The Loop

LPGA: Stanford's pursuit of a major still on hold

April 02, 2011

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Angela Stanford is typical of better players, for whom major championships are the be all end all, but she's atypical in that she considers herself blessed that her best chance to win one was foiled. She lost the U.S. Women's Open in a playoff in 2003.

"I thought I was ready in 2003," she said, "and I thank God every day that I didn't win that one. It was just a lot of different things. I wasn't mature enough. I think it's harder after you win a major because all of a sudden there's all these expectations. I don't think I would have been ready for that. Now I understand the game a little more."

Still, Stanford, who has four LPGA victories, will have to continue to wait for her moment to come. A third-round of five-under par 67 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship moved her up the leaderboard, to fifth place, but she's still seven shots behind Yani Tseng, who seems unlikely to give much ground, if any, to those in pursuit.

"You know, it's not my time," said Stanford, a strong Christian. "It's the Big Man's time. I think it's all in good time. If tomorrow's not my time, then I'm going to keep trying, because I know deep down that I will win a major. I just don't know when."

-- John Strege