Golf: Angela Stanford's late charge at home in Texas brings seventh career LPGA title

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Angela Stanford birdied four of the last six holes on Sunday (Dec 6) 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 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 place 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 in windy conditions, capturing her seventh LPGA Tour title and her first since she won her maiden Major title at the 2018 Evian Championship.

"After the Major, it would have been easy to be satisfied, and I was for a while," she 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-four fourth hole before reeling off three consecutive birdies starting at the par-five 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-three 11th, Stanford caught fire.

She birdied the par-five 13th to match Ko for the lead at five under, then curled in a 15-footer for birdie at the par-four 14th to seize command as the South Korean missed the elevated 14th green.

Ko's third shot rolled back to her feet and she two-putted for double bogey to leave Stanford at six under, two atop the pack and three ahead of Ko.

Park, 32, birdied the 14th to pull within one but Stanford answered with a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th to restore her two-stroke advantage.

The American rolled in an eight-footer for birdie at the par-five 17th, but missed the green with her approach at No. 18, then saw her short par putt lip out for a bogey that left Park a slight hope.

When Park could not hole her second shot at the last, Stanford secured the victory, which brought tears as it was the first witnessed by her parents and the first in a home event.

"It's pretty cool since my parents have never seen me win in person," Stanford said, her mother having just withstood a battle with cancer. "To have my parents here, that was a pretty big deal.

"A lot of people are going to give me grief because I did it in the Covid year and nobody could come out."

World No. 15 Ryu, a two-time Major champion, captured this year's Korean Women's Open but the 30-year-old was denied her seventh LPGA victory.

Noh, a 19-year-old whose parents are from South Korea, matched her best finish in 20 LPGA starts, a runner-up effort at last year's Portland Classic.

World No. 5 Park, a seven-time Major winner, has already won in 2020, taking the Women's Australian Open in February just before the season was halted owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ko, 25, was playing in only her second LPGA event of the season after spending most of the year in her homeland.

The event served as the final tune-up for next week's US Women's Open at Houston with the season-ending Tour Championship the following week in Florida.