CORNING, N.Y. - Hall of Famer Juli Inkster never had a round quite like this.
Inkster shot 10-under 62 Sunday, beating Lorie Kane by four despite the Canadian's closing 67. It was Inkster's 29th career victory, 17th come-from-behind win, and her lowest round.
She could only shake her head in amazement after carding 11 birdies on a course she had not played in seven years.
"I was just really calm today, I felt like I was playing well enough to go out there and shoot a good score," said Inkster, 42, whose 24-under 264 broke the tournament record of 268 set in 1998 by Tammie Green.
"I played a practice round Tuesday and I played pretty well. I was thinking, "You know what, I can play this golf course.' "
She tied the lowest final-round score by a winner in the history of the LPGA Tour. Mickey Wright shot 62 at the 1964 Tall City Open and Kathy Whitworth did it at the 1968 Holiday Inn Classic. Those tournaments were 54 holes.
Catriona Matthew (70), who entered with a two-shot lead over Kane, finished in third at 269. Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel each shot 68 and tied for fourth at 270.
Inkster's best finish in four other tries over the narrow 6,082-yard Corning Country Club course was a tie for seventh in 1985, when she finished 8 under. On Sunday, she was 8 under through 11 holes.
"The key for me this week was I got the ball in the fairway off the tee most of the time, and from there I played very good," Inkster said.
The first hole, a 402-yard par 4, gave players problems all weekend, and Sunday was no exception. Matthew, Mallon and Daniel each carded bogeys and Inkster made par to move within two shots of the lead.
Inkster, who was paired with Daniel, then reeled off four straight birdies to tie Matthew at 18 under.
After par at No. 6, Inkster continued to step up the pressure. She hit a 7-iron to 12 feet and birdied the seventh, then hit a sand wedge to 4 feet at No. 8 and sank that putt to go 20 under and gain a one-shot lead over Kane.
And she did not stop there. At No. 10, Inkster began a string of three more birdies for 9 under, barely missing an 18-foot eagle at No. 12.
Seemingly on cruise control, Inkster began to falter after a solid par at No. 13, the course's most difficult hole. Her drive at the par-5 14th landed under a tree on the right side, and her second shot came to rest under a tree on the left, but she scrambled for par.
She overshot the green at the short No. 15 but salvaged another par, then drove into the right rough on the next hole, muttering, "Okay, where's my swing?" as she watched the ball land in a tough spot behind an evergreen tree.
Inkster ignored her caddie's advice to play it safe with a chip onto the fairway, and when her second shot stayed in the rough and behind another tree, she was in trouble and finished with bogey.
At 17, Inkster's tee shot landed in a fairway bunker just over 100 yards from the green, but that is where her troubles ended. She nailed her 10th birdie of the round.
Back on track, Inkster hit a 9-iron to 20 feet on the final hole as the crowd roared, then doffed her visor as she made her way to the green.
"It's nerve-racking, and that's the way I play," Inkster said. "Sometimes it doesn't work out and you take your lumps and move on. I felt pretty comfortable coming from behind."
COLUMBUS SOUTHERN OPEN: Morris Hatalsky made a 4-foot par putt on the last hole - his eighth straight par - to win his second Champions Tour title, beating Allen Doyle (67) by a stroke in Georgia. Hatalsky closed with 3-under 67 at Green Island Country Club and finished 12-under 198.
"It was basically coaxing in 20-, 25-footers for two putts," Hatalsky said. "I saw Allen didn't make birdie, so there was no pressure on me to make birdie. I was just playing to the middle of the green."
Hatalsky, the 2002 senior tour rookie of the year, made birdies at Nos. 4 and 7 on the front nine and added a birdie at the 10th before his string of pars. He did not make bogey in the 54-hole event and has played 79 holes in par or better.
Hatalsky, who won the Uniting Fore Care Classic last year, is the 13th winner in as many tour events this year.
Doyle, a six-time Georgia Amateur champion who lives 35 miles away in LaGrange, birdied No. 13 to move within a stroke of Hatalsky. But he missed birdies at the 15th and 16th. His birdie attempt at the 18th missed by inches to the left of the hole.
Bruce Fleisher (62) birdied seven of the last 13 holes to finish 10 under. He tied for third with Dana Quigley (67), Des Smyth (68) and Doug Tewell (68). Jim Thorpe (74), who shared the second-round lead with Hatalsky, bogeyed Nos. 2, 3 and 5 and finished tied for 19th.
VOLVO CHAMPIONSHIP: Ignacio Garrido won the European PGA event in Virginia Water, England, defeating Trevor Immelman on the first playoff hole. Garrido closed with 7-under 65 to catch Immelmann, the third-round leader who shot 68. Each finished 18-under 270. In the playoff, Immelman three-putted from 60 feet, missing a second putt of 5 feet. Garrido sank a 2-footer for birdie. Ernie Els closed with 69, four off the pace.