Mexico's world number one Lorena Ochoa staged a successful defence of the Sybase Classic to claim her sixth title in a dazzling season when she shot a final round 71 at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey on Sunday.
In a tournament reduced to 54 holes after Friday's play was washed out, Ochoa finished on 10 under par 206, and a stroke ahead of a group of five players that included Scotland's Catriona Matthew.
Matthew carded a final day 67 to secure her best finish since she tied for second in last year's major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
With six birdies, the two-time LPGA Tour winner finished on nine under par alongside Sweden's Sophie Gustafson, Americans Brittany Lang and Morgan Pressel and South Korean Na Yeon Choi.
"I played really well today and it was the first time this season that the putts have started to fall," said the 38-year-old Scot, who started the day four off the lead but made the move with a great back nine of 32.
"After I birdied the last (from 10 feet) I thought there might be a chance to win, but there was never much chance that Lorena would lose it."
Ochoa, the Women's British Open Champion, started the final round with a two-shot lead, and was four in front by the time she had picked up shots at the second and fifth.
But the rest of the field started making birdies and, when Ochoa had dropped a shot at the tricky par three 17th, she was only a shot ahead.
However, she made an easy par at the 18th to win - her sixth victory in nine starts this year.
At the end of a week in which she announced she would be retiring at the end of this year, Annika Sorenstam, the first round leader on 67, closed with a 71 and tied for 11th place on five under par.
Wales' Becky Morgan, who had a final day 69, was on the same mark.
Collated third round scores & totals in the LPGA Tour Sybase Classic Presented by Shoprite, Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, New Jersey, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 72):
206 Lorena Ochoa (Mex) 68 67 71
207 Na Yeon Choi (Kor) 70 68 69, Catriona Matthew (Sco) 68 72 67, Morgan Pressel 70 71 66, Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 69 68 70, Brittany Lang 68 71 68
208 Christina Kim 69 72 67, 209 Hye Jung Choi (Kor) 70 68 71
210 Jimin Kang (Kor) 73 69 68, Nicole Castrale 71 72 67
211 Teresa Lu (Tai) 68 69 74, Annika Sorenstam (Swe) 67 73 71, Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 73 68 70, Becky Morgan (Wal) 70 72 69
212 Ya-Ni Tseng (Kor) 71 72 69, Kristy McPherson 71 69 72, Wendy Ward 71 71 70
213 Taylor Leon 72 69 72, Minea Blomqvist (Fin) 71 72 70, Cristie Kerr 69 76 68, In-Bee Park (Kor) 72 73 68, Song-Hee Kim (Kor) 67 75 71, Sandra Gal (Ger) 72 71 70, Helen Alfredsson (Swe) 70 71 72
214 Brandie Burton 71 73 70, Kyeong Eun Bae (Kor) 72 70 72, Eunjung Yi (Kor) 70 72 72, Michele Redman 71 73 70, Carolina Llano (Col) 68 74 72, Pat Hurst 68 74 72
215 Shi Hyun Ahn (Kor) 69 77 69, Irene Cho 74 70 71, Sun Young Yoo (Kor) 75 69 71, Na On Min (Jpn) 70 73 72, Mikaela Parmlid (Swe) 70 75 70, Carri Wood 73 72 70, Diana D'Alessio 72 72 71
216 Lindsey Wright (Aus) 70 71 75, Rachel Hetherington (Aus) 67 77 72, Angela Park 74 72 70, Tracy Hanson 70 74 72
217 Giulia Sergas (Ita) 72 74 71, Stacy Prammanasudh 71 71 75, Jin Joo Hong (Kor) 73 72 72, Dorothy Delasin 72 72 73, Michelle Ellis 73 72 72, Ai Miyazato (Jpn) 69 72 76, Sherri Turner 73 69 75, Sung Ah Yim (Kor) 71 73 73, Soo-Yun Kang (Kor) 70 76 71, Sarah Jane Kenyon 70 74 73, Amy Hung (Tha) 72 74 71, Emily Bastel 74 71 72, Hwa seon Lee (Kor) 70 74 73
218 Jee Young Lee (Kor) 73 72 73, Ji-Young Oh (Kor) 73 71 74, Ashleigh Simon (Rsa) 72 72 74, Meena Lee (Kor) 73 73 72, Eva Dahllof (Swe) 73 72 73
219 Virada Nirapathpongporn (Tha) 73 72 74, Young-A Yang (Kor) 73 71 75, Natalie Gulbis 73 73 73, Jane Park 73 73 73, Jamie Hullett 72 73 74, Erica Blasberg 73 72 74, Leah Marie Wigger 70 75 74
220 Mollie Fankhauser 72 74 74, Karrie Webb (Aus) 76 70 74, Allison Hanna-Williams 74 72 74, Ashli Bunch 71 74 75
221 Katie Futcher 71 74 76
224 Jean Bartholomew 72 74 78
Coppa Italia Round-Up
Serie A round-up
OCHOA WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT TITLE
LEADING PAIR SET TO DO BATTLE
