Brittany Lang Wins U.S. Women’s Open After Penalty On Anna Nordqvist

American Brittany Lang captured her first major title at the US. Women’s Open at CordeValle Gulf Club in San Martin, California on Sunday in a play-off with Anna Nordqvist after the Swede was handed a two-stroke penalty.

Brittany Lang Wins U.S. Women’s Open After Penalty On Anna Nordqvist

Nordqvist was penalized for touching sand in a bunker with her club on the second hole of a three-hole aggregate play-off with Lang.

USGA officials informed Lang, 30, of the penalty before her third to the last green, but Nordqvist didn’t find out until after her approach.

“I wish the USGA would have told me a bit earlier,” said the 29-year-old Swede afterwards. “They approached me after I already hit my third shot into 18, then kind of ran up to Brittany to tell her that I got penalized.”

Nordqvist then added that she wasn’t sure if knowing earlier would have changed the outcome, but that it would have definitely changed her aggressiveness into the 18th hole.

The penalty was given with the scores level, and was only picked up after television replays showed the Solheim Cup player had moved sand as she went to hit the ball.

Official rules mandate a player ‘grounding a club’ in a bunker will incur a two-shot penalty because they are deemed to have been testing the conditions.

Lang made par on the final hole with Nordqvist three-putting the last green to make a bogey and lose by three strokes. The Richmond, Virginia native expressed her unhappiness with Nordqvist’s penalty, despite her victory.

“You never want to win with a penalty or something like that happen, especially to Anna, who is a friend of mine and a great player and a classy girl,” Lang said. “But it’s unfortunate. It’s part of the game and it happened that way.”

This marked the second USGA-run major to be dominated by a controversial ruling in just three weeks, after Dustin Johnson played the majority of his final round of the US Open at Oakmont not knowing whether he would be penalized or not because his ball moved as he addressed it on the fifth green.

Nordqvist had forced a play-off with a five-under final round of 67, with Lang’s one-under-par 71 leaving both women on six-under for the tournament.

Lang, who was addressed as Bethany by USGA president Diana Murphy at the trophy presentation, said: “I’m thankful they told me before my wedge shot so I could take a little bit more club.

“They should tell you as soon as they know. I really don’t think today was that big of a deal. Anna happened to hit her third shot. They have to go look and check these things. It’s not that easy.”

Lang, who turned professional in 2005, added that she apologized to Nordqvist after the final round.

To make matters worse, the awards ceremony were then rocked by a fiasco of their own, as Murphy incorrectly called Lang ‘Bethany’ instead of ‘Brittany’ several times. Murphy later apologized in a statement, saying: “I have expressed my regret to Brittany personally and explained that in the heat of the moment, I became nervous and made these mistakes.”

World No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, who was seeking her third major title, shot a three-over 75 to finish in a tie for third on four-under. The 19-year-old sensation made a double bogey and two bogeys in the middle of her round as she went from leading after eight holes to two behind Lang and Nordqvist.

Lang finished as the runner up in the U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur eleven years ago.