Open's surprise party

NEWPORT, R.I. -- With each roll of her golf ball, there was less air to breathe. It had nothing to do with the Rocky Mountain atmosphere, but everything to do with disbelief. Birdie Kim's shot out of the bunker at the 72d hole of the 2005 US Women's Open at Cherry Hills Country Club outside Denver was tracking the hole and as it edged closer and closer and the air grew thinner and thinner, there was a feeling of deja vu.

It was 2003 all over again.

Or 1985.

And when the ball fell and Kim had become a most stunning winner of the sport's grandest championship, there were but a few who could relate to what had just happened.

``It did remind me of my win, just the expressions on her face," said Hilary Lunke, who had shocked the golf world with her US Women's Open victory in 2003. ``Everyone else was shocked that [Kim] had won the Open, but she was just as surprised."

``I had no clue what I had just done," said the upset winner of the 1985 US Women's Open, Kathy Guadagnino. ``But it has meant more to me over time than it did at that moment."

As players in the 61st US Women's Open gather at historic Newport Country Club, it is only natural to glance at a roster of former winners and marvel at the names. Since 1980, there have been 20 winners and most of them need no introduction; 13 have multiple major championships, another owns more than 10 LPGA Tour wins. They are familiar names, Pat Bradley and Patty Sheehan, Amy Alcott and Hollis Stacy, Juli Inkster and Betsy King, Laura Davies and Meg Mallon, Jan Stephenson and Jane Geddes, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak and Liselotte Neumann.

There are those names sprinkled amid the stars, however, that make you stop and wonder.

Guadagnino, who won in just her second year as a professional and earned just one other pro victory before leaving the game.

Lunke, whose victory came in just her 23d tournament as a pro and who has missed 34 cuts in 69 starts since and failed to register a top 10 finish.

Kim, who was playing in just her 34th tournament since joining the LPGA Tour and who had missed the cut in 23 of the previous 29 events.

Each win brought shock, disbelief, and pure amazement.

But none of the wins needs to be accompanied by an apology.

``It's not like I pulled out a shot somewhere and didn't know I had won," said Lunke, who prevailed in an 18-hole, three-way playoff against Kelly Robbins and Angela Stanford at Pumpkin Ridge in North Plains, Ore. ``I had to persevere and I chased after it and I got it and that's something that no one will be able to take away from me."

What added even more shock to those victories were the ways bigger names fell down in the fourth round.

In 1985, Nancy Lopez was right there, seemingly poised for the one prize she never had attained, only a final-round 77 sent her reeling.

No one would have given Lunke a chance, not with Sorenstam charging hard. A birdie at the 18th Sunday would have meant victory and a par would have gotten her in a playoff; instead, the dominating Swede made bogey.

As for Kim, her incredible hole-out for birdie came on a day when Sorenstam faded with a 77, Lorena Ochoa squandered the lead with a quadruple-bogey at the 18th, and teenage phenom Michelle Wie collapsed with an 81.

``It's interesting, but when you win the Open young and it's your first win, you almost feel as if you're not paying your dues," said Guadagnino, who was known as Kathy Baker when she won at Baltusrol. ``Afterward, I heard about very accomplished players like Lopez and [Kathy] Whitworth who had never won the Open and I realized just how prized a possession it was and how difficult it was to obtain. And by the grace of God, I had won it."

Guadagnino's only other win came in 1988, and while she had accomplished quite a bit in her career -- an NCAA championship, a Curtis Cup berth, two-time low amateur in the US Women's Open -- by the early 1990s it was time to slow it down. By now, there were three children and a husband who was a pastor in Florida.

``I had my time out there," said Guadagnino, who, at 46, can rattle off a number of contemporaries who are still playing. ``But I'm thankful to be home. I can't deny my family that. It's their time now."

As Guadagnino did, Lunke and Kim have discovered that their stunning victory was a tough act to follow. Late last season the '03 and '05 US Women's Open champs were paired together, and they commiserated about how the win had come so early in their careers, how they were still learning the game and polishing their skills, and perhaps how the record didn't show it but they were confident about being on the right track.

``The funny thing is," said Kim, 24, ``I wasn't swinging very well that week. I was changing my swing."

``It was crazy right after the win," Lunke said. ``It takes a little time to die down."

As their memorable victories fade even more into the past, Lunke and Kim -- like Guadagnino before them -- are scrutinized even more. That comes with the landscape, and besides, they are hardest on themselves.

``I'm a better player than what I've shown," said Kim, whose best finish in 25 tournaments since Cherry Hills was a tie for 18th, that in a limited-field event in October.

``There have been times when I've questioned whether I'm going to be able to turn it around or not, but I know without a doubt that my game is better than it was three years ago," Lunke said. ``The scores are not good, but I know that if I hang on, I feel like I'm on the brink of doing something good again."

As Guadagnino did years ago, Lunke soon could decide that the LPGA Tour life is not for her. Husband Tylar -- who was her caddie in that dramatic playoff when she shot 70 to Stanford's 71 and Robbins's 73 -- has finished graduate school at the University of Texas and is working.

``He's got a career, so when I make the decision that I want to phase out the golf, it won't be a drastic income change," said Lunke, 27, who met her husband while both were at Stanford. She said she wants to have a family ``and I'm able to juggle playing, then great. If not, then OK."

There was finally sun at Newport CC when Lunke arrived for a practice round yesterday and with only a few days left to get acclimated to this seaside layout, she went right to work. The course will be set up at either 6,564 or 6,616 yards, and given the high fescue and wet conditions, it will be a long challenge, though accuracy will be important.

``I still think the US Women's Open is my best chance to win," Lunke said.

Then, she paused.

``Obviously, there are people who have said that I've proven it's a fluke by the way I've played since, but I know what I did," she said. ``I was the one in the position who could feel the pressure and could feel my heart beating -- and I know that I responded to that and it's something I'm going to be able to hold onto forever.

``If my career is winding down, so be it. I'm happy to leave it with an Open win, for sure."

From her home in Boca Raton, Fla., Guadagnino seconded that sentiment.

``If you're only going to win one," she said, ``then that's the one you want to win."

UPDATES FROM THE OPEN: Coming later this week, check out our golf blog from Jim McCabe at www.boston.com/sports.