Angela Stanford finally nails the big one

First major in 18 years

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – In her 18th year on tour, after a wild and tearful final few holes, Angela Stanford became a major tournament champion Sunday.

It was a long journey to an unlikely one-shot victory at the Evian Championship for a player who believed as a rookie in 2001 that major titles would come sooner than her 40th birthday – and probably not in France.

“I would have laughed, ‘No way, it’s going to happen before’,” said Stanford, whose runner-up finish at the 2003 US Women’s Open was the first of 13 top-10s in majors without a win.

“I didn’t know at the time how close I was,” she reflected of that playoff loss 15 years ago. “It was only my third year and I had no idea what I was doing, to be perfectly honest.”

Those feelings returned on the 17th tee at Evian Resort Golf Club, she said, after double bogey at the par-3 16th dropped Stanford out of a tie with long-time leader Amy Olson.

Stanford closed her round of 3-under 68 with eagle-double bogey-birdie then a barely missed birdie that left her in tears minutes before Olson played the 18th and made double-bogey.

Her winning 12-under total of 272 was good by one shot to earn a $577,500 check.

Olson (74) fell into a four-way tie for second place with fellow Americans Austin Ernst (68) and Mo Martin (70), and South Korea’s Sei Young Kim (72). Martin barely missed with a birdie chance on the 18th to face Stanford in a playoff.