Lunke claims title in dramatic finish

Hilary Lunke barely made it through qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open, shooting 80 in the first round of sectionals. In 26 starts on the LPGA, she had never finished better than 15th.

She is a late-bloomer, having learned to play golf at age 13, then delaying her professional career to pursue a master's degree at Stanford.

On Monday, Lunke became the first qualifier to win a U.S. Women's Open. She did it under the pressure of an 18-hole playoff at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, making birdie on the final hole to edge Angela Stanford by one stroke. Kelly Robbins finished three shots back.

If the U.S. Golf Association wanted a poster girl, they got it in Lunke. You want a player who typifies the Open ideal? How about someone who drives the ball 210 yards, carries five woods in her bag, uses her husband as caddie, and weeps openly after making the Open her first win.

It's a good thing, at least for Lunke, that she pocketed the $560,000 winner's check after shooting 1-under 70 on the difficult Witch Hollow Course. She and husband Tylar just bought a house in Austin, and all their stuff is in storage. Tylar Lunke will be attending the University of Texas business school.

Lunke's 15-foot birdie putt on 18 negated the 27-footer Stanford had just made, the former TCU player repeating the magic she used on the 72nd hole to reach the playoff. Once Lunke's putt broke left and into the hole, she wrapped her arms around Tylar, tears rolling down her face.

"I knew if I got in here, I could make the cut and make some decent money for myself," she said. "I hope I am an encouragement to people who have to qualify. I was back there at the very beginning, at the local qualifier, just starting from scratch. There's a lot of people who could do the same thing."

Lunke often envisioned winning the U.S. Open because it is the kind of event that suits her game: a grind-it-out affair where par is a good score, played on tough courses that reward strong short games and scrambling.

She reached only eight greens in regulation, but kept getting up and down. She needed only 23 putts.

Lunke, 24, actually took inspiration from Stanford, watching her friend break through for her first victory at the ShopRite Classic the previous week.

"I cried when she came up the 18th hole, I was so happy for her," Lunke said. "And it really did stir something inside of me. I thought, `If she can win, I can win.' Maybe I don't have as great a game as she does, but I know I have just as much tenacity."

Even in defeat, and with her swing showing the strain of fatigue, Stanford fought back from a dismal front nine. She was four shots down with 11 holes to play but pulled even with Lunke with a chip-in on No. 14.

"I didn't realize how tired I was until I got out there this morning," said Stanford, who shot 3 over on the front nine. "And when I'm tired, my swing is awful. I thought if I can just get to even with a few holes left, I'll have a shot."

Robbins bogeyed three of the first four holes, then charged back with birdies on Nos. 6, 7 and 10. Her undoing came with a bogey on 11 and a double-bogey on the par-4 13th. At 3 over, Robbins was virtually reduced to bystander down the stretch.

"Anyone would have had a tough time playing better than both of them," Robbins said. "For Angela to make the putt (on 18), and then for Hilary to do the same - I was clapping for Angela, and then I was clapping for Hilary."

Although Stanford tied Lunke with the birdie on 14, she never got the outright lead. She just missed a 15-foot birdie putt on 16, then bogeyed 17 when her approach landed in a bunker and she missed an 8-foot putt.

On 18, where she sank a 20-foot putt to get into the playoff on Sunday, Stanford rolled in her putt from 25 feet. That birdie placed the pressure squarely on Lunke.

"I really didn't let myself fully believe that I was in a playoff to win the U.S. Open until that last putt went in," Lunke said. "I kept tricking my mind, saying, `You're just playing golf.' When that putt went in, I finally acknowledged the gravity of the situation. It was a huge sigh of relief to just let it all out, let out a big yell and finally give a big fist pump."

Three set for Monday playoff

A shocking collapse by Annika Sörenstam gave way to the first three-way playoff in 16 years at the U.S. Women's Open.

Angela Stanford holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, Kelly Robbins birdied two of the last three holes and Hilary Lunke had to settle for par in a dramatic ending Sunday to a national championship that will go one more day.

They finished at 1-under 283 and will return Monday morning for 18 more holes.

Sörenstam won't be joining them.

The best player in women's golf was poised to win after a perfect drive on the par-5 18th hole, leaving her 236 yards away and making birdie seem like a done deal. Instead, she hit into the trees and into a bunker and finished with a bogey.

Sörenstam learned all about pressure two months ago at the Bank of America Colonial as the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour. It didn't pay off at Pumpkin Ridge.

She walked off the green stunned, yielding the stage to three players who will square off for the most prestigious prize in women's golf.

