For a spell it looked like a South Korean nicknamed the Big Apple would conquer St Andrews but when it came to the crunch, it was an all-American girl who was wearing a smile that could've spanned Broadway.
Stacy Lewis eventually barged her way onto centre stage last night as the curtain came down on the Ricoh Women's British Open. On a closing afternoon of twists, turns and the ripping up of scripts, Na Yeon Choi, whose New York-related moniker comes from her initials NYC, fluffed her lines on the closing stretch while Lewis became the box-office hit.
She certainly deserved her triumph. Following Saturday's suspension due to the high winds that hurtled across the Old Course, the 28-year-old had to shoehorn 36-holes into a punishing final day. A three-under-par 69 in the morning kept her in the thick of the title race and she ended her golfing marathon with a rousing late sprint for the line. Choi had moved into a three-stroke lead over the pack with six holes to play but began to wobble on the run-in and Lewis, playing five matches ahead, made a telling surge.
A superb 5-iron approach to the perilous Road Hole 17th - "maybe the best shot of my career" - set up a birdie putt from two feet that she gleefully gobbled up before she conjured a final flourish. Her drive came to rest around 40 yards short of the 18th green and the Texan utilised the Texas wedge, whacking a putt up through the Valley of Sin some 25 feet past the cup and holing the return for a three, completing a level-par 72 to set the clubhouse target at eight-under 280. No one else would match it.
Choi, who had assumed command when third-round pacesetter Morgan Pressel slithered off the top with a crippling four-putt double-bogey on the 12th, started haemorrhaging shots too. A brace of bogeys at 13 and 14 was followed by a missed par-putt from five feet on the 17th as her challenge petered out. Choi's 73 for a 282 left her tied for second with compatriot Hee Young Park, whose own ambitions were thwarted by a triple whammy of back-nine bogeys which included a costly excursion into the 14th hole's Hell bunker.
It was heaven for Lewis, though. Five years after winning all five of her matches in the Curtis Cup, she now has a major moment to cherish in this historic cradle of the game. "When I first came here five years ago, it was raining sideways and I just went out and walked round and fell in love with the place," said the world No.2, who had to wear a back brace for over seven years from the age of 11 to correct a curvature in her spine. "This was just a crazy day and the 17th and 18th happened so fast. I thought if I could maybe par the 17th and birdie 18 then I'd have a chance of a play-off. I never thought birdies at 17 and 18 would be possible."
She accomplished her mission impossible, though. "The 5-iron on 17 was just the perfect shot," added Lewis, who became the third American to win a major on UK turf in three weeks after Phil Mickelson's Open win at Muirfield and Mark Wiebe's Senior Open success at Royal Birkdale.
As Lewis prospered, Pressel, who eventually carded a 76, slipped back into a share of fourth with Norway's Suzann Pettersen on 283, while Catriona Matthew led the British challenge in a share of 11th on level-par 288, despite sagging to a 78. The 43-year-old had thrust herself into the title hunt during her delayed third round when she birdied the 17th and then holed her second shot from 67 yards on the last in a sparkling 68 that left the 2009 Women's British Open champion just three off the lead. A momentum-shattering eight on the fifth hole of her final round scuppered her hopes, however, and dropped her out of the top 10.
The sigh of relief expressed by Inbee Park upon finishing her campaign almost blew the weather vane at the top of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse into an extra birl. With all the hype and expectation that has surrounded her pursuit of a fourth successive major win in a remarkable season, the 25-year-old Korean probably can't wait to spend a week in a darkened garret. Park, nine shots off the pace after 54 holes, began her final round by four-putting on the first and eventually trudged in with a weary 78, for a six-over total of 294. With the various women's tours deciding to tinker with history by making next month's Evian Championship the official fifth major, Park still has the opportunity to complete the grand slam, but after a week of unrelenting scrutiny on Scottish soil she may have been tempted to turn to the media and say 'gies peace'. Park is too nice and obliging to do that, of course. "It is tough to be in the centre of everything for a week and I feel a bit exhausted," wheezed the world No.1. "I've done something amazing this season and I don't know if I can do that again. It might take a long time to beat that record. I feel like there is relief now and I just want to relax for a few days and do nothing."
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