GUADALAJARA, Jalisco, Mexico -- Angela Stanford held off 72-time winner and Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam to win the inaugural Lorena Ochoa Invitational by Banamex and Corona Light by one shot Sunday.
Stanford fired a final-round, bogey-free 3-under-par 69 to finish at 13 under on the par-72 Guadalajara Country Club in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, to take home the $200,000 winner's check and her third career LPGA win; it's also her second in five starts.
Stanford held on to win despite a charging Sorenstam. The former world No. 1 and record eight-time Player of the Year made a 24-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole then followed it by holing out from the bunker on the 16th hole to get to 12 under. On 18, after Sorenstam nearly holed her third shot for eagle, she lipped out a 9-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.
"Coming down the stretch, you just expect Annika to make a push in the end, and she did," Stanford said. "Before she hit the putt, I was already prepared that she was going to make it.
"I kind of figured I would be able to tell from the reaction of the crowd, so I didn't watch. I thought I heard them yell, and so I thought she made it and looked up and I still saw the ball and I thought, 'She missed.'"
Stanford hit her third shot on 18 to 15 feet and had a putt to put the tournament away before Sorenstam's putt but missed to within tap-in range.
After making 19 birdies in four rounds, Stanford credits a par with the win - she made a 10-footer to save it on the 17th.
"That putt won the tournament," Stanford said. "Because I think if I would have missed there, the momentum would have shifted a little bit to Annika, and Brittany (Lang) was already in at 12, so that would have put three of us at 12.
"I think that putt, looking back now, won the tournament."
In her last five starts, Stanford has two wins, a second, a T3 and a T4.
Katherine Hull was the third in the final group and looked like she'd make a push early on - she birdied the second and third holes to get to 10-under par and temporarily claim a spot as a co-leader. Once Stanford went to 11 under on the sixth hole, Hull joined her again at the top with a birdie on eight. However, two back-nine bogeys and a double-bogey on the closing hole dropped her well out of contention.
Lang shot the round of the tournament with a course-record 7-under-par 65. It featured eight birdies - including three straight on holes three-five - and got her to 12 under. However, with a par on 18, she fell just short.
Tournament hostess Lorena Ochoa matched her tournament-best 70 from Saturday with another one Sunday to finish at 4 under. She capped her round with a birdie on 18 that evoked an eruption from the sizeable gallery.
"I wish I'd been in contention to win the tournament," Ochoa said. "But this has been a week where I've learned a lot, both as a player and a tournament hostess. I think that the upcoming events will be easier. This week was a bit complicated, too many emotions going on, but I'm sure this will make me a better player."
Stanford also took home the one-of-a-kind trophy for the inaugural event. Created by renowned Jalisco artist Jesus Guerrero Santos, the trophy was a combination of the old and the new and featured completely hand-crafted elements made of German silver atop glazed ceramic in a distinguished cobalt blue color.
