AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There are infinite ways to win a golf tournament, but shooting a 32 on the second nine at the most famous club in the world in the first Augusta National Women's Amateur, and doing it while playing the last six holes in 5 under, has to rank near the top of the list.

That's what winner Jennifer Kupcho did on Saturday as she turned a brawl with closest contender, Maria Fassi, into a four-stroke victory with a pair of two-stroke swinging holes at the very end.

The second nine was not initially kind to Kupcho, the reigning NCAA champion. Battling some blurred vision from a migraine she contracted at the end of the first nine, she bogeyed the 10th and fell two down to Fassi, who played the first eight holes in 4 under. Pars came at Nos. 11 and 12 for both, and with everyone else fading, it looked as if the second nine might be more uneventful than normal.

Of course, this is the second nine at Augusta National we're talking about. Drama on its undulating dance floor is the surest bet in golf. The first inflection point came at the par-5 13th. Kupcho blistered a drive and hit the shot of the tournament, a 3-hybrid from 211 yards to 6 feet. The eagle putt broke about five golf balls toward Rae's Creek, but Kupcho trusted her caddie's read and buried it to tie the board at 7 under.

While there wasn't the tension you normally get in the final round of a Masters, there certainly were waves of murmuring on shots like the one Kupcho hit into No. 13. Whether it was appreciation or disbelief, I'm not sure. Maybe a little of both. She called it one of the shots of her life.

Fassi answered on No. 14 with a birdie to go back up one, and Kupcho-Fassi was turning into Ali-Frazier with a much better backdrop. Kupcho went for the green again on the 15th, and again she was rewarded with a birdie. Never lay up, kids. Never, ever, ever lay up.

She birdied the 16th, too, and a Fassi bogey meant it was close to a wrap. Fassi is "LeBron with a pained expression searching for a teammate to share the moment with" long off the tee, but a juiced up Kupcho rolled with her off the tee on No. 17. Both made pars there before Kupcho won the way you're supposed to win at the National. With a birdie at the last to get to 10 under as Fassi faded to 6 under. Nobody else was better than 2 under.

"When she walked up to look at her chip, I said, 'Hey, knock it in,'" explained Kupcho. "And then she obviously hit it right behind my ball marker, and she said, 'I hope you go to school with this.' And then going back, I said, 'I hope you're a good teacher.'" She was.

Everything moves quickly at the end, especially at this place, but despite Fassi's heroics for much of the day, it was an absolute show from Kupcho. Fassi knew it, too. She clapped on the woman who baptized her as an historic first ANWA came to a close. It, as Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley noted, exceeded every expectation, and it also got a great first close.

Kupcho's All-American smile and demeanor belies her All-American swing. Fassi, on the other hand, walks around like Rory McIlroy trying to impersonate himself. She bounces more than she strides. She intimidates more than she does anything else. She is all emotion and unfurled tension behind her aviators. Together, they were the perfect pair to introduce the world to women's golf at Augusta National.

"It was amazing," Kupcho said. "All day we were kind of giving each other crap, encouraging each other. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to walk Augusta with anyone else on the final round. I know that we're going to have a great time out there next year on the LPGA, and we definitely shared a lot of kind words after the round. It was just amazing."

"We joked at the beginning. We're like, 'Let's make sure we put up a show for people,' and we did," Fassi said. "I'm extremely proud of what I did, and Jennifer for getting that win. It was just so much fun. Yeah I don't think it could have been any better."

I have to be honest, I came into this not knowing what I would write about. I'm not super deep in the women's amateur game. I don't know many who are. But there was nothing to forge, nothing to embellish on this Saturday at the National. It was beautiful golf played by compelling athletes. It was more of what we've come to expect from Augusta National, a course that separates professionals -- which these two will be soon -- from non-professionals. It was a preview of what we'll see from them in the future.

It was a great competition that, but no less than that, it was a prism through which the sport should be seen. Kupcho, the champ, summed it up well at the end. When we talk about golf we're really talking about one more unifying event in our lives as human beings. Competitors at the Augusta National Women's Amateur may have come from colleges and countries spanning the globe. But the walk -- specifically their walk -- is all that mattered in the end.

"Coming out of it with Maria in the final group with me, I think both of us kind of just wanted to send the message that golf is about having friends," Kupcho said. "To be out there with her, we were cheering each other on, and that's kind of how golf is supposed to be. And to make it look fun. It is fun. So to make it look that way for everyone watching, I hope it encourages people to pick up a club and go play."