Rosales, playing with a high-level of confidence following her joint third place-effort in the LPGA Office Depot tournament last January, birdied the final hole for that 69 as she finished with a rare run of under-par cards, that included a 68 and two 70s for a 277 aggregate.
That was 12 strokes behind the winning 265 by Sorenstam, who had a 65, but it was a remarkable stand put up by the Filipina shotmaker as Rosales is expected to barge into the top 20 in the current money ranking heading into the Standard Ping Register tournament this week. She won $14,223 (P682,700) and raised her earnings this early to $71,172.
In a frustrating windup, Dorothy Delasin fumbled with a 75 in a round marred by a pair of double-bogeys on the front nine as the LPGA Rookie of the Year tumbled from fifth place to 27th with a 280.
Delasin actually opened with a birdie to close within four shots off Sorenstam but she dropped two strokes each on Nos. 4 and 9 and failed to recover at the backside.
With the rest of her pursuers likewise fading away, Sorenstam turned what was expected to be a tight finish into a runaway victory as the defending champion shot a seven-under card to win by six strokes over four players with a tournament record 23-under 265, the second lowest score in the LPGA Tour history.
Michelle McGann shot the day’s best score of 64, vaulting over dozens of players to get to 271, the same output put in by Laura Diaz (66), Dottie Pepper (67) and Korean Se Ri Pak, who began the day two shots behind but finished with a 69.