PORTHCAWL, Wales — When Lindy Duncan opened with a double bogey on day two of the AIG Women’s Open, she wasn’t too concerned.

She had done the same thing in the first round – even compounding that early error with a bogey on the second hole on Thursday – but recovered with five birdies throughout the rest of her day to post a 2-under 70, an effort that was good enough to leave her just three shots off the pace of the 18-hole leaders.

So, writing a six underneath hole one on her scorecard didn’t give Duncan much pause as she began the second round at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, as after she did so, the 34-year-old then went to work trying to dig herself out of that over-par hole.

The Floridian made quick work of the par-4 2nd and 3rd holes, picking up a pair of back-to-back birdies to erase any evidence of her early misstep. She then parred the next three and ripped off three straight birdies on holes seven, eight and nine to turn in 33, now at 5-under total for the tournament.

Duncan put herself in trouble again on the par-5 13th hole and made another double bogey, one that dropped her back to 3-under and could have derailed the remainder of her day in Wales. But after steadying herself with four straight pars, Duncan landed one last blow on the par-5 18th hole at Royal Porthcawl, closing out her day with a birdie to record a second consecutive 70 and sit in a tie for third at 4-under with 36 holes still to play at the year’s final major tournament.

“I kind of struggled off the tee, so that was where my double came from on the first hole,” Duncan said. “I actually thought I hit a good drive, and it went through the fairway, and I had a really awkward stance and barely advanced it from there. That was an unfortunate start. But I did the same thing yesterday, making a double on the first hole, so I knew there were going to be opportunities, and I tried to get the ball in play the best I could, and my short game was really good today.”

Avid followers of women’s golf might remember Duncan’s run at both her first major title and LPGA Tour victory earlier this season at The Chevron Championship. While she had certainly played her way into contention several times throughout her career at that point, her performance in The Woodlands, Texas really served as Duncan’s breakout moment, one that saw her thrust into the heat of the spotlight.

Even though she ultimately lost to Mao Saigo in a five-person playoff alongside Ariya Jutanugarn, Hyo Joo Kim and Ruoning Yin and finished in a tie for second at The Club at Carlton Woods, her performance that week was life-changing and clearly sent Duncan’s confidence skyrocketing as she looked ahead to the rest of the year. Since April, she has been a consistent presence at the top of several leaderboards in 2025 and in total has collected six top-15 results this season, the most recent of which came at last week’s ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, where Duncan tied for 10th.

And now that she’s once again found herself in the top five of a major heading into the final two days of play, Duncan is going to be leaning heavily on the lessons she learned from contending at The Chevron Championship to hopefully lift her to another top-five finish – or even better – over the weekend at the AIG Women’s Open.

“Definitely totally different than how I used to feel,” said Duncan when asked how she is feeling mentally about her current position. “I'm giving myself so much space to make mistakes, hit poor shots, and know that I can recover from even some pretty bad places. Pars and bogeys out here are pretty good. If you can sprinkle in some birdies, that really helps. I think mentally, I'm feeling great.”

There’s quite a chasmic seven-shot gap that separates Duncan and 36-hole leader Miyu Yamashita, who is currently well ahead of most of the pack at 11-under for the tournament. But links golf often throws windy, rainy, chilly wrenches in even the most well-laid of game plans, and knowing that, Duncan will be working to shore up a few of the finer details of her game so she can put herself in a position to capitalize if things get a bit dicey over the weekend at Royal Porthcawl for those she is chasing.

“I thought 10-under would be about where it's going to be. So, (I’m) a couple back from that,” Duncan said. “I think it depends on conditions and tee times and a whole bunch of factors, kind of how I'm hitting it. If I can figure out my driver a little bit, then I think I'll have some great chances.”

“Windy” Duncan: LPGA Tour Veteran Contending at AIG Women’s Open

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