Ko, 16, repeats in Canada

Edmonton, AB – Another year, another victory at the Canadian Women's Open for amateur phenom Lydia Ko.

Ko fired a 6-under-par 64 on Sunday and cruised to a 5-stroke victory at Royal Mayfair Golf Club, becoming the first player in almost two years to successfully defend her title on the LPGA Tour.

When Ko titled here in 2012, she became the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history at 15 years old. Now 16, she once again dominated in Canada, finishing 72 holes at 15-under-par 265.

"I was really happy with my 64. I got off to a really good start so that kind of helped my day," Ko said in a televised interview.

Karine Icher carded a 67 to end in a distant second at 10-under 270, while overnight leader Caroline Hedwall and Brittany Lincicome shot 71 and 69, respectively, to share third at minus-9.

I.K. Kim (70) and Stacy Prammanasudh (68) tied for fifth at 8-under, one stroke ahead of Suzann Pettersen (72) and Caroline Masson (69). Gerina Piller (71) placed ninth at 6-under, while Paula Creamer (72), Jessica Korda (71) and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (71) shared 10th at minus-5.

Ko began the final round one stroke off Hedwall's pace and the New Zealand native wasted little time erasing the deficit.

After a par at the first, Ko birdied five of her next seven holes, including three straight from the second, to grab the lead for good. When the dust settled on that scorching run, Ko held a 3-stroke advantage over Pettersen, who bogeyed the first, but reeled off a hat trick of successive birdies from the fifth.

Ko wasn't threatened the rest of the way. She briefly pushed the margin to four strokes with a birdie at the 12th before giving that shot back with a bogey a No. 13.

Pettersson, though, couldn't take advantage, as she double-bogeyed the 14th and dropped two more shots the rest of the way to significantly fall off the pace.

Comfortable margin in hand, Ko parred four straight from the 14th, then rolled home a straightaway birdie putt at the last to wrap up her successful title defense in style.

NOTES: Ko earned her fourth career victory in a professional event ... Ko became the first amateur in history to win two LPGA Tour events. Her victory marks the sixth time that an amateur has won an LPGA Tour event ... The last LPGA Tour player to secure victories in the same event in consecutive years was Yani Tseng, who won the Women's British Open in 2010 and 2011.