Paula Creamer had a chance to equal Stacy Lewis on the 18th hole, but she missed a 6-footer for birdie. (John Mummert/USGA)

By David Shefter, USGA

Edina, Minn. – You want a true Cinderella story. Not some fictional Carl Spackler character who whacks his way through a posh country club flower garden to miraculously win the Masters.

No, we’re talking a major long-shot.

Just a few weeks ago, Stacy Lewis was helping the United States of America win a sixth consecutive Curtis Cup Match, a biennial international competition for female amateurs.

Now the 23-year-old from The Woodlands, Texas, with a steel rod and five screws in her back from surgery for scoliosis six years ago, is leading the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open by one stroke through 54 holes of her professional debut.

Lewis needed only 23 putts to card a bogey-free, 6-under-par 67 on the 6,789-yard, par-73 layout for a total of 9-under 210.

It almost seems unfathomable. And should this recent University of Arkansas graduate go on to win this championship on Sunday at Interlachen Country Club, she likely will become the first player to ever to win a major title in their first event as a pro. Ben Crenshaw is the last player to win a tournament in his professional debut. It was the 1973 Texas Open, but not a major championship.

But first things first. Eighteen holes remain in which the leader board heading into the final round is more crammed than five o’clock traffic on the Ventura Freeway.

Eleven players are within six strokes of the lead, headlined by six-time LPGA Tour winner Paula Creamer of Pleasanton, Calif., who is just one stroke back after a 4-under 69 (211). Sweden’s Helen Alfredsson and 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Inbee Park, 19, of Korea sit two strokes behind after each posted 71s. In-Kyung Kim of Korea, the 2005 U.S. Girls’ Junior winner, is in solo fifth at 213 following a third-round 70.

Of the top five on the board, only Alfredsson has a major title on her résumé, the 1993 Kraft Nabisco.

Three-time U.S. Open champion Annika Sorenstam stood seven strokes off the pace after a 72, while Korean Mi-Hyun Kim had an aggregate 5-under 214. Another shot back and tied for seventh was reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Maria Jose Uribe, 18, of Colombia, who carded a 72. Thirty-six hole leader Angela Park, the 2007 LPGA Tour rookie of the year, equaled Uribe.

"It was awesome," said Lewis of the 67. "The hole looked like it was huge."

In Friday’s weather-delayed second round, Lewis made four consecutive birdies from No. 8 to get into contention. On a breezy and cool Saturday – there was a short 40-minute weather delay after the round began – the 2007 NCAA Division I women’s individual champion scattered her birdies starting with a two-putt 4 at the par-5 second hole. She also birdied both par-3s on the first nine and added a 2 on the par-3 14th. But she kept her momentum going with a clutch 10-foot par-save at No. 10.

Lewis took her first outright lead by holing a 25-footer from the fringe at 15, and after being caught by Creamer and Inbee Park, she curled in a downhill, left-to-right 8-footer at the par-5 closing hole to post nine under. Creamer had opportunities to tie at 17 and 18, but missed birdie putts inside 10 feet.

"It’s been such a great week," said Lewis, who officially turned pro on June 9, the day of her Women’s Open sectional qualifier in Texas. "I really think the last couple of years prepared myself for this tournament and turning pro."

Last year, Lewis finished fifth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship playing alongside the eventual champion, 19-year-old Morgan Pressel. She missed the cut at the Women’s Open and then lost in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Amateur after sharing stroke-play medalist honors. Then she wound up as the unofficial winner of the LPGA Tour’s Northwest Arkansas Classic as the event was shortened to 18 holes due to severe weather.

"That was the best round of my career," said Lewis of the 65 she posted to beat 143 other pros. "And then it was wiped off the books completely. So that was pretty hard."

But she’s about to face the biggest challenge of her young career on Sunday. Creamer already owns two victories this season and desperately wants to erase the label of being one of the best players without a major title. Like Lewis, Creamer enjoyed a stellar amateur career that was capped by helping the 2004 USA Curtis Cup team win at Formby Golf Club. Unlike Lewis, she turned pro while still in high school and won her first title, the 2005 Sybase Classic a week prior to her graduation from a Florida golf academy.

Now in her sixth U.S. Women’s Open start and only fourth as a pro, she’s poised to grab the biggest prize her sport. In 2005, she was fourth going into the final round and tied for 19th, while in 2004 she shared low-amateur honors with Michelle Wie (T13).

"I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself," said Creamer. "I feel good. I feel very confident."

Alfredsson, on the other hand, would love to exorcise the demons of 14 years ago at Indianwood Golf and Country Club, where she opened with a championship-record 63 and followed with a 69 for a four-shot lead at the midway point. Three consecutive birdies to start the third round had Alfredsson at 13 under par and six clear of the field. Then it all unraveled over the next 33 holes. Despite making just one bogey over the first 43 holes, Alfredsson went into a tailspin, shooting 76-77 to finish eight shots behind winner Patty Sheehan. In an 18-hole stretch from No. 8 on Saturday to the eighth on Sunday, she totaled 85 strokes.

This week, Alfredsson has not shown such signs, but she also came into the championship without a finish better than a T18 in 13 LPGA Tour starts.

"To be very honest, I don’t really think so much about it," said Alfredsson of her chances of winning this championship at the age of 43. "I’ve been so close in this event and I’ve been very high and very low. It sounds so cliché, but it’s something to be said about it when you haven’t been able to enjoy the moment. To play with [Jeong Jang] and Paula … we had a lot of fun. Those are very precious moments when you get to my age."

It’s hard to know what will be going through Lewis’ mind as she sleeps on the 54-hole lead. Talking before a crowed of reporters, Lewis didn’t look scared about being on the big stage. In fact, she relishes it.

"I hope to win," she said. "I want to win more than probably anybody here. But I have to hit a lot of good golf shots before I win this golf tournament."

Five years ago, another unlikely story emerged when Hilary Lunke stunned the golf world at Pumpkin Ridge by winning the Women’s Open in a playoff over Angela Stanford and Kelly Robbins.

Perhaps, there is irony here. Lunke’s hometown is Edina, Minn. Interlachen C.C. is in Edina.

Sounds like a Cinderella story.

David Shefter is a USGA New Media staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.