Lunke overcomes lack of distance with superior short game

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. -- In an era where a 13-year-old female amateur phenom routinely crushes drives of 300 yards and technology gives golfers dozens of extra yards off the tee, it seems that a short hitter has no place on the professional tours.

Enter Hilary Lunke.

The 24-year-old Lunke, who shot 35-35--70 in a three-way, 18-hole playoff to win the United States Women's Open for her first professional victory Monday, ranked 57th in driving distance out of the 59 golfers who made the cut at the par-71 Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge. Her average drive in regulation play measured less than 230 yards.

"I probably only fly my driver about 205, maybe 210, and depending on what kind of course I'm playing, you can figure out the roll from there," said Lunke, a four-time All-American at Stanford. "I don't know what my average is this year, maybe 230 something, 240 at the max."

Even after leading the third round and qualifying for the ninth playoff in Women's Open history, it seemed unlikely that Lunke's lack of power could measure up to Kelly Robbins' 261.5 or Angela Stanford's 252.8 averages.

Instead, it took a red-hot putter and a steely confidence from the holder of a master's degree in psychology from Stanford to battle her playing partners and the challenging Witch Hollow track.

"The short game by far is the best part of my game, no questions asked," Lunke said. "I don't think I necessarily chipped and pitched that much better than I normally do, it's just that almost every putt went in, that was under 10 feet. I made almost everything, the whole week. Maybe not the first round, I left a lot out there. But I think I missed one 3-footer yesterday and I felt like I hit a good putt on it, I hit it too hard and it lipped out. So that was the key difference, I think."

The special conditions of a U.S. Women's Open setup and the hard and fast course this week played into Lunke's hands as an accurate, albeit short, hitter and a sharp putter. She didn't perform well on the par-5 holes for the week -- not surprising considering her lack of distance -- going 1-over on the long holes compared to Stanford's 3-under tally. But she did stay consistent, never having worse than a bogey and taking advantage of birdie opportunities when they arose.

In regulation, Lunke had 16 birdies to lead the field. She added three during the playoff, on the par-5 fourth, the par-4 sixth and the all-important final hole.

Lunke also carries clubs that play to her strengths. She is more accurate than the average tour player, and can carry a lot of woods to help with the discrepancy in distance. Lunke said she carries a driver, 3-, 7-, 9- and 11-woods, and that the longest iron in her bag is a 5-iron.

"My 11-wood is usually around 165," Lunke explained. "This week the greens are so firm and everything around the firms is so firm, I was hitting it from 170, 175, 180. I considered dropping my 9-wood a couple of times, because they're all pretty close right in there. But for me, as a short hitter, the majority of shots I hit on Tour are between 160 and 180 yards. So I'd rather have as many clubs as I can in that area as opposed to maybe in some other areas, because I don't have to hit it from 140, 150 all that often."

Although Lunke seems an unlikely champion of the toughest event in women's golf, she proved that consistency and a superior short game can mean more than sheer strength and power.

"That's what's so great about this game is you can play it so many different ways, Jane Crafter told me that this morning," Lunke said. "I don't play the game that people would have necessarily picked to win an LPGA tournament, let alone the U.S. Open. But I believed in myself, I trusted my game, I didn't try to change anything, and I'm very happy."

Pumpkin Ridge Has Potential To Be Longest Ever Women's Open Course

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. -- Kendra Graham, director of Rules and Competition for the U.S. Golf Association, began to run down a list for how the Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge will be set up for the 2003 U.S. Women's Open July 3-6.

"The fairways will be cut to 3/8 of an inch," said Graham to a group of media recently. "The same for the collars and tees. The intermediate rough will be cut to 1 1/4 inches.

"The primary rough will be 3 inches. At 3 inches, it will be tough; it will be thick; it will be U.S. Open rough."

"Could we make that 2 1/2 inches?" joked defending champion Juli Inkster, seated next to Graham.

While Graham and Pumpkin Ridge course superintendent Bill Webster plan to have some penalizing rough, an area Inkster will have to avoid should she repeat as champion, the course is set to be a fair test for a national championship.

"This will be the longest U.S. Women's Open championship course, and at par 71, that really says something," said Graham. "While it's going to be long, it will be very fair.

"For instance, the fourth hole was lengthened to 531 yards, but it had to be because of how fast that fairway was (in 1997). Alison (Nicholas) knocked it in the hole for eagle on the last day. With bent grass, the fairways can get very fast."

Graham said that No. 4 added more length than any other hole, but holes No. 9, No. 10, No. 17 and No. 18 will see some extra yards, too. The course will play to 6,509 yards or 6,550 yards, depending on where the tees are placed on the par-3 10th hole. If it does play 6,550 yards, it would surpass The Merit Club, Gurnee, Ill., in 2000 as the longest Women's Open course.

The greens of Witch Hollow, while not overly large, feature undulations that require precise placement to have a chance at birdie. Graham said the greens will be between 10 and 11 on the Stimpmeter for the week of the championship.

"We can have some interesting hole locations at that speed," she said.

Look for the par-3 holes to dominate the championship. Numbering five, which is less common on championship courses, the short holes offer variety on the hole locations.

"Flint Hills, which hosted the Women's Amateur a few years ago, is the only other course that comes to mind with five," said Graham.

No. 2, the first par 3, is shorter with a fairly easy shot into the green. Since the players will just be starting their rounds, Graham said, "We can't go too crazy there."

The fifth hole, which also plays relatively short, offers a chance to get creative with the hole location. Water guards the front, bunkers make going long a poor choice, and the right area of the green is very shallow. A hole location on the right side of that green will provide the biggest challenge to the field.

The 10th hole, where yardages will vary between 156 and 197, can play tough at that longer yardage, with par being a decent score. No. 12 can be harsh in the wind, and the 15th has some tricky breaks on the green.

"Fifteen was a pivotal hole for Nancy Lopez in '97," said Graham. "She had a poor tee shot there and made bogey, and that hurt her coming down the stretch."

The closing hole, a 502-yard par 5, made the '97 contest especially dramatic. Lopez missed a 15-footer for birdie there to miss a playoff for the only major title she does not own. The hole plays long and Inkster admitted to "having nightmares" about playing it.
"I look forward to getting out there and taming the 18th hole better" in 2003, said Inkster.