It's clear now women's golf has arrived

Don't look now but women's golf just blew past men's tennis. A sport that, only two months ago, had to fight to get its due, has suddenly arrived.

What gifted, gritty Annika Sorenstam started at Colonial Country Club in May, obscure Hilary Lunke and Angela Stanford finished with clutch performances that bordered on witchcraft Mon at Pumpkin Ridge.

Forget Roger Federer and Mark Philippoussis, who met in the final at Wimbledon on Sunday. Oh, you already had?

Instead, try to find somebody who has a tape of the 18-hole playoff in the U.S. Women's Open involving Lunke and Stanford in North Plains, Ore. Then, try to figure out how high this battle -- between two obscure players -- stands in your all-time golf pantheon. Top 10, easy.

Ironically, almost nobody wanted to watch Federer and Philippoussis, even though the whole world had that chance on Sunday morning. The TV ratings were the worst in recorded Wimbledon history. The pair got a 2.7 rating with an 8 share. Does that mean, by the end, 2.7 people were still watching, but were only paying attention 8 percent of the time?

The big slump

It's hard to drive down ratings 13 percent from last year's Wimbledon final between Lleyton Hewitt and ("First Names" for $100) Nalbandian. But they did. That's like losing in the ratings to "We Have Temporarily Lost Our Signal." Once, "Breakfast at Wimbledon" was a must-see event in any sports year. Now, apparently, it's "must avoid" TV. Feel free to sleep in. Have your strawberries and cream with brunch. Just catch the highlights.

On the other hand, one of this year's events that every fan would want to see was virtually unavailable. The obdurate U.S. Golf Association insists on Monday playoffs, as in Bobby Jones' day. So few had a realistic chance to see the dramatics between Lunke and Stanford Monday. An event that should have created as many TV goose bumps as Sorenstam's play on the PGA Tour was instead relegated to real-time obscurity. At least the squirrels in North Plains had a fine view. Will this wise up the USGA?

On Sunday, then again Monday, Stanford faced do-or-die putts on the 18th green. The first was from 20 feet. Monday's was actually from off the green. She made them both in the heart -- perfect putts with no choice but to fall. If Jones, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods ever conjured such daring deeds on the 72nd and 90th holes of a U.S. Open, please send details.

The new spokesperson

And Stanford only got second billing. Lunke, a qualifier whose drives rarely go 230 yards and who had never finished higher than 15th in any pro tournament, is our new national champion. When it comes to underdog winners, she makes Jim Furyk look like Jim Thorpe. Lunke began the day with two degrees from Stanford -- the university, not the opponent. Now, does she get a Ph.D?

The rarest sight in golf is for a player to make a birdie putt -- of any significant length -- on the final hole to win a major championship, much less an Open, the most major of 'em all. The late Payne Stewart became the first to do it in men's golf at Pinehurst in the '99 U.S. Open.

Lunke rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt, which hooked a foot, to trump Stanford's birdie and capture the title.

"She put it in on top of me. That's just awesome," said Stanford, whose demeanor, like Lunke's, personifies women's golf. They are fiercely competitive, yet also emotionally open and much more able to enjoy their moments and share them with the crowd than many male athletes.

"That was so much fun," said Stanford, who won her first LPGA event just a week ago.

Fun mixed with history

It was much more than fun. It was golf history. Lunke's final putt, giving her only 23 putts for 18 holes, completed what may have been the most stunning clutch-putting exhibition in any major event in at least 25 years.

Sorenstam failed on the same shot on Sunday which Lunke executed perfectly Monday -- the long fairway-wood second shot over a waste area on the 505-yard par 5. Sorenstam may have been drained by a bout with the flu. Maybe her work at the Colonial has drained her tank. Or maybe the U.S. Open, which she hasn't won in the last seven years, has her a bit hexed. Whatever the reason, she bombed the right-hand bleachers on a vital approach shot on the 72nd hole in a major. It's not contagious, is it?

When Lunke faced the same shot on the 18th hole, she hit it purely and ended up with her winning birdie. Annika, who can stand up to the PGA Tour men, couldn't do it. But Lunke could. That's how credibility is built for athletes. Or, in this case, for the entire sport of women's golf.

Thomas Boswell is a columnist for The Washington Post.