VOA Classic Recap: Angela Stanford wins at Old American Golf Club, 3rd Correct Selection

1) Angela Stanford (-7) (+12500)

T2) So Yeon Ryu (-5) (+2500)

T2) Inbee Park (-5) (+1000)

T2) Yealimi Noh (-5) (+5500)

5) Jin Young Ko (-4) (+1100)

T6) Anna Nordqvist (-3) (+4000)

T6) Charley Hull (-3) (+4000)

T8) Lindsey Weaver (-2) (+15000)

T8) Kristen Gillman (-2) (+12500)

10) Madelene Sagstrom (-1) (+20000)

Picks:

Angela Stanford- 2.5 units (+12500) - 1

Caroline Masson- 5 units (+3500) - T25

Mi Jung Hur- 5 units (+4000) - T38

Ally Ewing- 7.5 units (+1600) - T43

Gaby Lopez- 5 units (+5500) - T58

Total Units Won: 552.5

Total Units Bet: 300

ROI on the season: +84.2%

Recap

Sunday at Old American Golf Club opened with as crowded a leaderboard up top as pre-pandemic rush hour traffic, with 24% of the field within five lead shots. Those in contention included multiple major champions, along with past and current world no. 1s. None of that phased Angela Stanford, the 43-year-old American, who broke through the gridlock in the frozen Texas winter for a five-under round and her seventh career victory in her 20-year career at the Volunteers of America Classic.

"I just felt like if I'm getting close to the end of my career I don't want to leave any stone unturned. I want to find out, if I chip it the best I can, if I putt it the best I can, if I hit it the best I can, what am I capable of before I'm done," Stanford said.

The breakthrough began Sunday slowly, as Stanford was one over for her round through five holes. She was paired with world no. 1 Jin Young Ko and Pornanong Phatlum. Final rounds are marathons, but the 2018 Evian Champion began sprinting on the sixth, birdieing three in a row to get to five under par and tied for the lead with Hall of Famer Inbee Park.

Stanford stepped up to the treacherous par 3 11th, where she nearly ruined her chance for victory on Saturday. She went four over in a four-hole stretch, starting with a bogey on the 11th. Stanford followed with a bogey on the 13th and a double bogey on the 14th, falling back to one under par. She played the next 20 holes at six under, and that started on the par five 17th, punching back with a chip-in eagle from just above the greenside bunker.

"When I got up there, it wasn't a great lie and in the past that would have kind of rattled me a little bit. So I honestly we knew the break, I knew where I wanted to hit it, and it went in and just made -- a not so great back nine made me feel like I have a chance maybe coming into today," Stanford said.

She again bogeyed the 11th to fall out of the lead by one. After birdieing the par five 13th, the 14th again proved pivotal, this time in Stanford's favor. After reaching the par 4's green in regulation, Park bogeyed the 12th, leaving Stanford tied with World No. 1 Ko for the lead. Ko was short, facing a downwind, uphill, short-sided chip. That recipe led to a rare mistake for the unflappable Ko, missing short and having the ball agonizingly trickle back down to just to the right of her feet.

Ko chipped long past the hole and proceeded to double-bogey to drop to (-3). With a fifteen-foot right to left putt, Stanford jarred it into the back of the cup like a dagger into the rest of the field, building the first two-shot lead since 19-year-old Yealimi Noh held one on the 53rd hole.

"I was kind of watching Ko. I knew I was a shot off of her most of the day, so at least she was definitely beating me, so I kind of paid attention to her and it wasn't until 14 where I made that birdie and she had a tough hole that I thought, okay, now I probably -- you can kind of tell with how people were starting to show up," Stanford explained.

That two-shot lead didn't hold for long, as Inbee Park answered at the 14th with a birdie of her own.

The marathon of birdies continued for Stanford on the par-three 16th, hitting it pin high and sliding in another birdie to rebuild a two-shot lead that she never relinquished.

The cherry on top came at the par five 17th, where she showed her veteran guile and laid up to a number she liked. Her wedge came in and spun off the backstop to a few feet above the front left pin, setting up her seventh birdie of the round on a course where birdies were challenging to find.

The hall of famer's wedge into the 17th sat atop the hill, with her downhill bid to get to six-under finishing just right of the cup.

Stanford bogeyed the last, presenting Park with an opportunity to avenge Sei Young Kim's 2015 hole out to win at the Lotte Championship in a playoff over her. A pure strike from her seven-iron on the fairway sailed slightly left of the flag, leaving her in a tie for second. So Yeon Ryu, making her return to the LPGA Tour this week, posted her first birdie of the day on the 18th hole. She joined Park and Yealimi Noh at (-5) for the tournament and T2 overall.

As she stepped off the course, Stanford shared a hug with her mother, who watched her win for the first time this week. Her Mom has been battling cancer for many years and finished a round of treatment before the tournament began.

Stanford was named an assistant captain for the U.S. Solheim Cup team by captain Pat Hurst in June, and the 43-year-old threw a monkey wrench into those plans with her victory. It's the native Texan's third top 10 finish since the restart.

"I just love trying to get better. I think if you love what you're doing and you love your process and you just are loving getting better, then you have to keep going," Stanford said.

The process will continue as she heads to the U.S. Women's Open in Houston, where Brittany Altomare will take her truck's keys as she drives down today.

Bets of the Week Analysis

Angela Stanford is the third correct pick in twelve starts since the LPGA Tour restarted after pausing due to the pandemic. Stanford's odds of 125 to 1 is the biggest hit, with Danielle Kang and Sei Young Kim both in the favorites category when selected. The 312.5 unit win will invariably skew the ROI for awhile, but the point stands that there is consistently value on the board on the LPGA Tour because of less coverage, unlike the PGA Tour.

Stanford rolled in off a top 10 in Florida two weeks ago. That rationale led to the selection of Bianca Pagdanganan when she narrowly lost at the Drive On Championship Reynolds Lake Oconee edition at 165 to 1. Longshot bets will follow recent performance more going forward, but odds on favorites will focus on value selections compared to other favorite peers.

There's clearly a tier of top players right now: Sei Young Kim, Danielle Kang, Inbee Park, and Jin Young Ko are all able to tee the ball up on the first and have a great chance to win. The oddsmakers lines will factor into whom gets selected versus the others at the U.S. Women's Open next week.

The rest of the picks were a bit of a struggle. In a field of 96 players, making the cut isn't particularly noteworthy, and no one was in contention outside of Stanford, who clawed her way back in with the crucial eagle Saturday.