Ochoa defends her LPGA Classic title

AP - Lorena Ochoa successfully defended her Navistar LPGA Classic title, overcoming early troubles to shoot a two-under-par 70 on Sunday for a four-stroke victory over Michelle Wie and Brittany Lang in Prattville, Ala.

Ochoa finished at 18-under 270 on the Senator course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex to end an 11-start winless streak dating to the Corona Championship in late April. The top-ranked Mexican star has three victories this year and 27 overall on the LPGA Tour.

Ochoa wiped out her three-stroke lead coming into the day with a bogey and double bogey in the first five holes. She erased any drama with a birdie on No. 17. Friends Shanti Granada from home and Marisa Baena, a Colombian LPGA Tour player, chased her around the green spraying her with cans of beer after winning.

Wie overcame a gimpy left ankle to close with a 66, while Lang had a 70. Fourteen-year-old Alexis Thompson shot her second straight 74 to tie for 27th at six under.

Senior Players Championship in Timonium

Tom Watson shot a bogey-free six-under-par 64 on the anniversary of his left hip surgery to take a four-stroke lead in the Senior Players Championship in Timonium, Md., the tour’s final major. Scott Piercy shot a six-under 66 for a share of the lead with Matt Kuchar after the third round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Kuchar had a 67 to match Piercy at 14-under 202 in Verona, N.Y.