The Dana Open marked Lindy Duncan's fifth LPGA Tour start this season, and the 32-year-old made the most of her latest opportunity. She finished at 15-under (269) and solo third at Highland Meadow Golf Club.
Duncan opened with a quick birdie before dropping a shot on her third hole but quickly recovered with birdies on No. 4 and No 8 to make the turn in 32. She would add four more birdies on the back nine to post a final round 65. Her final-round 65 ties the third-lowest score of her LPGA Tour career; she last shot 65 at the 2022 Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America.
"I made a good birdie on the first hole. It was about 10 feet. It's always nice to start with a birdie and a good putt,” said Duncan. “I just kept trusting my reads. My speed was pretty spot on today. So put all that together, and you're getting it close."
"It's an awesome day, I hit a lot of fairways and greens, and I hit a lot of close approaches. Had a lot of chances, and my putter was helping me out a lot. So, I just tried to keep the good momentum going."
Saturday's rain delay had players struggling to avoid the big numbers, and Duncan was no different, needing to mentally prepare for the final round knowing she would need to put up low scores to catch the leader.
"Yesterday was such a long day," said Duncan. "After the rain delay, it rained pretty hard, when I came back out, I was really struggling on the greens with speed. Nothing dropped for me on the back nine, even though I was still in it, hitting it well. I was just hopeful that today I could see a couple of putts go in. I worked on kind of a couple things in the warm-up, and I felt pretty good. That really carried over for today. But I thought I was going to have a couple drop today because yesterday was a lot of lip outs."
This week was Duncan's sixth appearance at the Dana Open and her best performance in Sylvania, Ohio. In her five previous starts, she's missed two cuts, and before today, her best finish of 23rd came in 2016. She has split time this year competing on the Epson Tour, carding three top-10 finishes in four starts, with a season-best runner-up result at the Inova Mission Inn Resort & Club Championship in May.
"It's great. Especially to have a good final round,” Duncan said. “In the first round of this tournament I was struggling. I was 2 over through like 11 holes or something. I just kind of kept grinding. Saw a couple go in. So, yeah, you just got to keep persevering and just kind of wait for your chances. I think I did that pretty well.”
One week on the LPGA Tour can make all the difference in the world for a player with limited status, and this $116,401 payout will no doubt help Duncan’s, so expect to see more of the American teeing it up on the LPGA Tour in 2023.
"I've had a lot of time to think because I haven't been full status for a couple years,” she said. “So I've been thinking about a lot of things. I just love the game, so I keep at it."
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