Win Is a Major Rush for Lunke

For 90 holes of the U.S. Women’s Open, Hilary Lunke remained cool. There was no flashiness to her persona, no fist-pumping pizazz. Calm permeated her performance at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club.

She convinced herself that each day offered just an ordinary round of golf, and she acted accordingly.

Only when it was over -- after she had drained a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole Monday to win an 18-hole-playoff and the championship -- did Lunke make it clear that the week had been far from ordinary.

Lunke shot one-under-par 70 in the playoff to outlast Angela Stanford, who shot 71, and Kelly Robbins, who had a 73, then thrust her fist into the air, removed the designer sunglasses that had helped hide her emotions all week and hugged everyone in sight.

She yelled, laughed and cried, five days of suppressed emotions spilling out.

“It was a huge relief to finally let it all out,” Lunke said. “I’m just in a daze. I feel like I have to come back tomorrow. I feel like the tournament is not over.”

Lunke, Stanford and Robbins were tied at one-under 283 after 72 holes and returned Monday for the ninth playoff in Women’s Open history.

Lunke went to the last tee with a one-shot lead over Stanford and was three ahead of Robbins. Showing the calm of a veteran, she hit a perfect drive on the par-five finishing hole, followed with a perfect lay-up and knocked her approach to within 12 feet.

“It was important to keep my emotions in check,” Lunke said. “If I was just out playing a round, I wouldn’t be pumping my fist or screaming and yelling about made putts and good shots, so that’s what I did. It was a battle, me fighting myself.”

Robbins, needing an eagle on the last hole, went for the green but missed left with her second shot. When her eagle chip ran past the hole, it was down to Lunke and Stanford, who had hit her third shot into the fringe just short of the green, 20 feet from the hole.

Stanford went first and, as she had done on the final hole Sunday to get into the playoff, stroked in a birdie putt that forged a tie with Lunke. Unlike Sunday, however, when Lunke missed a potential winning putt of similar length, she made hers.

It was a defining moment in the career of the 24-year-old Minnesota native. Before Lunke’s gutsy performance here, even the most avid golf fan would have had a difficult time picking her out of a lineup. With a master’s degree in sociology, she was best known as the most educated player on the LPGA Tour.

Not many would have picked Lunke to win coming into the tournament, and fewer would have given her a chance in the playoff against Robbins, a nine-time LPGA Tour winner, and Stanford, a winner the previous week on tour. But Lunke, who had not won as a professional, now holds the most prestigious title in women’s golf.

“I didn’t really need other people to believe in me,” Lunke said. “I just needed to believe in myself.” Especially in her short game.

Lunke hit only seven greens in regulation Monday, but needed only 24 putts to complete her round. She made three par-saving putts of five feet or more and also made bogey putts of six and eight feet. For the tournament, Lunke hit 48 of 90 (53%) greens but averaged 26.8 putts per round and did not make a double bogey or higher.

“Her short game was very, very impressive,” Robbins said. “She got up and down from all kinds of places. She did what we all hope to do, and that’s pull it off when we need to.”

Stanford struggled for much of the front nine Monday and made the turn in 39 -- four shots behind Lunke. A birdie on the par-five 11th changed her momentum; she followed with another birdie on the 12th and then chipped in for a birdie on the difficult par-four 14th to pull even. But Stanford’s bogey out of a greenside bunker on No. 17 gave Lunke the lead heading to the final hole.

“I figured if I could just hang around and keep it at two or three over and I could fix my swing, I’d still have a shot,” Stanford said. “And I finally started hitting some good shots.”

Lunke set the tone early. On the first hole, she chipped out of thick rough right of the green to within a foot and saved par. Robbins and Stanford both made bogey and Lunke took a lead she did not relinquish.

After up-and-down pars at Nos. 2 and 3, Lunke chipped in from the back fringe for a birdie on No. 4 and took a three-shot lead without having hit a green in regulation. She made the turn with a two-shot lead over Robbins, who would fade with a bogey on No. 11 and a double bogey on 13.

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Open Showdown

Monday’s 18-hole playoff scores at the

U.S. Women’s Open:

*--* FRONT BACK TOTAL Par 36 35 71 Hilary Lunke 35 35 70 Angela Stanford 39 32 71 Kelly Robbins 37 36 73

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