Stalemate: 3-Way Playoff After Tantalizing End
By Ken Klavon, USGA
North Plains, Ore. – In one of the more spectacular and surreal
finishes in a U.S. Women’s Open, three players are headed into an
18-hole showdown on Monday.
Hilary Lunke, Kelly Robbins and Angela Stanford will vie for the
title at Pumpkin Ridge in a playoff, set to begin at 9 a.m. PDT.
It will be the ninth playoff in Women’s Open history, the last occurring
in 1998 when Se Ri Pak defeated amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn.
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| Given little chance entering the final round,
Kelly Robbins crept back into contention with a sterling 2-under
69. (Steve Gibbons/USGA) |
The last three-way playoff was in 1987 between JoAnne Carner, Laura
Davies and Ayako Okamoto. Davies won.
Sunday had everything one would hope for in a fourth round: drama,
a storyline comeback, and an anguished- and chill-filled ending.
On the 18th hole, Stanford sunk a 20-footer that she
had to make to be in the playoff, while Lunke couldn’t convert from
18 feet for the outright victory. Annika Sorenstam, tied for the
lead walking up the 18th fairway, faltered.
Robbins was in the clubhouse after posting a 1-under 283 for the
event, which at that point, placed her in a tie with Lunke and Sorenstam.
Little did they know, but the 502-yard par-5 18th hole
– the 72nd of the championship – would prove pivotal.
The 18th hole has a tricky layout in which fescue grass
separates the tee box from the landing area 200 yards out, and the
200-yard landing area from the green.
All were fighting nerves.
"To have a chance to win the U.S. Open while walking up the
18th fairway, if you’re not nervous, you’re not breathing,"
said Stanford.
Let’s start with Sorenstam, playing in the group ahead of Lunke
and Stanford. With 19 top-10 finishes in 35 majors, five of those
being victories, she brought a phenomenal 70.50 scoring average
in eight final rounds at Women’s Opens into the foray.
Beginning the round three strokes off the lead, Sorenstam clawed
her way into the stalemate thanks in part to Lunke’s 4-over pace.
Sorenstam, knowing par probably would ensure a place in a playoff,
opted for 4-wood after driving her ball dead-center 260 yards. She
knew par would probably tie, birdie would win.
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| Hilary Lunke saw a one-stroke lead evaporate
after posting a 4-over round. (John Mummert/USGA) |
"I’m playing aggressive," said Sorenstam. "That’s
my nature and I’m here to win. Birdie is what I needed."
In a collective gasp, Sorenstam chunked her approach shot far right
into the gallery. The ball came to a halt near a fence and rested
against a port-a-potty, nestled between three trees. Worse, the
scoreboard impaired her line of vision.
After being given relief for the scoreboard by Kendra Graham, the
USGA’s Director of Rules and Competitions for the Women’s Open,
Sorenstam mulled her next choice.
"The way this rule is written, it’s very geometrical – it’s
all straight lines," said Graham, citing a local rule. "And
obviously we don’t necessarily play golf on straight lines. But
the way relief is, it’s a direct line from the flagstick to the
edge of the obstruction, and go back one club length. So you have
an alley-way."
A 10-minute delay ensued as the gallery was forced onto part of
the fairway. Sorenstam, looking at birdie, tried chipping onto the
green some 40 yards to the hole. From a dirt lie, the ball lofted
until it hit a branch and found a bunker. Another chip to 12 feet
right of the hole created an intense moment.
Either Sorenstam knocked in the putt to at least give her a chance
at a playoff or she’d go away dejected.
The ball curled left.
Bogey.
She was 2 over, never birdieing, on the 18th for the
week.
"I’m disappointed, definitely," said Sorenstam, who 2-over
73 on Sunday and even-par 284. "It’s going to take a while
to recover from this, but at the end of the day it’s just a golf
tournament."
While the Sorenstam delay was happening, Lunke and Stanford were
patiently waiting in the fairway. Stanford was twirling a 6-iron,
Lunke standing under an umbrella to ward off the sun. The wind was
swirling, playing mind games with both players.
When the green cleared, Lunke choked up on her 3-wood and heeled
the ball into a right bunker. Stanford, 3-over 74 for the day, hit
5-wood short of the green before chipping 45 yards right of the
hole, where her ball stopped 20 feet away.
It was then that she, even par for the championship, thought she
had a chance to equal Lunke and Robbins.
"It was actually when I found out Annika wasn’t going to make
birdie," said Stanford.
Meanwhile, Lunke had a marvelous out with a pitching wedge as the
ball came to a rest 18 feet below the hole.
It came down to this: Stanford had to sink her birdie putt just
to have a chance at a playoff. But if Lunke converted her own, she’d
win outright.
A meticulous read of the sloping green consumed Stanford’s head.
She tapped it. The ball tumbled and tumbled until Stanford blurted
out "Wow, WOW!!!" Then she screamed.
"My hands were shaking over the putt," said Stanford.
"It just seemed like the closer it got, the bigger my eyes
were getting, and the more real it was becoming. And I’m so glad
it didn’t turn out of the hole, because it was moving to the left.
And I thought, ‘Please hit the hole before it goes too far left.’
"Regardless of what happens [Monday], I’ll always have that
putt. That was probably the single coolest moment I’ve had on the
golf course."
Despite the cheers, Lunke still had her putt against a slight uphill.
"I was not calm," said Lunke, who started at 5 under
but registered a 4-over 75. "My heart was definitely pounding.
Mentally, I actually felt very calm. But physically my body was
telling me I was not calm. My palms were sweaty, my throat was dry,
my heart was pumping"
She left it short.
"My dad used to – when we practiced all the time – say it’s
a two putt to get into the playoff," said Lunke. "So that
was in the back of my head, too. Because a lot of times when you’re
under pressure, you completely lose your speed."
Through sheer guile, Robbins first forced the logjam with a 2-under
69. Of the top-10 finishers, only Robbins and Grace Park were under
par in the fourth round.
Starting the day, she was trailing Lunke by five strokes. But yellowish
fairways and greens that made the course crisper, causing scores
to gravitate, worked to her favor.
The conditions helped her so much, consider this: had any of the
top six leaders entering Sunday had played even par, one of them
would have won.
That’s no disrespect to the 33-year-old Robbins, who has won one
career major. (Her best Women’s Open finish was in 1997 when she
placed third. And in four playoff appearances on the LPGA Tour,
she has won twice).
Robbins blended a splendid iron game with timely putting to get
back into contention. On No. 18, with all things relative, she actually
had a chance to win.
Standing at even par, Robbins used 5-wood to get her to the front
of the green, 30 feet from the hole. With an opportunity for an
eagle, which would have put her at 2 under total, Robbins could
be seen standing over the putt as her hands shook. She instead two
putted and watched the rest on television.
"Like anybody, you’re anxious, you’re nervous, you’re thinking
that ‘I could win now, or I might be able to win [Monday], or I
might be second,’" said Robbins. "And you’re just kind
of watching and you’re not hoping for bad things, but you would
like to think that if something weird happens, you could just sit
there for an hour and it would pan out for me."
Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org
with questions and comments.
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