Lindy Duncan strikes her shooting Sunday in the 2nd hole in the club in Carlton Woods.
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Fight less. For Lindy Duncan, her sister’s opinion was as welcome as a 10-Putt.
This would mean the acceptance of fighting, and that was unacceptable. Instead, that land. “Work until you fall,” was how Duncan put things and she would make a good living from this. Before this year, she would make 172 startups in the LPGA since 2016, made 114 cuts and posted eight 10. These are fair results. But she continued to push. She followed more.
Then last week, in Chevron championshipThe first first of the year, she almost won. Through 72 club holes in Carlton Woods, Duncan was tied to low scores with four others but Mao Saigo’s Birdie was the best during the oversized schedule. That night, Duncan said she couldn’t sleep. Hard hard to do when you can’t stop smiling.
Eventually, however, you reflect. For about a year, she said she would think about her journey. To fight. And fighting less. She said she talked about it with family and friends.
On Tuesday, Duncan shared it with everyone. She posted on Instagramand her words are below.
They are worth your time.
“Fight less. Fight more. Never leave.
“My sister gave me this mantle in 2017 and I didn’t understand it at all. At that time the war felt like failure, not something to hug.
“For a long time, my essential beliefs seemed like this: Fighting means you’re weak. Work until you fall. Punish every mistake, so never happen. Wipe behind practice and equipment. You have to have better results. Don’t feel, just push.
“But the harder I work for wrong things, the more I fought myself. I thought I was defending my dream, but I was drowning it. Finally, I lost my way completely.
“When I finally accepted the truth, that I was the one who created this pain, I was angry. The disappointment was deeply cut.
“I felt like a complete failure, not just as a golf player, but as a person. I wanted to disappear.
“It took me years to realize that even a strong spirit does not protect you from self-sustaining.
“That mantra my sister gave me, ‘War less’, finally makes sense. It doesn’t say you don’t have to fight. It means to believe in yourself so completely that war no longer possesses you anymore. It means replacing your own retribution with yourself. It means fighting for something, not just against everything.
“Last week, I finished T1 in a big championship. I got nervous. Uncertain. I’m not sure I would handle it. But I stayed in it even when it hurt.
“Because somewhere along the way, I stopped to be afraid of war. I stopped to believe that doubt had the last word. I chose to believe in the quiet resistance that had always been there, not loudly or perfect, but stable and true, waiting for me to follow perfection as long as I finally hear it.
“Change does not reach it all right away. It steals silently, a bold moment at a time. Until one day, you realize you did not survive alone.
“You became.
“Thanks for the Chevron Championship, Carlton Woods, volunteers, LPGA staff and officials, and all the fans who came to see. Thanks to my sister McKenzie who helped me write this.”
This week, Duncan is back in it. She is playing the black desert championship, where a reporter asked her about the post.
Her sister asked her questions, she said, and they found the words. “She is the extraordinary writer,” Duncan said. She said she is still not sure how she feels about separation.
“But I’m glad I did.”
