Oklahoma State University Athletics
Thurman Wins U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links
June 23, 2002 | Cowgirl Golf
June 23, 2002
Sunriver, Ore. - Annie Thurman, a sophomore-to-be on the Oklahoma State women's golf team, defeated UNLV's Hwanhee Lee, 6 and 5, to win the 2002 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship here Sunday afternoon. She is the second Cowgirl golfer to win the prestigious tournament.
"It hasn't hit me yet," said Thurman after her victory. "I'm tired, but the thought of it is awesome. You watch so many USGA championships or read about them, but going from event to event, you want that trophy in the end."
Thurman, the first woman from Utah to win a USGA championship, took a 5-up lead after the morning 18-hole round. As the players approached the 24th tee, her lead had shrunk to four holes. Lee had a chance to cut the lead to three when she hit her approach shot on the 366-yard, par-4 to within 35 feet of the hole. Thurman's second shot from the thick rough barely made it to the fairway, but she then hit her third shot to within eight feet of the flagstick.
Lee sailed her first putt five feet past the hole, and Thurman made her shot for par. Lee missed the comeback putt and lost the hole.
"It was a huge turning point in the match," Thurman said.
Thurman won the 27th hole with a routine par to go 6-up. The next three holes were halved, and on the 31st hole, both made par, ending the match.
The Women's Amateur Public Links, in its 26th year, is one of 13 national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association. Ten are strictly for amateurs. JoJo Robertson, who played for Oklahoma State from 1995-99, won the tournament in 1995 and again in 1997, becoming just the fourth two-time winner of the WAPL in golf history.
