BY BRENDAN JAMES at Victoria Golf Club

Australia’s greatest ever female golfer, Karrie Webb, has added to her legend by claiming a record fifth ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open title.

She arrived at Victoria Golf Club earlier in the week with a game that was a little rusty. But with each passing round she found improvement and she will follow the LPGA Tour to Thailand this week with her game in great shape and another win on her resume. It is her 56th win since turning professional two decades ago and her 40th on the LPGA Tour. Her last Australian Open victory, down the road at Kingston Heath, was back in 2008.

Karrie Webb salutes the crowd after finishing her round at 12 under. She waited more than an hour to learn she was the Women's Australian Open champion for the fifth time. PHOTO: Getty Images

Starting the final day five shots behind her ‘apprentice’, West Australian teenager Minjee Lee, and South Korea’s Chella Choi, Webb was at the top of her game as gusty conditions made the Victoria Golf Club course play at its most difficult for the championship.

Having worked hard on her game all week with coach Ian Triggs and sports psychologist Dr Noel Blundell, it all seemed to click for the final round and birdies at the opening two holes really added to her growing confidence.

“I really played well today,” Webb said. “It’s one of the best jobs I have ever done.

“I knew it was crucial to get off to a decent start not because I was trying to catch the leaders but to make some birdies and try and make a good score.

“I hit some really good shots at crucial times … I missed a little putt on nine but made up for it on 11.

“I’m really proud of the way I played today. The progress I made this week was really good.”

Webb said the tougher conditions for the final round played into her hands.

"If we had another day like we had the first three days I was probably a little too far back," Webb said. "I was thankful for the weather changing and I played as well as I have in a very long time.

"For me, the tougher the conditions the better it is because I have to really get out of my head and not think technically. When the conditions are milder you try to be more perfect because the conditions are easy and people are shooting low scores.

"When the conditions are tough I get out of that mindset and I feel the shot. That was what I was doing today. I realised that early on ... I was hitting some quality shots and I had gotten into that mindset so I stayed on top of myself to make sure that's how I continued to play. I didn't try to play a shot I just played shots that the weather dictated."

The 54-hole leaders as opened their final rounds strongly with birdies. Choi smoothed a 3-wood to the back of the 1st green to leave an eagle attempt, while Lee copped a bad break when her hybrid tee shot stopped short of rolling in a greenside trap, coming to rest in a sandy lie on a tongue leading into the bunker. The only option she had was to play away from the flag with her chip and she was left with a 20-footer for birdie, which she calmly converted. When Choi two-putted for her birdie, the pair had opened up a three-shot buffer over Ko.

Drama followed moments later for Choi and Pettersen, playing in the penultimate group. With gusting winds blowing strongly left to right across the 2nd fairway, Pettersen sliced her drive into deep rough and was unable to find her ball. Having opened with a birdie to move within one shot of the lead, the World No.2 hit her provisional ball into a greenside bunker and finished with a triple-bogey seven.

Moments later, Choi also hit a wild slice on the wind and the only thing stopping her ball from bouncing onto adjoining Park Rd was a tall wire fence. Her orange ball came to rest in the wire at the base of the fence but was still deemed to be out-of-bounds by rules officials because it was outside boundary line established by the posts of the fence.

Webb plays from sandy wasteland on the par-4 12th hole to set up a par. PHOTO: Getty Images

The South Korean was taxied back to the tee to play her third shot, which she kept in play. But she could only manage to limit the damage to a double bogey six. Despite a three-putt bogey at the same hole, Lee walked to the 3rd tee with a one-stroke lead over Choi at 13 under, with Ko a further shot back.

Lee’s lead was extended to two over Choi and Ko when she made a nerveless par-saving putt from four feet at the 4th hole.

But Ko was soon to drop back into the back. After opening her final round with five consecutive pars, her drive at the par-4 6th missed the fairway left and she was forced to punch a low iron shot under branches toward the green. Her ball bounded into the right greenside bunker from which she blasted into the sand on the left of the putting surface. Her fourth shot left her with a 25-footer for bogey, which she missed and she dropped to a share of fifth place with a double bogey.

Webb, a genuinely fine player in windy conditions, moved within three shots of Lee (playing six holes behind) with a birdie at the par-5 8th hole. After finding the front right greenside bunker with her second shot approach, Webb hit her bunker shot heavy onto the front edge of the green. She then holed the 30-foot putt for birdie to go to 10 under.

The Queenslander looked like she might close the gap even further at the 500-metre par-5 9th hole. After smashing her drive down the middle of the fairway, she hit a precise hybrid lay-up and then nestled her wedge approach into six feet from the cup but missed the putt.

Webb moved within two shots of the lead as she walked down the 10th fairway when Lee dropped her second shot of the day back at the par-4 5th.

Lee bogied again at the 6th to drop to 11 under, tied for the lead with playing partner Choi and Frenchwoman Karine Icher, who added a birdie at the 8th to her eagle at the 1st hole to reach the turn at two under for the day.

Webb joined the trio of leaders at the 11th hole when she rolled in a birdie bomb of a putt from 45-feet. It would prove to be the turning point for the 39-year-old, who punched the air with joy. Moments later there was a realisation that a fifth Australian Open trophy could be within her grasp.

