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As the last of the soggy footprints were made near Lake Geneva, there was significance but not suspense.The Evian Championship did not have a taut finish like this years ANA Inspiration or KPMG Womens PGA Championship, and there was no pivotal caught-on-camera rules infraction as in the U.S. Womens Open. Even the Ricoh Womens British had tightened for a time in the final round before Ariya Jutanugarn, who had lost most of a big lead, reasserted control. The only doubt as In Gee Chun played the back nine on Sunday in Evian-les-Bains, France, was whether she would set a major championship scoring record in winning wire-to-wire.By saving par on the 18th hole at Evian Resort Golf Club, Chun made history, breaking the mark for lowest 72-hole score in relation to par not only in womens golf but bettering the mens standard too. Sure, the final major of the LPGA season was played on a vulnerable course saturated by rain -- and where Hyo Joo Kim shot a major-record 61 in 2014 -- but only seven golfers finished double-digits under par.Chun, a 22-year-old South Korean, was just in another league, shooting 21-under 263 for a 4-stroke victory over countrywomen So Yeon Ryu and Sung Hyun Park.Chuns tour de force performance surpassed the womens major record of 19 under shared by Dottie Pepper (1999 Kraft Nabisco Championship), Karen Stupples (2004 Ricoh Womens British Open), Cristie Kerr (2010 LPGA Championship) Yani Tseng (2011 LPGA Championship) and Inbee Park (2015 KPMG Womens PGA). Chun finished one stroke lower than the 20 under posted by Jason Day (2015 PGA Championship) and Henrik Stenson (2016 Open Championship). Chuns 263 score was shots better than Betsy Kings 72-hole total in the 1992 LPGA Championship.Beyond the scoring achievements, the most notable aspect of Chuns week is that it is her second LPGA win, following a surprise victory in the 2015 U.S. Womens Open, when she rallied past Amy Yang and Stacy Lewis in the final round. The only other player whose first two LPGA victories came in majors is South Korean legend Se Ri Pak, who won the LPGA Championship and U.S. Womens Open during a seven-week span in 1998. At the recent Rio Olympics, Chun tied for 13th in the womens golf competition as a member of the Republic of Korea team coached by Pak.Shes a rookie right now, but shes not really like a rookie, Ryu said of Chun, who has nine career titles on the LPGA of Korea Tour and was that circuits leading money-winner in 2015 prior to joining the LPGA in 2016.Chun got off to a solid start this season then was hurt on an escalator at the Singapore airport when the father of fellow player Ha Na Jang lost control of a piece of luggage and it tumbled into Chun. A lower-back injury caused Chun to miss three tournaments, with the incident heavily covered by Korean media and devoured by that countrys golf fans. Some of these fans believed Jangs family didnt apologize fully and that Jang celebrated too enthusiastically after winning a tournament that Chun missed because of injury.The accident and surrounding turmoil roiled Chuns rookie LPGA campaign, but she regained her mojo at the Olympics. I got my passion back at the Olympics, Chun told reporters after winning in France. Golf had become fun.The Evian victory gets the Chun narrative fully off the soap opera arc and back to what has been known since even before she won the Open at Lancaster Country Club last July: The complete player with a disarming smile could well be the heir apparent to seven-time major winner Inbee Park in the impressive chain of Korean womens stars. Although Park, who recently turned 28, won gold at Rio, she missed three 2016 majors, including the Evian, because of a thumb injury; having qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame, she might be short of goals and eager to start a family.Chuns victory made it six consecutive years that a Korean has won at least one LPGA major title, a streak dating to Ryus win in the 2011 U.S. Womens Open.Since 1998, when Pak burst on the scene, South Koreans have won 24 womens majors compared to 23 by Americans. Dont be surprised if Sung Hyun Park, a star in her native country who led the 2016 U.S. Womens Open after 36 holes -- and like Jutanugarn wows with her power -- joins Chun in having major success during 2017.Just as the tour has week to week, the LPGA majors were mostly a youthful domain this season. U.S. Womens Open champion Brittany Lang, at 30, was by far the oldest winner. Chun completed a young quartet of champions: Lydia Ko (19, ANA Inspiration), Brooke Henderson (18, KPMG Womens PGA) and Jutanugarn (20, Ricoh Womens British). Ko didnt factor at the Evian but with a runner-up finish at the Womens PGA and tie for third at the U.S. Womens Open won the Rolex Annika Major Award (named for 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam) for the most outstanding overall record in the five majors.Ko and Henderson were among Chuns fellow players who greeted the amiable winner after she completed the final round at Evian.I think shes an amazing ambassador for the womens game, Ko, herself quite popular with peers, told the media. You can kind of see that from her personality. Shes always smiling, and shes there for other people. I think thats why everybody really likes her, and you can see that by the many of us that came out to support her and celebrate and spray champagne [and] water on her.Back home, there no doubt were plenty of toasts with Hite beer, one of Chuns sponsors, and not for the last time either.Wholesale Shoes Black Friday . