LSU golfer Lantanna Stone had one hand on the Augusta National Women’s Amateur trophy late Saturday afternoon.
Until she didn’t.
Stone birdied the famous par three 16th to go three-under for her round and she had a two-shot lead over 16-year-old Anna Davis from California. Stone was even closer to victory after she planted her tee shot in the right side of the fairway on the tricky par four 17th. Victory looked a matter of three more good swings away.
Then it all went to pieces for the junior from Riverview, Fl.
She swiped her approach to 17 and it landed short and right of the right greenside bunker. From there she hit a clunky pitch that left her ball on the back of the green, 30 feet above the hole. She then left herself a nervous five-footer for par.
Davis was nervously waiting back in the stately clubhouse. She shot a fantastic three-under par 69 that got her in red numbers for the tournament — one-under.
Stone then pulled the bogey putt and her six left her tied with Davis and the difficult, uphill 18th waiting ahead.
Sadly, Stone’s tee shot found the right woods, leaving her with not many options. She did hit a good recovery to just short of the green. It wasn’t a demanding up-and-down situation, but given the pressure, Stone clunked another pitch and left herself with 14 feet for par and a playoff with Davis.
Stone’s par putt didn’t come close — it missed a foot left and teenager Davis had the biggest win of her young life. As the final group walked off 18, Davis was the only player in red numbers.
Stone’s collapse gave her 72 for the round and left her LSU teammate — Ingrid Lindblad — tied for second at even par for the 54-holes.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played in front of that many people,” Davis said after the big win. “I wasn’t as nervous. I knew I was an underdog in the field. I didn’t have as much pressure on me to do extremely well. I was just out there having fun.”
Davis, a high school sophomore, turned 16 on March 17 — ironically, the same birthday as Augusta National founder Bobby Jones.
One Comment
baxter cepeda
Not that I was trying to be mean- but I actually thought Ingrid looked poised to get hugely disappointed. And in a way she was. But it turned out to be her teammate who had the crushing collapse.
So For the second year in a row a teen who could barely drive took the Anwa from the college girls. This time it was a 16 year old southern cal girl—who kinda reminded of that teen character on SNL who is always wondering why people seem so obsessed with her.
I almost heard Davis ask, Fred are you obsessed with me?! The answer is no, but Fred and the golf world does know her name now. What impressed me about her is the smoothness; like her pitch at 13 was butter. Contrast that buttery pitch with Stone Jabbing at that pitch on 17 like she was crushing stones, and there’s the difference.
It was another great Anwa. As much as Christina Kim made some good points with her recent rant, what Ridley and Augusta have done with this event and dcp is just too good to hate on.