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Webb has to wait two years, but nails her 36th LPGA win

Karrie Webb of Australia celebrates after winning the Phoenix LPGA International tournament on  Sunday.

Karrie Webb of Australia celebrates after winning the Phoenix LPGA International tournament on Sunday.

PHOENIX – Karrie Webb has been one of the most prolific winners in LPGA Tour history. Yet she was wondering whether she would ever win again.

Her two-year drought ended Sunday, when she shot a 5-under-par 67 on Sunday for a two-stroke victory in the J Golf LPGA International.

The 34-year-old Australian earned her 36th career LPGA Tour title, finishing at 14-under 274. Third-round leader Jiyai Shin of South Korea shot a 70 to finish second.

“You know you still have the ability to do it, but you’re just not putting the scores on the board that indicate you can still do it,” Webb said. “Even less than a month ago I was still questioning that.”

Another South Korean, In-Kyung Kim – the leader after the first and second rounds – finished three strokes back. She had a 70.

Webb had an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys in breezy conditions on the 6,711-yard Papago Golf Course. She started the day one shot behind Shin, but took the lead just after the turn, then capped her day with a near-eagle on No. 18.

The $225,000 first prize raised Webb’s career earnings to just over $14.5 million, second only to ex-Arizona Wildcat Annika Sorenstam.

Webb ended any doubt by knocking her second shot about 10 feet short of the cup on the par-5, 475-yard 18th. She missed the putt, but tapped in for birdie, then threw her fist in the air in celebration.

She had not won since her five victories in 2006.

But it was no nerve-racking effort. Webb called her week at Papago “probably the most calm I’ve been in my entire career.”

“I know that’s probably a big statement,” she said, “but I never really got ahead of myself and I really was very good this week about staying right in the present and worrying about the shot that I had.”

Webb started the day one shot behind the third-round leader Shin and briefly took the lead with an eagle on the par-5, 513-yard sixth hole, hitting a 3-wood 20 feet from the hole, then sinking the putt. Kim, though, had birdies on the sixth, seventh and eight holes to move in front.

Kim made the turn with a one-shot lead at 13-under but hit it in the water on the par-5, 544-yard 10th hole and wound up with a double-bogey 7.

Webb stormed through the opening, knocking in a birdie putt on the 10th to go to minus-13, then making another on the par-4, 355-yard 11th to open a two-shot lead on her playing partner Shin, winner of the HSBC Women’s Champions event in Singapore three weeks ago.

“I kept waiting for Karrie to make a mistake,” Shin said, “but she played very well.”

Two-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa, a former Wildcat, had her best round of the week Sunday with a 70 to finish at 4-under 284.

Cap Cana Championship

CAP CANA, Dominican Republic – Keith Fergus holed out with a wedge from 95 yards for an eagle on the 17th hole, and finished with a 5-under 67 for a one-stroke victory over Mark O’Meara and Andy Bean.

Louisiana Open

BROUSSARD, La. – Bubba Dickerson won the Louisiana Open for his first Nationwide Tour title, beating Brian Vranesh with a 14-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.

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