A tour pro’s dream comes true

The competitor in Lindy Duncan was probably frustrated by not winning a point for the U.S. on Day 1 of the 20th Solheim Cup, where the Americans and Europeans split both sessions to be deadlocked at 4-4. Here’s hoping, however, she took consolation in the fact that her long-time dream came true when she stood on the first tee at Bernardus Golf.

A 35-year-old rookie, Duncan is the oldest American to make her Solheim Cup debut since 37-year-old Nancy Scranton in 2000. It was a goal Duncan had in her youth when she was an amateur standout and All-American at Duke, but one that seemed out of reach after turning pro and spinning her wheels on the LPGA Tour. She has yet to win an LPGA title and has a little work to do still in 2026 to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

There is something about Duncan, though, that captures the imagination of those who meet her, as our Jill Painter Lopez wrote on Friday. It did for me the first time I talked to Duncan as a high schooler at the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur. More importantly, the same thing happened with Angela Stanford, who used a captain’s pick to put Duncan on the U.S. team, saying she loved her competitive drive, resilience and clutch putting ability under pressure.

Chances are, the Solheim Cup will be a tight affair all the way until late on Sunday. At some point, the grit Stanford saw in Duncan will be needed for the Americans to prevail. It may not have shown Friday, but don’t bet against it coming out on the weekend.

A dream delayed is still a dream come true for Lindy Duncan

At 35, the Solheim Cup rookie wasn’t sure she’d ever get the chance to play for Team USA. Now she’s trying to make the most of the opportunity

By Jill Painter Lopez

What You Need to Know

Sam Weinman

The 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 is an opportunity to revisit some of Golf Digest’s journalism covering the event and its aftermath. Among those stories is the late Tim Rosaforte and Bill Fields’ profile of Jimmy Dunne, then a relatively unknown Wall Street financier who survived the attacks when most of his colleagues perished, and is now considered one of the most influential figures in the game.

Coleman Bentley

Doonbeg's new course record didn't last long. On Friday morning at the Irish Open, Richard Mansell bounced back from an opening-round 76 with a Doonbeg-course-record 63. The 13-shot turnaround helped Mansell make the cut and put him in the driver's seat for the $30,000 low-round-of-the-week bonus, but the latter didn't stick. Just a few hours later, Shane Lowry one-upped Mansell (literally), posting a 62 to put his name at the top of not only the leaderboard, but the Doonbeg record books. The native Irishman now sits at 11 under heading into the weekend, three strokes clear of a trio of players. Mansell, meanwhile, finds himself at one under par, 10 strokes back of Lowry but safe into the weekend.

Ryan Herrington

Ryan Hybl’s decision last May to leave Oklahoma and take over for the retiring Bruce Heppler as men’s head coach at Georgia Tech sent shock waves through the college golf world. Hybl had been with the Sooners for 17 years, winning 51 tournaments there including the 2017 NCAA Championship. (Oh, and there was the little fact he was an All-American at the Tech’s biggest rival, Georgia.) But the move paid immediate dividends for Hybl and the Yellow Jackets. On Wednesday in the first event of its 2026-27 season, Georgia Tech beat Notre Dame and Texas by five shots at the Folds of Honor Collegiate. Tech freshman Max Emberson won medalist honors after shooting a final-round 67 at American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Mich. “Just so thankful for all these guys buying in,” Hybl told Golfweek. “Since June 4, our mission has been to build something that is long lasting.”

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