Rookie Nordqvist lands major win

Anna Nordqvist held her nerve to win her first LPGA Tour event at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship by four strokes.
Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist held her nerve to win her first LPGA Tour event at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship by four strokes on Sunday night.
The 22-year-old rookie, competing in her first major tournament as a professional, shot a 68 to finish on 15 under par – four ahead of Australian Lindsey Wright.
Nordqvist and Wright each began the day by completing the final three holes of their penultimate round after rain delays held up play on Saturday.
The Swede stretched her lead to two shots by the start of the final round at Havre de Grace in Maryland and looked to have victory sewn up when she moved five shots clear.
But Wright was not finished and, as Nordqvist faltered slightly, the Australian closed to within a shot of her rival.
Wright would surely have expected Nordqvist to feel the pressure but instead the rookie picked up three birdies over the closing holes to ease to victory.
Wright eventually had to settle for a 70 and an 11-under total, one ahead of Ji Yai Shin, who matched Nordqvist’s 68.
Kyeong Bae was another to finish with a four-under round as she reached nine under while Nicole Castrale, Angela Stanford and Kristy McPherson were tied for fifth on eight under.
ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
(USA unless stated, par 72):
273 Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 66 70 69 68
277 Lindsey Wright (Aus) 70 68 69 70
278 Ji-Yai Shin (Kor) 73 68 69 68
279 Kyeong Bae (Kor) 70 69 72 68
280 Angela Stanford 70 71 70 69, Kristy McPherson 70 70 70 70, Nicole Castrale 65 72 74 69
281 Na Yeon Choi (Kor) 68 71 70 72
282 Jin young Pak (Kor) 69 71 69 73, Amy Yang 68 74 70 70, Song-Hee Kim (Kor) 73 72 68 69, Stacy Lewis 68 72 71 71
283 Brandie Burton 73 71 72 67
284 Irene Cho 72 75 65 72, In-Bee Park (Kor) 70 72 73 69
285 Paula Creamer 74 70 71 70, In-Kyung Kim (Kor) 72 74 68 71, Shi Hyun Ahn (Kor) 73 70 72 70, Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 69 74 70 72, Katherine Hull (Aus) 69 69 76 71
286 Natalie Gulbis 72 75 69 70, Hee-Won Han (Kor) 70 69 73 74
287 Eun Hee Ji (Kor) 74 69 73 71, Lorena Ochoa (Mex) 72 69 73 73, Maria Hjorth (Swe) 71 75 72 69, Mindy Kim 74 69 72 72, Michelle Wie 70 74 73 70, Ya-Ni Tseng (Tai) 73 71 69 74, Paige Mackenzie 68 77 69 73, Allison Hanna-Williams 72 74 69 72
288 Heather Bowie young 75 70 70 73, Young Kim (Kor) 72 74 71 71, Beth Bader 73 73 74 68, Cristie Kerr 76 70 70 72, Na Ri Kim (Kor) 71 73 72 72, Michele Redman 72 73 72 71, Ashleigh Simon (Rsa) 68 74 74 72, Soo-Yun Kang (Kor) 73 71 72 72
289 Mika Miyazato (Jpn) 72 74 70 73, Ji-Young Oh (Kor) 73 74 71 71, Seon Hwa Lee (Kor) 74 71 76 68, Brittany Lang 72 72 72 73, Janice Moodie (Sco) 74 73 70 72
290 Minea Blomqvist (Fin) 73 69 70 78, Juli Inkster 73 71 73 73, Anna Grzebien 74 73 69 74, M.j Hur (Kor) 71 72 74 73, Kris Tschetter 70 72 73 75
291 Stacy Prammanasudh 73 71 72 75, Sun Young Yoo (Kor) 73 74 68 76, Karrie Webb (Aus) 72 70 76 73, Sandra Gal (Ger) 71 71 76 73
292 Johanna Mundy (Eng) 73 73 73 73, Chella Choi (Kor) 71 72 76 73, Eunjung Yi (Kor) 73 74 69 76, Moira Dunn 68 74 74 76
293 Taylor Leon 72 72 75 74, Wendy Doolan (Aus) 72 73 74 74, Aree Song (Kor) 68 73 74 78, Il Mi Chung (Kor) 74 73 72 74, Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 76 71 70 76, Karin Sjodin (Swe) 70 77 72 74, Candie Kung (Tai) 72 72 75 74, Helen Alfredsson (Swe) 74 71 76 72
294 Jee Young Lee (Kor) 75 72 72 75, Becky Morgan (Wal) 71 71 73 79, Se Ri Pak (Kor) 72 74 74 74, Marcy Hart 71 72 75 76
295 Carin Koch (Swe) 74 72 74 75, Katie Futcher 71 71 74 79
296 Teresa Lu (Tai) 76 70 73 77, Jamie Hullett 73 71 76 76, Meaghan Francella 69 76 75 76
297 Karine Icher (Fra) 75 72 76 74
298 Julieta Granada (Par) 75 72 75 76
299 Marisa Baena 70 74 78 77
303 Jackie Gallagher-Smith 72 75 74 82
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