World No. 1 Ochoa defeats Lee to win Sybase Classic

Lorena Ochoa won for the first time since replacing Annika Sorenstam as the No. 1 player in women's golf by defending her Sybase Classic title.

Ochoa front-running Sarah Lee and finished three strokes ahead on Sunday, closing with a bogey-free 4-under 68 in the event that turned into match play after the top two distanced themselves from the field the day before.

Second of the season

The victory was the second of the season and the 11th of her career for the 25-year-old Mexican, who was the US LPGA Tour's top player last year.

The US$210,000 winner's share pushed her earnings this year to US$965,714 and to more than US$7 million in four-plus years on the US women's tour.

Ochoa a 72-hole total of 18-under 270 on the Upper Montclair Country Club in making a successful defense of an US LPGA title for the first time in her career. She won last year's event at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, New York, another traditional, tree-lined course with small greens.

Tentative

Lee, looking to become the fifth first-time winner on tour this year, shot a 73 in a round where she couldn't find the green on the front nine and then couldn't make birdie on the back nine because of a tentative putting stroke.

Pak Se-ri, who is now three events from making the Hall of Fame, shot a final-round 66 to finish alone in third place at 8 under, 10 behind Ochoa and a stroke ahead of Juli Inkster (69) and Brittany Lang (67).

Lee, who led for the first three rounds and outplayed Ochoa in a head-to-head matchup on Saturday, had one birdie and two bogeys in squandering the two-shot lead she took into the final round.