Third-round co-leader Angela Stanford entered her final four holes on Monday at the U.S Women's Open trailing Seo by three shots, but she wasn't able to complete a comeback. After a par on 15, Stanford needed to go 3-under in her final three holes to earn a spot in the playoff. She birdied 16 but missed a short birdie putt on 17. After that miss, Stanford went on to bogey No. 18 to all back into fourth place at even-par for the tournament.
On Sunday, Stanford was tied with Seo at the top of the leaderboard at 4-under-par when she made the turn to the back nine of her final round. But a double bogey on No. 11 and back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14 forced her into rally mode on Monday and she fell just a little short of capturing her first major championship victory.
"I felt like I gave myself a chance, and, you know, every golfer kicks themselves," Stanford said. "So many things you could have done better or done right. But I can't even do the math because I've been doing so much math all week. I played really good up till those last eight holes. I just had a four‑hole streak that, you know, unfortunately mine came on the back 9 Sunday. Most people's, it could be Thursday or Friday. So I just kind of ran out of holes."
Stanford still managed to record her second top-5 finish in a major in 2011. She tied for third at the Kraft Nabisco Championship back in early April.
"I feel very good about how I approached this week and how I played this week, and I'm gonna take all the positives I can," Stanford said. "Two top 5s in majors out of three that we've had this year, you know, I've never done that in my career. There are a lot of good things happening."
