Around the wider world of golf: Wu Ashun won the KLM Open on the ET; Paul Broadhurst won the Ally Challenge on the Champions Tour; Sangmoon Bae won the Albertsons Boise Open on the Web.com Tour; Danny Walker won on the the Freedom 55 Financial Championship on the Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada; Nico Echavarría won the Sao Paulo Golf Club Championship on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica; Hyemin Kim won the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout on the Symetra Tour; and -- dual events here -- Viraj Madappa won the Take Solutions Masters and Sanghyun Park won the Shinhan Donghae Open on the Asian Tour.
In a tournament with a dozen interesting storylines, it was a longstanding one that won out.
Solheim stalwart Angela Stanford is finally a major champion, becoming the second-oldest woman to do so. She turns 41 in November and had almost given up hope of winning a major, given how the "junior" players have dominated lately.
But Angela is a grinder -- it's part of the reason she's been on six Solheim Cup teams -- and her dramatic four-hole finish with eagle-double bogey-birdie-par got her in the clubhouse tied with then leader Amy Olson. She thought she had lost.
Then the unthinkable happened. Olson doubled the 18th to finish one shot back. A shocked Stanford cried, so emotional that she could barely talk.
It's no secret that her mom is fighting cancer again, or that her mom told her to come play Evian anyway because "that's what she does." What we didn't know was that Angela's mom had given her some swing advice earlier this season, advice that apparently was just what she needed Sunday.
Of course, another award was given out after the tournament. Ariya Jutanugarn won the Annika Award for the best record in this year's majors, but I doubt that Angela is particularly worried about that. She's too busy heading home to party with her family.
But I have a surprise for Angela. Because of the way tournaments fell this week, Angela also snags a rare Limerick Summary... and she's waited long enough for it, don't you think?
Pundits say, “the ball don’t know your age.”The photo came from this page at lpga.com.
Sunday, Angela proved that’s the case!
Though she’s creeping past forty,
Her game was still sporty
Enough for the Evian stage.
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