Making A Splash

Apparently Bowen wanted it. On the par-3 17th, with the vaunted trio watching from the tee 171 yards away, she rolled a 20-foot putt uphill and squarely into the hole for birdie and a one-shot lead. Bow-en then arm wrestled the 18th hole for a national TV audience, blocking her tee shot into the right rough, hitting a tree limb with her second, punching a three-iron to the fairway and finally sending a nine-iron over the water to the green. From 20 feet she two-putted for bogey, a final-round 70 and a three-under-par total of 285.

The rest, one has to report, was a sorry spectacle. Lopez, disheartened but gallant, pushed a four-iron shot into the water on 18 to fall into a tic with Brandie Burton and Sherri Turner for third at one-under 287. Green, equally disheartened, hit a fairway bunker with her second shot and then plugged her escape attempt into the grassy lip, causing a delay for a ruling and bringing more attention to her plight than she would have liked. She wound up in a tie for seventh, three strokes off the pace. Finally Davies, firing a sort of two-gun salute to Bowen, carried all 526 yards and the moat with two mighty swings...before three-putting for a 73 and another piece of third place. For Bowen, the victory was worth $127,500—about the same amount she had made in three full LPGA seasons.

Afterward Lopez and Bowen met outside the interview tent and hugged. Lopez couldn't help smiling at the damp, dazed youngster, shivering in the white bathrobe draped like a graduation gown on her modest frame. Looking at Bowen's feet. Lopez gave the only piece of advice she could, under the circumstances.

Said Lopez, "I would have taken my shoes off."