Wendy Ward kept her cool and her touch around the greens Saturday for a two-stroke victory win in the Takefuji Classic, her first title in nearly four years.
Ward closed with a 5-under 67 to hold off the charging Lorena Ochoa of Mexico. Ward finished the 54-hole event at 16-under 200.
Ochoa, who vaulted from a tie for 96th into a tie for fourth with a 63 the previous day, went low again, finishing with a 65.
Holding a two-shot lead over Ochoa, who had just finished her round, Ward smiled broadly after she knocked her wedge shot over the water and within 12 feet of the pin on the final hole.
Still smiling, she tipped her cap to the applauding fans as she walked to the green, where she two-putted for par, then hugged practically everyone in sight.
Ward had an opening 65 to tie Australia's Karrie Webb for the lead, and a second-round 68 to move in front by herself.
South Korea's Ahn Shi-hyun shot a 63 to tie for third at 13 under with Paula Creamer, an 18-year-old tour rookie who had a 65.
Another teenager, amateur Park In-bee, finished fifth. Park, a 16-year-old from South Korea who is a Las Vegas high school junior, shot a 67 to finish at 12 under.
Ward, 31, won the 1994 US Women's Amateur, had five birdies and no bogeys on the way to her fourth career victory and first since 2001 in New Albany, Ohio.
She began the last day at The Las Vegas Country Club with a three-shot lead over Webb and Moira Dunn, with Ochoa in a group four shots off the pace.
Ochoa narrowed the gap to one shot when she birdied No. 11 to go 13 under. Ward, in the group behind, opened the lead back to two strokes on No. 12.
Peter Lonard regained the lead, shooting a 5-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Darren Clarke, with five-time Harbour Town champion Davis Love III lurking close behind.
Lonard, the 37-year-old Australian seeking his first PGA Tour victory, had an 11-under 202 total. Clarke shot a 73 to drop to second, Rod Pampling (68) was third at 6 under, and Love (69) followed at 5 under.
Lonard, who won the Australian Open and Australian PGA in consecutive weeks late last year, takes a lead into the final round of a US tour event for the first time in four seasons. He won't change his routine.
"In theory, it shouldn't be any different," Lonard said. "I'll relax, have a few beers and talk rubbish with my mates."
Clarke entered the round with his best 36-hole score ever, 12-under 130, good for a six-stroke lead. Over the first seven holes, though, Clarke's lead vanished as he made four bogeys -- double the amount he had the first two rounds -- to fall into a tie with Lonard.
Clarke recovered with birdies on the ninth and 10th holes to take a two-stroke lead, but two more bogeys dropped him behind his Australian rival. The crusher came on the 15th green when Lonard dropped in a 55-footer for birdie.
Lonard toyed with 59 on Thursday before finishing with a 62, his best round ever. Then came Friday's 74 that dropped him six shots behind Clarke.
On Saturday, Lonard birdied three of his first five holes, including a 40-foot chip on the par-3 fourth, to turn the runaway into a race. His birdie on the 13th hole tied Clarke at 10 under before the long birdie putt put Lonard ahead by two. When Clarke closed the lead to a stroke with a birdie on the 16th hole, Lonard answered with a birdie of his own on the par-3 17th.
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