LAS VEGAS - Wendy Ward kept her cool and her touch around the greens Saturday for a wire-to-wire win in the Takefuji Classic, her first victory in nearly four years.
Ward, who began the day with a three-shot lead over Karrie Webb and Moira Dunn, closed with 5-under 67 to hold off a charging Lorena Ochoa by two shots. Ward finished at 16-under 200. Ochoa, who vaulted from a tie for 96th into a tie for fourth, four shots back, with 63 Friday, went low again with 65.
Ward had an opening 65 to tie Webb for the lead, and a second-round 68 to move in front.
Ward said she believed she was going to win, adding, "That's a different attitude. "Every player who comes out here says, "My goal is to win each week.' You can say that, but for me, I've to stand over every shot I hit and believe that I can make it. That was the difference for me."
The 31-year-old former Arizona State player who won the 1994 U.S. Women's Amateur had five birdies and no bogeys on the way to her fourth career win and first since 2001 in New Albany, Ohio.
Amateur In-Bee Park, finished fifth. Park, a 16-year-old from South Korea who is a Las Vegas high school junior, shot 67 to finish at 12 under. Dunn shot 71 to tie for seventh and Webb shot 73, tying for 16th. Defending champion Cristie Kerr, never in contention, shot 72 to tie for 55th at 1 under.
PGA TOUR: Peter Lonard regained the lead in the MCI Heritage, shooting 5-under 66 to go 1-up on Darren Clarke, with five-time Harbour Town champion Davis Love lurking close behind.
Lonard, the 37-year-old Australian seeking his first PGA Tour victory, totaled 11-under 202. Clarke shot 73 to drop to second, Rod Pampling (68) was third at 6 under and Love (69) was 5 under.
Clarke entered the round with his best 36-hole score ever, 12-under 130, good for a six-stroke lead. Over the first seven holes, though, Clarke's lead vanished as he made four bogeys to fall into a tie with Lonard, who won the Australian Open and Australian PGA in consecutive weeks late last year.
Clarke recovered with birdies on the ninth and 10th holes to take a two-stroke lead, but two more bogeys left him behind his rival.
EUROPEAN PGA: Peter Hanson shot 4-under 68 and moved one stroke in front of fellow Swede Peter Gustafsson after the second round of the Spanish Open at San Roque. Hanson rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the last hole to break a tie with Gustafsson, who shot 69.
TIGERS SKINS: Retief Goosen and Thomas Bjorn shared the title in Phuket, Thailand, with the total winnings of $180,000 donated to relief efforts following the December tsunami. Goosen, a South African who won the two previous Tiger Skins, birdied the 15th and 16th holes for nine skins to tie Bjorn. The Dane won seven skins but on more valuable holes. Colin Montgomerie of Scotland finished with one skin and LPGA star Grace Park of South Korea had none in the 18-hole event.
