Chonburi, Thailand (SportsNetwork.com) - Anna Nordqvist carded a 4-under 68 on Sunday to close out a 2-stroke victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Nordqvist earned her third career LPGA Tour title in wire-to-wire fashion at 15-under-par 273.
"I'm speechless to be honest," Nordqvist said about the win. "It's been a couple years since I won. I've been working very hard. Had my ups and downs. Just couldn't be happier to be here."
Inbee Park shot a 6-under 66 to finish in second place at 13-under 275, while Catriona Matthew fired the low round of the day on the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club with a 7-under 65 to vault into sole possession of third at 11-under 277.
Michelle Wie (69) ended in fourth at 10-under. Stacy Lewis (66), Yani Tseng (68), Gerina Piller (66), Lexi Thompson (68) and Julieta Granada (69) shared fifth place at minus-9.
Nordqvist entered the final round with a 4-stroke lead, but Park birdied the third and Wie birdied the fourth to both move to 8-under and within three of Nordqvist.
Nordqvist answered with a birdie at the fourth to reach 12-under and reclaim her 4-stroke cushion before tripping to a double-bogey 6 at the fifth to drop to minus-10.
Wie then birdied the sixth to move to minus-9 and cut Nordqvist's advantage to just one, but Nordqvist responded with a birdie at the seventh to regain a 2- stroke lead.
Park was next to make a move with back-to-back gains at the seventh and eighth to pull within a shot of Nordqvist at 10-under.
Nordqvist, Park and Wie, who were all playing together in the final group, all picked up shots at the 10th to keep it tight on top of the leaderboard as Nordqvist and Park both birdied the hole and Wie recorded an eagle to join Park in second at 11-under.
Matthew would make it a three-way tie for second place with four straight birdies from the ninth before Nordqvist pulled away for good with birdies at the 11th and 12th, giving her a 3-stroke lead at 14-under.
No one could get closer than two from there as Nordqvist posted gains at the 14th and 16th to reach 16-under. She bogeyed the 18th to end at 15-under.
"It was such a hard push on the back nine. Inbee kept making birdies and Michelle was playing great," said Nordqvist. "Couldn't really breathe until the last putt, so obviously I could just let go on the last putt."
NOTES: Nordqvist's previous two wins both came during her rookie season in 2009, at the McDonald's LPGA Championship and LPGA Tour Championship ... Nordqvist had made 95 starts between victories ... Nordqvist is projected to move up to 14th in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings ... Lewis finished inside the top 10 for the 13th straight event. The all-time record is 16 and is held by Karrie Webb, who recorded 16 consecutive top 10's during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
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