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."
