Anna Nordqvist of Sweden shot 5-under-par 67 to capture the Kia Classic by one stroke over Lizette Salas at Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad.
The 26-year-old Nordqvist claimed her fourth title on the LPGA Tour, and second of the season after breaking a five-year victory drought by winning the Honda LPGA Thailand last month, and climbed to ninth in the Women’s Rolex World Golf Rankings.
“I’m very excited; you still can’t believe it,” said Nordqvist, who captured McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the LPGA Tour Championship in a brilliant rookie year on the LPGA Tour in 2009, but did not win again until this season . “I was a couple of shots back going into today and told myself this morning to give it a shot.
“I was pretty disappointed after last year, I’m not going to lie. I knew I had to do chance a couple of things to have a chance to play even better and it’s just great sitting here now.
I’m proud of myself for taking some hard decisions and I worked extremely hard this offseason. They had to drag my off the range.”
Salas, from Azusa and USC, was tied for the 54-hole lead with Cristie Kerr before closing with a 70 that included birdies on three of the last five holes, but she fell short of her first LPGA Tour victory.
Lexi Thompson finished with a 68 to wind up two strokes back in third, followed another shot back by Chella Choi of South Korea, who shot 69, while 16-time LPGA winner Kerr was another stroke back in fifth following a disappointing 73 that included one birdie.
Top-ranked Inbee Park of South Korea posted a 68 and tied for sixth, five strokes back, with Stacy Lewis, who shot 71, and two other South Koreans, Se Ri Pak, who recorded a 69, and Eun-Hee Ji, who came in at 71.
Laura Diaz made a hole in one for the second straight day and joined Jenny Lidback, who accomplished the feat in the 1997 Chrysler Plymouth Tournament of Champions, as the only players in LPGA Tour history to record two aces in the same tournament. Diaz finished with a 70 and tied for 32nd.
