‘It changed everything’: 15 years later, Paula Creamer reflects on gritty U.S. Women’s Open title

Paula Creamer planned to buy herself a Birkin handbag and to go skydiving with her father to celebrate her U.S. Women’s Open victory at Oakmont Country Club. But it was life’s simplest gifts that Creamer enjoyed when she returned to the storied venue 15 years after her win.

“Pure joy. Happiness,” Creamer, now 38, said she felt as she stood beside the 18th green at Oakmont for the first time in years. “It’s special to be back.”

Last month, while Creamer made the 40-minute drive from the Pittsburgh airport to Oakmont, memories of her U.S. Women’s Open victory and lone major title quickly returned. And as Creamer pulled into the parking lot, she felt the venue’s greatness wash over her just like it had done all those years ago.

“The feeling is honestly like nothing you can describe, just because of all the history,” Creamer said. “And the love of the game of golf.”

In 2010, the charismatic player nicknamed, “Pink Panther”, was wearing her signature color as she strode with a smile up the final hole at Oakmont. Creamer was grinning on the 72nd hole on that championship Sunday because, for the first time that week, caddie Colin Cann told her she should take a look at the leaderboard.

The 23-year-old stared at the scores and saw just one name in red figures. Creamer led by four, and she was now just feet away from major glory.

“When you practice when you’re younger, you’re like, I have a four-footer to win the U.S. Open. You say it in your head, over and over and over again. You practice. And then I literally had a 4-footer to win the U.S. Open,” Creamer said recently while standing next to the 18th green. “It changed my life, this putt right here. It changed everything.”

These days, Creamer is a mother and no longer competes full time on the LPGA. And though much has changed in the 10-time LPGA winner’s life since her major victory, some things remain the same. As she returned to the 18th fairway and walked around the closing hole,
Creamer wore not just a necklace with her daughter’s name, but the same smile she had on that championship Sunday.

“I keep looking over there because I remember that’s like where my family was,” Creamer said. She remembered her parents, Karen and Paul, looking on as their only child etched her name in history alongside the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan as major winners at Oakmont.

“I would not have been able to do what I did or have the career that I’ve had without them. They’re everything,” Creamer said about her parents. “And my dad and I have a very special relationship. He knows how to push me, but I need to be pushed. But he also knows how to comfort me when I need that.”

One of those times was in early 2010. Creamer had undergone reconstructive surgery on her left thumb after feeling it pop during the tour’s stop in Thailand. Creamer didn’t know if she’d ever play golf again or if she’d ever reach the level she had once aspired to.

“He just sat there and was like, ‘Paula, we’ll figure it out,’” Creamer recalled her father telling her. “‘One step at a time and we’ll make it work.’”

Creamer missed the cut the week before the U.S. Women’s Open and arrived in Pennsylvania with extra time to prepare for just her fifth tournament appearance of the year. The Sunday before the championship began, Creamer hit the Oakmont range with her father, coach and caddie to find a swing that could get her through the week.

“I’ll never forget, I’m on the left side of the driving range and literally shanking balls,” Creamer said. “I’m looking at them like, What am I going to do? I’m about to play the hardest golf course in the world. And yet I can’t even hit a 7-iron straight right now.”

So, gearing up for golf’s toughest test, Creamer’s team told her to focus on shortening her swing. They set that game plan and wanted her to stick with it, no matter what. That was different from how Creamer had approached U.S. Women’s Opens in the past, when she’d often deviate from her routine and strategy – and almost always paid the price.

“I learned from those years that when I came to Oakmont that you cannot change your plan. Mentally, you can’t,” Creamer said. “It’s so hard mentally around this golf course that if you’re trying to switch things around, it’s going to make it even harder.”

Creamer was three strokes off the early lead in 2010, but the challenge of Oakmont was further compounded as players had to contend with afternoon thunderstorms on Day 2 that suspended play. Creamer returned to the course to complete the second round early Saturday and took advantage of the softer conditions to climb into a share of the lead. By the end of the third round, she was three shots clear.

On her way to the first tee on Sunday afternoon, Creamer shared a moment with her biggest supporter and motivator: her father.

“He looked at me and he’s like, ‘Bun, this is it – it’s your time. This is you. You have been in all of these positions for this moment,’” Creamer recalled, her voice beginning to quiver. “‘Go out there and show them the fighter you are inside.’”

Creamer held a four-stroke lead at the turn, maintained a comfortable advantage down the stretch and left herself a closing par putt that she’d dreamed of making since she was a young girl. When it was over, Creamer bent over and covered her mouth in her hands, her left thumb and hand wrapped in tape to protect her surgically repaired left thumb.

“Thank you God, and thank you parents for the opportunity to be out here,” Creamer said during her acceptance speech.

The toughness of Oakmont was no match for the toughness of Paula Creamer that week. The challenges she’d endured in the weeks and months leading up to the major championship had, as her father said, prepared her for that moment. Her gritty victory became a testament to her talent – and her resilience.

“It could be a perfect day out and it’s still very, very, very hard and just always testing you,” Creamer said about conquering Oakmont. “I couldn’t have picked a better place to win a U.S. Open for me.”