By STEVE CAMPBELL
Houston Chronicle

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. – She spirited away in a magical cart, side by side with her prince charming, through an enchanted forest to a pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow.

Hilary Lunke is rich.

She's famous.

She's in love.

She is a U.S. Women's Open champion. Now and forevermore.

Fairy tales live long and prosperously at Pumpkin Ridge, the Golf Club where the clock doesn't bother to strike midnight. Lunke treated herself to a happily-ever-after ending to the 58th Open on Monday, shooting a 1-under-par 70 to win a three-way playoff with Angela Stanford (71) and Kelly Robbins (73).

A 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole trumped the dramatic surge by Stanford, who trailed by four shots with eight holes to play. For the second time in less than 24 hours, Stanford moved into a tie with Lunke by making birdie at the par-5 No. 18. Lunke had a birdie putt to win on Sunday and missed short. Master's degree holder (sociology) that she is, Lunke didn't make the same mistake twice.

"It's just an absolute dream," Lunke said. "I don't think I could have predicted this, and I don't think anybody else was."

Understand, Lunke was even shorter on LPGA Tour credentials than she is off the tee. Lunke, 24, had never finished higher than 15th in a professional tournament. She is the first Open champion to earn her way into the field by local and sectional qualifier.

She did it with her husband, Tylar, who was the first person she met at Stanford University, carrying her bag. Tylar also carries the yardage book – adorned with a photo from their wedding of last November. They plan to close on a house in Austin on Aug. 15, and the $560,000 winner's check comes just in time to plunk down a hefty down payment. In 26 previous starts, Lunke had earned $69,717.

"I feel like I have to come back tomorrow," Lunke said. "I feel like it's not over. I'm just kind of in a daze."

Lunke was the third-shortest hitter in the field, averaging 229.9 yards per drive over the first 72 holes. She managed to shoot under par during the playoff despite hitting only eight greens in regulation. In the process, she became the first player to win the Open carrying – and repeatedly using – an 11-wood. The first time Tylar, who was a member of the Stanford men's golf team, saw the 11-wood, he did a double take.

"He told me it looked like a garden shovel," said Lunke, who also carries a 9-wood, 7-wood, 5-wood and 3-wood to go with her driver. "But once he saw me hit it, he started loving it as much as I do. And he said, 'I defy anybody to hit a 4-iron as good as you hit that 11-wood.' "

Not that anybody was hitting the ball particularly well when the playoff began. Lunke missed her first five greens – and managed to shoot 1 under and take a three-stroke lead in the process. Robbins was the only one of the three to hit any of the first five greens, and she was four shots out of the lead by then. Stanford shot 3-over in the first eight holes, missing seven greens.

"I didn't realize how tired I was this morning," said Stanford, a former TCU All-American coming off her first career victory the previous week at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. "When I'm tired, my swing is just awful. I was hitting it right, hitting it left."

Robbins found her swing and putting stroke long enough to make birdies at 6, 7 and 10 to get to within one shot of the lead. She was neither lucky nor good at No. 13, hitting a greenside bunker shot fat and taking double bogey to fall out of contention. Stanford made sure there was no competitive void, making birdie at No. 11 and No. 12 to get to 1 over and one shot behind Lunke. At No. 14, Stanford chipped in from 30 feet for a birdie that put her into a tie for the lead.

"When she made that chip, I thought, 'Maybe it's her day; maybe this is the way it's supposed to be,' " Lunke said. "And I was prepared to accept that if that was the way it was going to be, but I was going to fight it out."

Lunke kept grinding out par after par – five in a row heading into No. 18. Stanford wavered at No. 17, hitting an 8-iron into a bunker on the way to bogey. The shot that haunted Stanford, though, came one hole earlier when she left a 15-foot putt for birdie just short.

"It was inside the hole, all I had to do was hit it firm, and for some reason I didn't," Stanford said. "The shot on 17, that's just another bad swing. But if I could have anything back, it would be that putt on 16. I think if I would have made that, it would have been very different."

Instead, Stanford found herself needing to make what she described as an "impossible" 27-foot putt from off the front of the 18th green to move into a tie. When Lunke broke the tie moments later, Stanford nodded in resignation and smiled.

"Those girls played some golf today, I'll tell you what," Robbins said. "Anyone would have a tough time playing better than both of them did. For Angela to make that putt and then for Hilary to do the same – I was clapping for Angela, and then I was clapping for Hilary. I'm sure the people just loved it."

Lunke hugged her husband, screamed and cried, hugged her mother Penny, screamed and cried some more, hugged Robbins, cried some more, hugged Stanford, cried some more. Hilary Lunke is on the magical ride of her life – suddenly rich, suddenly famous, suddenly the U.S. Open champion.

"I can barely even remember hitting the putt," Lunke said. "I was just trying to trust my stroke, trust the fact that I've holed putts like that all the time. And just to hear that roar from the crowd. ... I heard that roar twice for Angela, and to hear it for me was just a real experience."

You can e-mail Steve Campbell at .

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