18-year wait ends for Stanford

IAN-LES-BAINS, France — In her 18th year on tour, 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.

“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. 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 longtime 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 fourway 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.

Olson missed a 6-foot putt for bogey on the 18th to force a playoff.

Gaby Lopez (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 1-under 70 Sunday to finish in a tie for 61st place at 7 over.

Stanford