Something happened yesterday you probably missed, because it wasn't NASCAR at the Brickyard or preseason NFL football or even the first Sunday of Premier League soccer, in which Newcastle administered a rousing good 5-1 whacking of poor Aston Villa.
What happened -- also in England, and not that far away -- was a young woman from America rolled in one last birdie putt, then broke out the smile she'd been keeping bottled up for, oh, probably five or six holes.
The young woman from America was named Lilia Vu, a 25-year-old Californian who starred at UCLA before joining the LPGA tour. And her long birdie putt was the dot at the end of the exclamation point on her runaway six-stroke victory in the Women's British Open, the third tour victory for Vu this year.
Her second happened back in April, at the Chevron Championship. That makes her the first American woman in 24 years to win two major championships in one year.
Twenty-four years!
That's so long ago the American who last did it, fellow Californian Juli Inkster, is 63 years old now.
In the 24 years since, women's golf has become a stronghold for Asian golfers, particularly Koreans. Other Americans have occasionally shared the spotlight, but none has managed to win two majors in one year.
That it's Vu who did it, frankly, is nothing anyone saw coming. Coming into the Open at Walton Heath, after all, she'd missed the cut in four of her six stroke-play events since winning the Chevron four months ago.
But she reached Sunday's final round tied for the lead with the home team, Englishwoman Charley Hull. Then she went out and dropped a 67 on Walton Heath while Hull hiccupped to a 73, and an achievement almost a quarter century in the making was hers.
Now you know.
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