The LPGA Tour’s final major of the year, the Evian Championship in France, finished on Sunday with veteran Angela Stanford capturing her first major title, a win 18 years in the making.
“For the longest time I thought I was a major winner,” Stanford said after her victory. “I thought I was good enough. Not getting it then doubt starts to creeping in, to say the least. As the years go on and you have all the near misses you think, Wow, am I ever going to get that close again?”
In fact, Stanford’s three-under final round moved her to 12-under for the tournament, but it didn’t look to be enough, with Amy Olson coming to the final hole only needing par to take the title. But Olson couldn’t close it out, making an untimely double-bogey on the final hole, which included a three-putt, to hand Stanford the win. Stanford almost lost her chance when she made double-bogey on the 16th hole, but she came back with a birdie on 17, which was good enough for a one-shot victory.
“I’m also a grinder and a fighter and I’m also never going to quit,” she said. “At that moment I needed to be me. That was all I could come up with was—you just got to be a grinder and a fighter at this point. I mean, go down swinging. That’s normally what I do.”
Golf Town athlete Brooke Henderson shot a final round 68 to have her finish tied for 10th. It was her ninth top 10 finish of the season.
“I feel like my game is in a really good spot,” Brooke said. “On this golf course you got to stay patient, and I feel like we were able to do that even though it’s very difficult at times.”
As for her result, it was an improvement over last year when she finished in a tie for 58th.
“I’ve kind of had some mix,” she said of her result. “When I first came here I played well—last year not so great. It’s just kind of a balance.”