Betriz Recari got her third career LPGA win and her second win this year at the Marathon Classic held at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio.
Recari had shared the 54-hole lead with Paula Creamer and made one more birdie than Creamer in the final round on Sunday.
Recari made birdies at Nos. 4, 6 and 7 on the front-nine and added birdies at Nos. 14 and 16 on the back. Her five birdies and no bogeys gave her a 66 and got her to 17-under par for the tournament.
Creamer just needed one more birdie on Sunday, but it was not to be. Like Recari, she played a clean round with four birdies and no bogeys on the card. She finished at 16-under par and one shot behind.
Creamer is one of the most popular players on the LPGA Tour, but has not won since the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open. This was her fifth top-10 finish in 2013 and with $628,000 in earnings, she moves to No. 7 on the LPGA money list and No. 11 on the Rolex Rankings.
Recari got her first LPGA Tour win at the 2010 CVS LPGA Challenge. Her second career win came at the Kia Classic in March of this year.
This win gives her five top-10 finishes this year and her earnings total of $728,000 moves her to No. 6 on the money list and No. 18 in the world.
She joined the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 2006 and won the Finnair Masters for her lone win on that tour. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 2010 and 2013 is her best year thus far.
Inbee Park may be making all of the headlines but, Recari is proving that she is a force to be reckoned with on the LPGA Tour.
Lexi Thompson posted her second consecutive 67 on Sunday, but finished four shots back of Recari and tied for third with Jodi Ewart Shadoff. A second round 71 put Thompson too far behind the leaders heading into the weekend.
Meena Lee had the best round of the day on Sunday with a nine-under par 62. She moved from T-47 all the way to a T-7 finish.
Hometown girl, Stacy Lewis finished strong with a final round 64 to join Lee, Jennifer Johnson, Lydia Ko and Chie Arimura from China in seventh place.
The No. 1 ranked woman’s amateur player, Ko also finished strong with a final round three-under par 68.
Inbee Park who will attempt to win her fourth consecutive major title of 2013 at the Ricoh Women’s British Open in two weeks had a somewhat lackluster performance this week at the Marathon Classic. She posted good rounds of 67-69 on Thursday and Friday, but was over-par with 73-72 on the weekend.
No matter the outcome at St. Andrews, Inbee Park has had an outstanding year and winning three consecutive major titles in a single season puts her in some very good company.
The LPGA Tour will take the week off to travel to Scotland for the Ricoh Women’s British Open, August 1-4.