DANVILLE, California: South Korean 20-year-old In-Kyung Kim birdied the last two holes in Sunday’s final round to win the LPGA Longs Drugs Challenge by three strokes over American Angela Stanford.

Kim, who began the day with a one-stroke lead over Stanford, fired a one-over par 73 on another windy day at Blackhawk Country Club to finish 72 holes on 10-under par 278, with Stanford firing a 75 to settle for second on 281.

Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was a further shot back after a 72 for 282. Mexico’s top-ranked Lorena Ochoa was fourth on 284 after a final-round 72. Kim took a bogey at the second but parred the next 11 holes. After stumbling with bogeys at the 14th and par-3 16th, Kim responded with the title on the line with back-to-back birdies to hold off Stanford.

“Before I started, I just wanted to play, and I didn’t want to change any plans, just hit the fairways and greens and give myself chances,” Kim said. “I had to get up-and-down from many holes, which I did. I think I did a good job with that,” she added.

On the 333-yard par-four 17th, Kim drove into a bunker 70 yards from the green and hit her second to eight feet for birdie. On 18 she fired a nine-iron from 144 yards to 25 feet and she drained that for a birdie to put an exclamation point on the win.

“Last three holes left and I had a two shot lead,” said Kim, who earned 180,000 dollars for the victory, which came in her second season on the US tour. “I only needed one birdie from two holes and then I can’t lose the tournament, so I just wanted to have one birdie and I made two,” she added.

Kim said the par putts early in her round were more nerve-wracking than her birdie putts at 17 and 18. And she admitted she was tired after excitement kept her awake on Saturday night.

“I just couldn’t go to bed,” she said. “I tried to listen to music, but it didn’t help. I tried to draw things, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about golf. I think I slept like one or two hours last night,” she explained.

Stanford said the windy weather — which has been a feature all week — added an extra element of difficulty. “It felt like a major just in that you really had to focus on every single shot and really think about, you know, the wind, the elements, everything,” said Stanford, who said she regretted she was unable to put more pressure on Kim.

“Just every day was so much harder because of the weather,” she said.

Britain’s Karen Stupples, Italy’s Silvia Cavalleri and Americans Brittany Lang and Kristy McPherson shared fifth on 285.