In her 18th year on tour, Angela Stanford became a major tournament champion Sunday at the Evian Championship in Evian-les-bains, France.
And Amy Olson, dramatically, did not.
Olson, a North Dakotan and former North Dakota State player, double-bogeyed No. 18, hitting rock bottom after leading by three strokes with five holes left. She had led the tournament since Friday.
Stanford's victory ensured that American women extended a streak of winning at least one major title each year since Evian was added as the fifth major in 2013.
It was a long journey to an unlikely one-shot victory for Stanford, who believed as a rookie in 2001 that major titles would come sooner than her 40th birthday.
"I would have laughed, 'No way. It's going to happen before,' " said Stanford, whose runner-up finish at the 2003 U.S. 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 said 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 Olson.
