South Korea's Choi Na-yeon overcame a back nine wobble to claim a convincing four-shot victory in the US Women's Open in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Six strokes clear overnight, it looked plain sailing for the 24-year-old Korean when she played the outward nine at Blackwolf Run in level par 36 to remain at eight-under par.
But when she drove into water at the par five 10th and racked up a treble bogey eight, her lead over playing partner and compatriot Amy Yang was reduced to just two shots.
Choi, who had carded a stunning third round 65, stretched her advantage to three again with a bounce back birdie at 11 before tugging her approach at the 12th.
But, after hacking out, she holed a 20 footer to save par and then scrambled another par at 13 to remain three in front.
After surviving that scare, Choi kicked clear again with birdies at 15 and 16 and then made par at 17 to give herself a five-shot cushion playing the last.
A closing bogey gave her a closing 73 and a winning total of seven-under 281 at the same course where Se Ri Pak won South Korea's first major title in 1998.
In total, Choi became the sixth South Korean to win the tournament in the last 15 years, and admitted her feat would take some time to sink in.
"I can't believe this right now,'' she said. "Maybe tomorrow in Korea I can feel something. But right now it's like the same as a usual day.
"I think I was very calm out there. And I had really good patience on the last hole. I'm pretty proud of myself too.''
Pak was waiting beside the 18th green to congratulate Choi on her triumph.
"That was really appreciated, what she did,'' the new champion added.
"And she said, 'hey, Na Yeon, I'm really proud of you. You did a really good job, and you were really calm out there'. She talked to me a lot, and she was hugging me.
"My dreams have come true. It's an amazing day today. I really appreciate what Se Ri did and what all the Korean players did.''
Yang (71), at three-under, was the only other player in the field to shoot under par while it was another four shots back to Germany's Sandra Gal who closed with a 74 to finish at one-over.
In a disappointing week for the home players, Paula Creamer, the 2010 champion, was the top American in tied seventh.
Collated final round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):
281 Na Yeon Choi (Kor) 71 72 65 73
285 Amy Yang (Kor) 73 72 69 71
289 Sandra Gal (Ger) 71 70 74 74
290 Giulia Sergas (Ita) 74 71 73 72, Il-hee Lee (Kor) 72 71 77 70, Shanshan Feng (Chn) 74 74 71 71
291 Paula Creamer 73 73 71 74, Mika Miyazato (Jpn) 71 71 73 76
292 Se Ri Pak (Kor) 72 73 76 71, Cristie Kerr 69 71 77 75, Inbee Park (Kor) 71 70 76 75, Nicole Castrale 73 70 74 75, Suzann Pettersen (Nor) 71 68 78 75
293 So yeon Ryu (Kor) 74 71 74 74, Cindy Lacrosse 73 74 74 72, Lexi Thompson 70 73 72 78, Danielle Kang 78 70 71 74
294 Vicky Hurst 71 70 75 78, Brittany Lincicome 69 80 74 71, Hee Kyung Seo (Kor) 72 73 80 69
295 Jimin Kang (Kor) 72 72 78 73, Azahara Munoz (Spa) 73 73 73 76, Yeon-Ju Jung (Kor) 74 72 80 69, Numa Gulyanamitta (Tha) 73 76 73 73, Jennie Lee 70 74 79 72, Diana Luna (Ita) 76 72 76 71, Brittany Lang 73 74 77 71
296 Ai Miyazato (Jpn) 70 74 75 77, Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 72 74 79 71, Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 76 69 76 75, Mina Harigae 77 71 75 73
297 Sun Young Yoo (Kor) 76 72 81 68, Jin young Pak (Kor) 73 72 80 72, Lizette Salas 69 73 75 80
298 Michelle Wie 74 66 78 80, Jenny Shin 76 71 76 75, Beatriz Recari (Spa) 70 75 76 77, Jennifer Johnson 76 70 76 76
300 Sakura Yokomine (Jpn) 75 70 75 80, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 76 72 77 75, Jessica Korda 74 71 75 80, Katie Futcher 73 75 74 78, Lydia Ko (Nzl) 74 72 79 75, Jeong Jang (Kor) 73 72 75 80, Heather Bowie Young 75 73 77 75
301 Jennifer Song 72 74 81 74, Alison Walshe 74 71 75 81, Stacy Lewis 77 69 80 75, Emma Talley 73 75 81 72
302 Yani Tseng (Tai) 74 72 78 78, Gerina Piller 73 71 81 77, Karrie Webb (Aus) 75 72 81 74, Melissa Reid (Eng) 79 69 75 79
303 Meena Lee (Kor) 71 78 76 78, Angela Stanford 75 71 81 76
304 Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 77 72 84 71
305 Angela Oh 75 74 80 76, Dewi Claire Schreefel 73 76 82 74, Katherine Hull (Aus) 75 73 81 76
306 Kristy McPherson 75 71 81 79, Alison Lee 75 74 79 78, Ji-Hee Lee (Jpn) 79 70 83 74
307 Lorie Kane (Can) 76 73 82 76
309 Paige Mackenzie 75 74 83 77
313 Sue Kim (Can) 75 72 85 81
