Anna Nordqvist shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday to claim her third career LPGA Tour title at the Honda LPGA Thailand, holding off top-ranked
Inbee Park for a two shot victory.
Nordqvist briefly lost the lead to
Michelle Wie on Saturday, but led after all four rounds on the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club.
"I'm speechless to be honest," said Nordqvist, whose previous two victories both came in 2009. "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. It was such a hard push on the back nine. Inbee kept making birdies and Michelle was playing great. Couldn't really breathe until the last putt, so obviously I could just let go on the last putt."
Nordqvist opened the final round with a four-shot lead, but double-bogeyed the fifth hole and saw her margin whittled down to one shot by Wie. The Swede birdied No. 7 to build her lead back to two shots and managed to hold off Wie and the hard-charging Park, who was bogey-free during the final round.
"Michelle played great; Inbee kept pushing me at the end," said Nordqvist. "I just really had to stay strong. Had a rough first couple holes, but kept playing good on the back."
Nordqvist finished the tournament at 15-under, with Park alone in second place two shots back. Park shot 67 and 66 over the weekend in her 2014 debut.
"I feel good," said Park. "I mean, today my ball-striking wasn't as good as yesterday, I putted better than yesterday. So I feel like my putter is coming back. I played one shot better than last year and didn't win. Still a very good result. Tells me I improved a little. I'm satisfied the way I played this weekend...I think I played a little bit better than I thought I would."
Catriona Matthew turned in a 7-under 65 on Sunday to finish in third at 11-under. Wie was another shot back in solo fourth place.
Americans Gerina Piller and third-ranked Stacy Lewis were among a group of five golfers who finished in a tie for fifth place at 9-under, including former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng.
Second-ranked Suzann Pettersen climbed into a top-10 finish with a 60under 66 on Sunday.
For Nordqvist, the 95-tournament drought between victories is over.
"I've been working so hard all winter," said Nordqvist. "These last couple years I have had a lot of great people by my side that never left my side and kept supporting me through the good times and the bad times. I will always be thankful for them. I'm just so excited to get a win here, and look forward to the rest of the year."
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