The first female ever to win a major at Troon, the first German of either gender ever to win a major on British soil. The historic achievements piled high for Sophia Popov on Sunday as she emphatically belied her standing as a golfer without any playing privileges on a main tour with a commanding victory here at the AIG Women’s Open. Afterwards, Popov revealed that her inability to break through almost caused her to retire from the sport last year. It is fair to say, the 27-year-old made the correct choice to persevere. In the first six years of her career she amassed £103,000 in earnings. Popov has collected £515,000 for her last four days work in Ayrshire. Granted, we have seen shocks of this proportion in the male Open before - most notably when Ben Curtis, the world No 396 stunned the world at Sandwich in 2003 - but what was most truly surprising about Popov’s two-shot win was that it all seemed so comfortable for the player ranked 304th. Having grabbed the advantage after four holes on Saturday, she was never headed and, in truth, barely troubled by either the links or her pursuers. Ayrshire loves a major duel - the 1977 Open between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus at nearby Turnberry, the 2016 Open between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson - and although the Thai Jasmine Suwannapura reeled off four successive birdies on the front half to get within one, Popov did not begin to look rattled, after posting three birdies of her own on that first nine. Some experts will point to the absence of crowds being a boon for Popov, but with so much on the line, the tension was still palpable and she showed remarkable fortitude to pull clear again. The birdie on the 15th was definitive. She skewed her drive but from the heavy rough performed a fine recovery before holing an outrageous 35-footer. Maybe it was a tad fortunate, but if one considers that Popov recorded only one bogey in the 44 holes before her irrelevant final-hole five then it should be apparent that luck had nothing to do with this extraordinary display. She also birdied the 16th and at that point the first pump said it was over, despite the gallant Suwannapura birdieing the 16th and 17th. A 68 gave Popov a seven-under total with Suwannapura - the two-time LPGA Tour winner, herself, ranked 134th - firing a courageous 67 for outright second and a cheque for £320,000. Popov’s tears poured before he had even tapped in on the 18th. “I don't know what to say - I can't get anything out of my mouth,” she said after joining the exclusive club of Martin Kaymer and Bernhard Langer as German major-winners. “There's a lot of hard work behind it, and a lot of struggles that I went through and I'm just glad I was able to overcome everything. I almost quit playing last year, so thank God I didn’t."
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