The 10 best golf moments of 2013: No. 9, Stacy Lewis at St. Andrews
Over the next 10 days, until we get to the New Year, we will be rolling out the top-10 best golf moments of 2013. After much deliberation and debate, we picked what we thought were the 10 moments you will remember about this season a decade from now. We continue with No. 9 and Stacy Lewis at the Women's British Open. (No. 10 is right here)
There are few shots as known around this world as the approach shot to a Sunday pin on the 17th hole at St. Andrews. The hole has a name, the Road Hole, known not just for what runs right behind the green but reminding the player that a shot hit just a groove too hard could spell doom for their chance at a championship.
Stacy Lewis, the 28-year-old female version of Matt Kuchar (silent on the outside, a killer on the inside), got to the Women's British Open not just looking for a second major championship, but to be the one to stop the ridiculous major run of Inbee Park, who arrived at St. Andrews looking for a fourth straight major title.
Lewis opened with a 5-under 67 and followed it up an even-par round of 72 to sit five shots back of the leader with two rounds to go. It was then that the winds of St. Andrews started to pick up, so bad that play was halted on Saturday and the leaders had a marathon on Sunday at the Old Course.
Lewis' third round 69 set her up for a chance at the championship, but a Sunday bogey on the 15th looked it would doom the American's chance for her third win of 2013.
Of course, that was when Lewis hit one of the best golf shots in the history of the Old Course, a 5-iron to three feet on the toughest hole on the property, setting up a birdie-birdie finish that hardly ever happens on the Old.
Lewis won the tournament by two shots, but it was that 5-iron on the 71st hole that we will remember for years to come and one of the best shots of the year in all of golf.