"When I made that putt I walked to the back of the green and saw the leaderboard and realised I was tied for the lead," Webb said. "I actually had trouble calming myself down on the next tee. I didn't hit a very good tee shot and ended up making a pretty good par."

As Webb surged, Lee’s woes continued. Her tee shot at the par-3 7th found a deep greenside bunker and she was unable to extricate her semi-plugged ball with her second shot. She managed to put her third shot close and another bogey was added to the card and she found herself one shot out of the lead at 10 under.

Recently crowned New Zealand Open champion Mi Hyang Lee joined the leading group at 11 under with a pair of birdies at the par-5s 8th and 9th holes.

Lee showed her strength of character to come back from her trio of bogies by not backing off at the par-5 8th hole where she took an aggressive line with the her second shot approach and landed it on the green and settled about 15 feet from the cup. Unfortunately she left the eagle putt excruciatingly short but tapped in for birdie to become one of five players sharing the lead.

As the final group walked off the 9th tee, Webb made her move to break the deadlock at the top of the leaderboard. From the middle of the 13th fairway, Webb played a superb knockdown 6-iron beneath the wind to set up a birdie putt from six feet. With the biggest gallery of the week following her, Webb rolled in the putt to take the outright lead at 12 under.

She owned the lead for eight minutes. Lee, after missing the fairway with her drive recovered to roll in a birdie putt from 12 feet to join her mentor Webb in a share for the lead.

Fighting pars by Webb at the 14th and 15th, where she missed the fairway with a lay-up tee shot, kept her momentum going while others struggled to make inroads.

Victoria’s back nine holes were proving tough for the field and the leaders were no different. Lee stumbled to a bogey at the uphill par-4 11th after missing the fairway left, finding a greenside trap and two putting from 25 feet for bogey.

Up ahead, Webb’s tee shot at the par-3 16th flew too long into the wind and rolled off the back of the green down a steep embankment. Her recovery chip just crept onto the fringe and she was left with a 20-footer for par. Webb rolled it five feet by but minimised the damaged by making the bogey putt.

Chella Choi, in search of her first LPGA Tour win, finished with 15 consecutive pars where one birdie would have been enough to make a play-off. PHOTO: Getty Images

The bogies by Lee and Webb elevated Choi back into a share of the lead as she tapped in for her eighth consecutive par. Lee then double bogied the 12th to fall two shots behind and seemingly out of contention

Pressel, who joined the lead momentarily, lost her way with a three-putt bogey at the 13th and then a sloppy bogey from the front bunker at the uphill par-3 14th.

With the last group still six holes from the finish, Creamer posted the clubhouse mark at 10 under after a final round 68. The American played brilliantly in the conditions making just one bogey – her seventh of the tournament – in her round.

Webb arrived at the par-5 18th supremely confident of making a birdie and breaking clear of the field to lower Creamer’s clubhouse mark by two shots. Having already played Victoria’s par-5s in eight under, Webb ripped her drive onto the crest of the hill to give her a look at the green for her second shot. With a hybrid in hand, she put a vintage swing on the ball and watched as it came to earth just short of the putting surface and rolled to a stop 20 feet from the hole and leaving an uphill slightly right-to-left putt for eagle. It rolled by the high side and left her a tap in for birdie. Signing for a four under 68 and 12 under total, giving her a one stroke lead over Choi, Webb had one hand on the Patricia Bridges Bowl with Choi still five holes from the finish.

As Webb went to the practice tee to hit balls, Choi continued to make pars and was still one behind the champion in waiting with the 72nd hole to play, after making 14 consecutive pars. A birdie would force a play-off with Webb.

But it wasn’t to be as Choi’s short drive left her out of range of reaching the par-5 green in two shots. Her long second with a 3-wood finished left of the green, leaving a difficult pitch shot from a rough sandy lie. The 40-metre pitch was a beauty but it trickled on to leave an eight-foot, left-to-right breaking putt to force the championship into extra time. After leaving a host of birdie putts short throughout the day, Choi blasted her birdie putt through the break and it missed on the high side, giving Webb the championship.

Winning a fifth Australian Open means a lot to Webb and she believes it could be the springboard to contending in the majors in 2014.

"If I can do the mental job I did, especially today, if I maintain that standard, I think I can win another major," Webb said.

LEADING SCORES

1. Karrie Webb (Qld)  71-69-68-68–276    $180,000

2. Chella Choi (S.Kor)  70-71-62-74­–277    $110,029

T3. Paula Creamer (US)  68-69-73-68–278     63,753

T3. Karine Icher (Fra)  69-68-70-71–278    63,753

T3. Lydia Ko (NZ)  68-68-69-73–278    63,753

T6. Stacy Lewis (US)  71-69-70-69–279    32,831

T6. Morgan Pressel (US)  69-68-70-72–279    32,831

T6. Amelia Lewis (US)  71-67-69-72–279    32,831

T6. Jenny Shin (S.Kor)  74-67-66-72–279    32,831

10. Gerina Piller (US)  75-69-68-68–280    24,397