drives, toy drives to assist families and children in the LSU area.
She was a volunteer for “Camp Victory” which is a summer camp designed especially for special needs kids. The camp is in cooperation with the St. Jude’s Children Hospital for cancer research and helps kids learn a variety of activities. One of her main service projects was working with “The ARC of Caddo-Bossier,” which is a non-profit group that provides counseling, education, financial and medical assistant to children in need. She helped coordinate its charity golf tournament, which raised funds for projects and continued research.
Duncan received a crystal replica of the original Dinah Shore Trophy from Dr. Betsy Clark, the LPGA’s vice president of professional development. The award recognizes a female collegiate golfer who excels in both academics and athletics. She must have an overall GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, play in at least 50 percent of her team’s scheduled events and maintain a scoring average of 78.00.
The Dinah Shore Trophy Award, a part of the Dinah Shore Scholarship Fund, is a cooperative effort between the LPGA Foundation, FOG and the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the LPGA’s four major championships.
This marks the second time in three years that an LSU golfer has captured the award as Lisette Lee was the 2000 recipient of the Shore Award, which remains on permanent display at the Mission Hills Country Club in California, where the Kraft Nabisco Championships are played each spring.