Meredith Duncan: Former LSU Great Now Coaching Next Generation of Golfers

LSU Women's Golf All-American Meredith Duncan is a member of the 2019 LSU Athletics Hall of Fame induction class

Meredith Duncan, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, was a four-year letterwinner with the LSU Women’s Golf team. From her freshmen season in 1998 all the way to her senior season in 2002, she collected numerous accolades, both on and off the course. In her first year at LSU, Meredith was ranked fourth on the team in stroke average and was LSU’s top finisher in the NCAA Division 1 Championships. By her sophomore season, Meredith was ranked first in stroke average and led the team in top 10 finishes with eight. She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in her third visit to the tournament during the summer following her junior season. In that same summer, she won two other major amateur titles and Louisiana Governor Mike Foster declared August 25th as “Meredith Duncan Day.” In her final season, Meredith ended her college career with the best single-season and career stroke average in LSU Women’s Golf history. Off the course, Meredith received her degree in Kinesiology, having earned SEC Academic Honor Roll from 2000-2002. She was also named the TAF Athlete of the Year in 2002, the same year she competed on the U.S. Curtis Cup Team.

And then:

Following her playing career at LSU, Meredith attended the 2003 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament and placed fifth to earn exempt status for the 2004 LPGA season. During the 2003 season, she played on the Futures Tour, now named the Symetra Tour. In 2004, she went through numerous personal struggles, including as the loss of her father, and subsequently lost her tour card. She competed on the Symetra Tour again in 2005, recording three top-ten finishes and earning a spot back on the LPGA. After being on the LPGA for two more years, she began to have some back problems in 2009 and retired in 2013.

And now:

After retiring, Meredith began substitute teaching and helping out with the women’s basketball team at her alma mater, C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport. She eventually got her Teaching Certificate and is now the Assistant Coach for Women’s Basketball and Head Coach of the Boy’s and Girl’s Golf teams. She led each golf team to a State Championship in 2019, coming back from a 16-stroke deficit on the boys side and a five-stroke deficit for the girls. About her life now she said, “It’s not how I imagined my life to be, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m really happy to be where I’m at now, I love coaching.”

On LSU:

“As a kid growing up, you’re just trying to figure out ‘how do I become the version of me?’ and you don’t really find that ‘til you get into college. I had no idea, from a golf perspective, how to practice. I would just go out and play, I didn’t really have a practice routine. So, from a golf perspective, I learned how to work at the game and not just play the game. That is, in huge part, thanks to my coach, Karen Bahnsen. … I was also blessed with amazing teammates. I was really close with the girls my age and then I had some older girls, Lisette Lee and Katy Harris who, being older, showed me how to get better. I just can’t say enough about them. We all loved each other and yeah, we’d want to beat each other but we also rooted for each other and wanted each other to be better. Karen loved us like we were her own kids and we loved her like our mom. I can’t imagine having a college experience that’s different from that.”