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. 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Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.RIO DE JANEIRO -- For a newly-minted Olympian who had just blazed a tiny trail for Saudi Arabian women, Lubna al-Omair sure looked miserable.Instead of pride, the fencer wore the face of humiliation. Her bout, make that rout, at the Rio Games lasted just 1 minute and 44 seconds. Too quick to enjoy; long enough to hurt.Afterward, waiting in rain for a minibus to whisk her away from a fight, but hopefully not an experience, to forget, al-Omair wasnt in the mood for sharing her feelings about becoming the first Saudi woman to fence at an Olympics.Does she look like she wants to talk? said her minder, waving this reporter away.No, frankly, she didnt. Instead, al-Omair looked like another Saudi butterfly crushed by the wheels of discrimination.Handing out wild cards for token Saudi women to participate at the Olympics is billed as a well-meaning effort to promote female sport. But, at the second games where this has happened, it still feels like a sham. The simple fact, proven first at the 2012 London Games and now in Rio de Janeiro, is that inviting courageous but clearly ill-equipped women from a country where they are treated as second-class citizens leaves them vulnerable to a hammering when they are then dropped in the deep end of Olympic competition.How does a 15-0 trouncing, fencings equivalent of 6-0, 6-0 in tennis, only far quicker, of al-Omair by a Brazilian ranked 80th advance the cause of Saudi women? Will it impress conservative Saudi men whose minds must be changed or simply comfort their view that sport isnt suitable for women? Will it inspire a new generation of Saudi girls to grow up hoping that they, too, might one day have their tails whipped for an Olympic TV audience?Clearly, as well as opportunities to participate, Saudi women also need the International Olympic Committee to insist that their country guarantee them a fighting chance, with all the facilities and equal opportunities that would require.Human Rights Watch says progress for Saudi women in sports has been incremental since two of them competed for the first time in London. At the Rio Games, there are four Saudi women, although two are already out.In judo, Wujud Fahmi also was gone in blinks of the eye against a competitor from Mauritius who beat her with bout-ending ippon maneuver seconds into the first round of the womens 52-kilogram competition.Still to compete are sprinter Cariman Abu al-Jadail in the 100 meters and Sarah Attar in marathon.According to her web site, Attar lives and trains in California and hass completed nine marathons.ddddddddddddShe ran the 800 at the London Olympics, finishing last and almost a lap behind the winner of her heat in first-round qualifying.Attar says their participation in London definitely created new perspectives.There is now a generation of Saudi Arabian girls growing up with the possibility of women competing in the Olympics, she wrote in running magazine Like the Wind ahead of the Rio Games. They see sports and athletic competition as something they can strive towards, and that is incredibly powerful.Human Rights Watch isnt so glowing.Its pre-Olympics report on womens sports in Saudi Arabia spoke of the profound discrimination that holds back womens and girls participation.Women cannot be seen by men while jogging in sweat pants, much less wearing fitted or revealing shorts. Most women cover their hair and face with a veil known as the niqab and all are required to wear a loose black dress known as the abaya in public. Although private women-only gyms and sports clubs are growing in popularity in major Saudi cities, public schools dont offer physical education for girls.Al-Omair traveled to Rio from the eastern Saudi city of Khobar. Other than that, this petite pioneer leaves as something of a mystery. The Rio Games information site offers no biographical material about her other than age (29), height (1.52 meters; 5 feet) and weight (45 kilograms; 99 pounds). It lists athlete as her occupation.Though the Saudi fencer possesses the requisite skill level, she lacks experience in top-level tournaments, the governing International Fencing Federation said in a statement to The Associated Press. Participation in more regional and international competitions will significantly increase her confidence and be of major importance in her preparations for future events.Through their meshed face masks, the Brazilian who beat al-Omair, Tais Rochel, could sense the nervousness of her inexperienced opponent.She knows the fencing technique, but she was afraid, Rochel said. In fencing, you cannot be afraid. And I could feel it.Of course, Saudi women have to start somewhere.But the Olympics are too competitive, too intimidating, too high profile for those reduced to taking baby steps.---John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester ' ' '