WASHINGTON: Angela Stanford birdied four of the last six holes on Sunday (Monday in Manila) to win the LPGA Tour’s Volunteers of America Classic and snap a two-year victory drought with a two-stroke triumph.
The 43-year-old American fired a four-under par 67 in the final round to finish 72 holes at The Colony in suburban Dallas on seven-under 277.
South Koreans Park In-bee and Ryu So-yeon and US teen rookie Yealimi Noh shared second on 279, the 54-hole co-leaders each shooting 70, with top-ranked Ko Jin-young of South Korea fifth on 280 after a closing 70.
World No. 79 Stanford, from nearby Fort Worth, won a shootout in windy conditions.
Stanford captured her seventh LPGA Tour title and her first since she won her first major title at the 2018 Evian Championship.
“After the major, it would have been easy to be satisfied, and I was for a while,” Stanford said. “But I don’t like bad golf. I worked with my coach and then it was fun to be around.”
Stanford made a bogey at the par-4 fourth before reeling off three consecutive birdies starting at the par-5 sixth and she shared the lead with Ko and Park as the last group made the turn.
After stumbling back with a bogey at the par-3 11th, Stanford caught fire.
Stanford birdied the par-5 13th to match Ko for the lead at 5-under then curled in a 15-footer for birdie at the par-4 14th to seize command as Ko missed the elevated 14th green. AFP