(REUTERS) - American Brittany Lincicome beat the darkness to sink a birdie putt under lights on the 18th hole to win the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic on Sunday (Jan 28).

Lincicome, who jogged from hole to hole as darkness descended on the Paradise Island Ocean Golf Club, birdied three of the last four holes to finish 12-under par, two stokes ahead of Taiwan's Hsu Wei-Ling and three strokes ahead of world number one Feng Shanshan and South Korea's Amy Yang.

"My putter really saved me all day," a smiling Lincicome said after being covered in shaving cream during an on-course celebration.

"I made a lot of great par saves and birdies and I'm just on cloud nine," said the 32-year-old, who also won the title last year.

The 23-year-old Hsu held a one stroke lead late on Sunday and looked to have the momentum after saving par on the difficult par-four 16th with a shot from off the green that took a couple of hops before hitting the pin and dropping into the hole.

But Hsu missed two short putts on the back nine, one for birdie on 14 that would have given her a two-stroke lead and another on 17 that resulted in a bogey that put Lincicome ahead for good.

The next LPGA tournament is the Australian Open in Adelaide, South Australia from Feb 15. This is followed by the Feb 22 to 25 Honda LPGA Thailand, and then the March 1 to 4 HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore at the Sentosa Golf Club.