Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 21
Hilary Lunke stood on the final green of the 2003 U.S. Women's Open 18-hole
playoff-after witnessing her opponent drop a would-be tournament-tying,
27-foot putt from off the green-with a 15-foot putt to win her first title on the
LPGA tour. Crowds pressed against the ropes surrounding her, and Johnny
Miller, rapt behind his microphone, stared down alongside unblinking
cameras from the NBC TV tower.
Good memories, right?
For Lunke, the former Minnesota state
high school
champion and Stanford
University golfer 20 years removed from
that day at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club
in North Plains, Oregon, the emotions
of the moment have not faded. Lunke
drained the 15-footer (only her 23rd putt
of the round), pumped her fist heavenward
in exhilaration and screamed in,
perhaps, relief.
" The feeling of the final putt to win
was more of exhaustion, " Lunke says. " I
mngolf.org
remember thinking, 'I cannot continue
this level of intensity for 90 holes, for each
shot. Let's roll this in and be done.'
" I could see the line, and an overwhelming
feeling came over me that
Angela [Stanford] was going to make her
putt and I'd have to make mine. So, I just
flipped into match-play mode, thinking
'don't even look at her!' I wasn't distracted
at all. I just thought 'I've got to make my
putt' and . . . it was just crazy. "
Lunke became the first qualifier to ever
win the Open. She hadn't won an LPGA
tournament coming in-and didn't win
another as a pro. Lunke flashed across the
LPGA firmament, besting then-two-time
champ Annika Sorestam, who finished
one-stroke out of the 18-hole playoff. And
the victory prompted descriptors such as
" unlikely " (from Miller who called it " the
greatest win " he'd ever seen) and " improbable. "
Lunke has heard them all-and she
gets it. Just don't call it a fluke.
" I would be the first to admit that it was
improbable, " Lunke says. " I only get a little
bothered when people call it a fluke. To
me, it was not a fluke. I had to make that
putt and I made it. I was tied for second
after the second round. So, it's not just like
I went out in the morning and shot a score
and everyone else fell all over themselves
the rest of the day and, somehow, I was
the winner. I had to hit those shots under
pressure for a sustained amount of time,
Summer 2023 MINNESOTAGOLFER
21
PHOTO: JOHN MUMMERT/USGA
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023
Contents
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - Contents
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - Cover1
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - Cover2
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - Contents
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 2
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 3
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 4
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 5
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 6
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 7
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 8
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 9
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 11
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