VOA Classic – memorable title of Angela Stanford

Stanford entered the LPGA Tour in 2001. Before the VOA Classic kicked off on December 3, the 1977-born competitor owned six titles in the US arena, including the major Evian Championship 2018. All outside Texas, until the day of the closing day of VOA Classic on December 6.

Towards the finish line, Stanford has to compete with nine other competitors, most of them from the last generation 8X onwards, including the world’s top three golfers, including number one Ko Jin Young, fifth Park Inbee and 15th Ryu So Yeon. But after the last round on par71, only Stanford hit 67 with seven birdies and three bogeys while the rest hit 70 or more.

On December 6, Stanford averaged 266 yards, hit 12 out of 13 fairways, went a standard green at 13 out of 18 holes and used 27 shots. With these professional stats, Stanford has a two-stroke final difference compared to Park, Ryu and Yealimi Noh, both at T2. Stanford received $ 262,500 while T2 each received $ 120,700. Not closing the top 5 at -4, got $ 71,500.

During the tournament, Steve – Stanford’s father – went to the American Golf Club to see his daughter in action. It was he who took Stanford to compete in golf as a kid. The mother Nan waited at the green hole for 18 days to close. She had breast cancer and was treated for eight years. The disease has recurred since 2018 and now has metastasized in the bone.

“Before, I did not have many chances to win in the presence of my parents. Now it is satisfied. I did not dare to look for my mother on the 18th green because at that time my eyes were filled with tears of emotion. I kept trying. told me ‘don’t look there, lest lose the game,’ “Stanford shared during the award ceremony.

In the 18th hole where she had to suppress that emotion, Stanford bogey and finished first at -7. But she still went up to the coronation podium because the other candidates couldn’t catch up.

The seventh Stanford won the LPGA Tour thanks to a local element. Growing up, studying and playing golf in Texas, she understood what the field would be like in December. Throughout the week VOA Classic, golfers tried to keep warm with thicker outfits. And Stanford was used to the cold.

“From a young age, I knew the scene was beaten in the cold, windy. In fact, the weather was more severe this week than expected, the pitch of the pitch was too tight. But as a resident, I still really comfortable. roof, “Stanford explains, personal advantage from the weather.

Stanford won first title at the LPGA Tour in 2003 and then took five years to win a second championship. In 2018, she won the major for the first time at the age of 40, at the Evian Championship. At that time, Stanford was the second oldest major champion in LPGA Tour history that started in 1950, after 40 and 11 months of Fay Crocker at the US Women’s Open in 1955. After the Evian Championship, Stanford struggled in the 2019 season with 10 sufferings. cut off and never get to the top 10 through 22 awards.

Belonging to U-45 and weaker than young players in the length of the ball, Stanford still has the market. She realized that most of her career was dependent on her forte to hit far thanks to the toughness. Before, she didn’t know how to flake – chip or tire ball. “The powerful ball lines, while helping me to win the title at the LPGA Tour, make my performance unstable. The chips and dribbles are just mediocre,” confessed Stanford.

And it was the period of decline that prompted Stanford to decide to re-learn close-range ball-handling techniques. With coach Todd Kolb, Stanford now knows how to chip, get off the sweet stick. Thanks to this technique, she put the ball into the hole from the green to score the penultimate eagle round VOA Classic. In addition, Stanford also corrected the error in the swinging posture – reaching too far away from the body and later on biologically. In addition, Stanford also followed a new decision when closing the hole – wiping the right way, rolling the clubface on the right sweet spot instead of just trying to hit the hole at all costs as before.

With her new expertise, she finished the top 10 three times in the past three months, including VOA Classic. “Near the end of my career, I do not want to fret about the mysteries of golf that have not yet been discovered. I want to find out the problem, how to solve to be able to chip, putt most effectively before saying goodbye to the top arena” Stanford insists on Golf Digest.

Quoc Huy synthetic