An Open triumph for ages

At 19, Park youngest to claim the crown

While others faltered around her, Inbee Park was the one celebrating on the 18th green. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

EDINA, Minn. - It came in the middle of the night, through bleary eyes as she sat on the other side of the world. It was the inspiration to play golf like fellow South Korean Se Ri Pak.

Ten years later that inspiration came to fruition as Inbee Park improved upon Pak's feat that had ignited the spark. And she couldn't quite find the words to express her feelings.

"I really can't believe I just did this," said Park, and surely there were plenty of people sharing that sentiment, for on a blustery day at Interlachen Country Club yesterday, there was a clash between the oldest story in golf and the youngest.

While leaders succumbed to major championship pressure, Park set history and made the 63d US Women's Open her personal welcoming party. Two weeks shy of her 20th birthday and only 43 tournaments into her LPGA Tour career, Park became the youngest winner of this major, thanks to a final-round, 2-under-par 71 on a day when contenders played like pretenders.

Playing a crucial eight-hole stretch in 2 under in the middle of her round, Park finished at 9-under 283, which translated into a four-stroke victory over Sweden's Helen Alfredsson (75 -287), who pretty much finished second by default, given that no one on the leaderboard at the start of the day was left standing. So demanding were the conditions thanks to swirling winds that the field average was 76.16 and only eight players broke par, Park being one of them.

That explains her victory.

And the fact that the other five names that joined her atop the leaderboard to start the day went a combined 16 over. That provides some framework to this championship, too, because while the record book will show that Park won, a big part of the storyline is that others lost it.

Stacy Lewis, for starters, though her struggles are easily explained given that it was her debut as a professional. More stunning, however, was the failure of Paula Creamer, who while just 21 is already in her fourth LPGA Tour season and a six-time winner. From their positions in the final group, they had matching 78s, combining for three double bogeys, seven bogeys, and only three birdies, and while they had company falling from the leaderboard, it was what these women did early that set the tone for the afternoon.

"It's probably the most disappointed I've been in a very long time," said Creamer, who began the day tied for second, just a stroke behind Lewis, who stood to be the feel-good story of the season. Instead, the 23-year-old Lewis, who graduated last month from the University of Arkansas, fell down the leaderboard, right along with Creamer.

"I finished [tied for] third at the US Women's Open, my first pro event. It's hard to be upset," said Lewis, whose spot atop the leaderboard didn't last long, thanks to a start that helped pave the way to victory for Park.

Tied for third at 7 under with Alfredsson to start the day, Park started with a chip-in birdie at the par-4 first. Then she continued in a powerful fashion - two strong shots to the front of the green at the 473-yard, par-5 second to set up a birdie-birdie start.

"Very, very big," said Park.

She learned how big a few moments later, while playing the par-3 fourth. A glance at the leaderboard showed that her 9 under made her the solo leader, because Lewis had dropped two and so had Creamer.

"I was surprised, because [the] first and second holes are actually [two of the] easier holes," said Park, but if she thinks she was surprised, she should have seen Lewis and Creamer, who were shell-shocked over the way they played the second hole, ranked fourth-easiest on the course. Of the 72 players who came before them in Round 4, only one had made a double bogey. Lewis and Creamer each did so.

Now double-double is great if you're at In-N-Out, but not in contention for a major, yet there were the two leaders chopping up a simple hole like they were in a member-guest. Each drove wide left and each had to layup, Creamer into the right rough, Lewis perfectly in the fairway. From there, they compounded their problems, Creamer going over the green, Lewis missing to the left. Wedge shots fluffed by the both, putts not made, and next thing they knew, they were on to the third tee, Lewis trailing by two, Creamer by three.

"That just kind of took [away] a lot of momentum," said Creamer, who would finish joint sixth, six back.

If she thought she had regained some with a 60-foot birdie roll at the fourth, she hadn't, because she bogeyed the par-4 sixth, the par-3 eighth, then came the ninth, and a crucial mistake. "You cannot go over that green," said Creamer but with a 4-iron from 185 yards she did just that. It forced a shot that was near-impossible, a downhill pitch to a green sloping severely back to front, and led to another double bogey. If it wasn't game, set, match for the Creamer, who was out in 41, it was close to it. From one back at the start, she now trailed by four and it was pretty clear we weren't going to have a major won by the player in pink.

No, this was a day for a different storyline. Only moments earlier at that ninth, Park had made a clutch par-save to turn in even-par 36 and when Lewis also bogeyed the ninth, the 19-year-old from South Korea had a two-stroke lead. Two holes later, it was a three-stroke cushion, thanks to a 10-foot birdie roll set up by a pitching wedge from 110 yards. When she pushed to 9 under with a birdie at the 13th, then ran off two pars and glanced at a leaderboard that showed her four up, Park concedes she couldn't help but think of the position she found herself in.

"I just tried to stay focused and just tried to stay calm," she said.

Ten years ago, she just tried to stay awake, sitting in her living room in Pundang, South Korea, watching Pak complete a stunning victory in the US Women's Open at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin. Pak was 20 at the time and while she didn't know it, she's been told countless times since what that victory meant to the women of that nation.

"I really would like to thank Se Ri for what she's done for Korean golf," said Park, who is the fifth Korean player to win a major championship on the LPGA Tour since Pak opened the doors in 1998. "I didn't know anything about golf back then. But I was watching her. I just thought that I could do it, too."

She did so with a finish so rock-solid even a bogey at the par-4 17th didn't matter. What mattered was her journey from Korea to the United States, her brief time at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas to get acclimated, her dominating junior golf career on the AJGA circuit, and her polished work on the Futures Tour in 2006. It prepared her for a LPGA Tour rookie season in 2007 and for what transpired over a majestic golf course whose history she added to.

"But," said Park, "the winner doesn't win by herself."

That's true, because the troubles of Lewis and Creamer had much to do with how the day unfolded. Still, it was only one storyline that met with proud approval in another part of the world. That's because her parents, father Jungyu and mother Sung Kim, were watching.

It was the middle of the night, of course. Which is appropriate, since that is how this story began.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.