Stanford wins her 1st LPGA major

Angela Stanford ended her long wait for a first major title when her 3-under 68 was enough for the 40-year-old to win the Evian Championship by 1 shot on Sunday.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — In her 18th year on tour, after a wild and tearful final few holes, 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 — and probably not in France.

“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.

“I didn’t know at the time how close I was,” she reflected 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 long-time 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.

Broadhurst wins

GRAND BLANC, Mich. — Paul Broadhurst won The Ally Challenge on Sunday for his PGA Tour Champions-leading third victory of the season, closing with a birdie to beat Brandt Jobe by two strokes in tour golf ’s return to Warwick Hills. The 53-year-old Englishman finished at 15-under 201.