Australia's Hannah Green has slipped off the pace with a two-under-par 69 as South Korea's Hae Ran Ryu shot a five-under 66 to win the LPGA Tour's NW Arkansas Championship.
Green made birdies on the 3rd, 10th and 14th holes of her final round to finish the 54-hole tournament in outright seventh at 14-under, after ending the first two days tied for second.
Grace Kim was the next highest-ranked Australian, her weekend's-best six-under 65 earning her a share of 18th at 11-under overall.
The 22-year-old Ryu finished the week at Pinnacle Country Club at 19-under 194, three shots better than Sweden's Linnea Strom (64) in second, having led from the first day.
Tied for third at 15-under were Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines (64), Yuna Nishimura of Japan (68) and South Korean pair Sei Young Kim (66) and Jenny Shin (67).
A five-time winner on the LPGA of Korea, Sunday marked Ryu's first LPGA title.
"Before the season, I wanted to get rookie of the year," Ryu told the Golf Channel broadcast.
"Now ... I'm a winner on the LPGA Tour and I want to get rookie of the year, and so now it's so meaningful."
After shooting consecutive rounds of 64 to build a two-stroke lead entering the final round, Ryu had a birdie and two bogeys in her first five holes on Sunday.
RIGHT: Rookie Ryu claimed her first LPGA Tour title in Arkansas. PHOTO: Alex Slitz/Getty Images.
She steadied herself with four straight pars before birdieing holes 10 and 12 to move into a tie for the lead.
The big move came at the par-5 14th, when Ryu nearly holed her second shot and had just three feet for eagle.
"First nine holes, I felt so bad," said Ryu, who added further birdies at 16 and 18.
"But after the 9th hole, I focused (on) my iron distance and I tried more anchoring my swing, and I made so many birdies."
Strom tallied five birdies, one eagle and no bogeys to card her best score of the week and charge up the leaderboard.
Her second-place finish is the best result of her LPGA career.
"I tried not to look at (the leaderboard), but I happened to see – when we were walking from 14 to 15 – that 14-under was in a good position at that time," Strom said.
"I just tried to not focus on it and just try to make as many birdies as I could and see what happens."
Karis Davidson (68) finished tied for 34th at eight-under, while Su Oh (71) was joint-62nd at four-under for the weekend and Stephanie Kyriacou (71) a shot further back in a share of 69th.
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