It will be the first playoff in the U.S. Women's Open since Se Ri Pak won at Blackwolf Run in 1998, and the first involving three women since Laura Davies defeated Ayako Okamoto and JoAnne Carner in 1987.

Lunke had a chance to win with the final putt, 15 feet below the cup for birdie. It had the right line, but came up a foot short. She closed with a 75.

Robbins, a major champion who hasn't won in more than four years, went below par for the first time all week with a two-putt birdie on the 18th hole. She closed with a 69, one of only three players to break par in the final round.

The biggest surprise was Stanford, who started the final round one stroke behind Lunke and struggled to stay at even par over the closing holes. Her 20-foot putt curled down the ridge and disappeared into the cup, giving her a 74.

Still, this was Sörenstam's tournament to win.

She captured the McDonald's LPGA Championship last month with two clutch shots to make par on the first playoff hole, and a large gallery crammed in around the 18th hole was waiting for the inevitable.

What they saw was a wild 4-wood that sliced into the trees, landing next to a fence surrounding the portable toilets. Sörenstam took nearly 20 minutes to get relief from the fence and the scoreboard, but her troubles were only starting.

From a dry patch of thin grass to a green running away from her toward a collection area, Sörenstam dumped her pitch into a bunker and blasted out to 15 feet. The par putt never had a chance, turning a few inches below the hole.

Sörenstam never birdied the 18th hole all week, but this was painful. She closed with a 73, and wasted an opportunity to win her sixth major and third U.S. Women's Open.

"I wanted to make birdie," she said. "Obviously, I played aggressive, it shot out to the right and the rest is history. I'm very disappointed, but I gave it my all."

Sörenstam finished at even-par 284.

Aree Song, one of 14 teenagers at the U.S. Women's Open, birdied the final hole for a 74 that left her alone in fifth at 285. The 17-year-old Song was low amateur, and automatically earned a trip back next year.

Michelle Wie shot a 76 with a new caddie. Her father, B.J. Wie, turned the bag over to his 13-year-old daughter's swing coach for the final round, and perhaps for a while.

"I fired myself," the father said with a laugh. "I caused too much trouble."

Wie's first U.S. Women's Open was marred by a controversy over etiquette, resulting in allegations that Danielle Ammaccapane bumped her -- a claim B.J. Wie later retracted -- and that the 16-year veteran berated the ninth-grader in the scoring tent.

Even if Ammaccapane apologized, Wie said she wouldn't accept.

That mess should fade by the time Robbins, Stanford and Lunke tee off at 9 a.m. Monday, one more round on a Witch Hollow course that required nothing but the best golf under the most excruciating pressure.

Robbins, who won the '95 LPGA Championship, figures to be the favorite, especially given the way she played Sunday. Her approach into 2 feet for birdie on the 16th gave her a chance, and Robbins hit a 3-wood into 25 feet for eagle on the final hole.

For the first time, her hands were shaking. She backed off the putt, gave it a good roll but came up a few inches short and to the left.

"It's safe to say I was feeling it," she said. "And it was good to feel it again."

A victory Monday would give Robbins the largest comeback in U.S. Women's Open history. She started the final round six strokes behind.

The finishes by Stanford and Lunke were even more impressive considering their position.

Neither had contended in a major championship. Both watched Sörenstam hit great shots ahead of them and take a share of the lead. Then, they had to wait for what seemed like forever as Sörenstam got her ruling, took her drop and then fell apart.

Lunke, one of the shortest hitters in the field, barely cleared the hazard and went into a bunker, but her 107-yard shot gave her a shot at birdie and the victory.

Stanford hit a safe approach and pitched to 25 feet.

With Sörenstam out of the picture, Robbins watched from the scoring trailer, wondering if she would be the U.S. Women's Open champion or have to play Monday.

"Once Annika made her 6 it was, `Well, now what?' Anything can happen," Robbins said.

Stanford lived up to that prediction.

One week after winning for the first time on the LPGA Tour, Stanford pumped her first once into the air, looking as stunned as those around her.

"I don't think I played well enough today to win, so I'm lucky to be playing tomorrow," Stanford said.

Lunke wasn't perfect either, making four bogeys in a five-hole stretch on the front nine to turn the U.S. Women's Open into a test of survival.

Lunke was three strokes ahead of Sörenstam as she walked up the 13 fairway, but two bogeys and a 25-foot par save by the Swede changed everything.

"When we watched Annika make that putt on the 14th, my husband turned to me and said, `Game on,"' Lunke said.

Unlike Sörenstam, she was up to the task when it mattered.

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