Nasa Hataoka entered the last round of the Walmart NW Arkansas championship, sharing first place with Minjee Lee and only two and three strokes from Lexi Thompson and Ariya Jutanugarn.

© Nasa Hataoka via Twitter

“I was concentrating on my game all 18 holes and I'm so happy to win,” Hataoka said. “I played with Lexi and all the big names, winning this tournament is huge for me. "

Hataoka birdied four of the nine to go with near-perfect play to build a five-stroke lead and cruise to his first career win with an 8 under par 63 for a total of -21.

The 19-year-old Japanese showed poise and skill as someone ready to join the elites. With her pursuers trying to catch her, Hataoka critically birdie the 12th hole to maintain a five-stroke lead, then sealed the tournament with an impressive par on the 13th.

Hataoka racked up points with birdies on holes 15, 17 and 18 to beat the tournament record record, which was previously held by So Yeon Ryu in 2017 with -18.

Hataoka made the last 40 holes of the tournament without a bogey and made only one of the 54 holes.

She is the 14th Japanese player to have won on the LPGA circuit.

Austin Ernst finished second at 15 under par while six players tied for third at 13, including Thompson and Lee, who were paired with Hataoka.

Céline Boutier finishes 15th

(source: ffgolf)

After two first cards of 66 (-5), Céline Boutier concluded her week by making an ultimate 70 (-1) which allows her to grab a top 15, far from the Japanese Nasa Hataoka, untouchable at -21!

Fourth at the start of the last round on Sunday, the former amateur world number 1 could legitimately claim to join in the fight, accusing only three lengths behind the leaders. But, less successful than in recent days on the Pinnacle Country Club track, she could not do better than a 70 (-1) which leaves her far from the Japanese Nasa Hataoka

With correct statistics in the long game (8/13 fairways, 13/18 greens in regulation) but average on the greens (32 putts), the French alternated two bogeys and three birdies and ranked 15th at -11.

Despite everything, a very solid performance, given the density of the leaderboard, and a good omen before entering the KPMG Women's PGA Championship this week, third Major of the season. With this top 15, third on the LPGA Tour in 2018, Boutier climbs to 65th place in the Race to the CME Globe.

The other Blues finish further: Perrine Delacour, author of a 69 (-2), finished 47th at -6; Karine Icher is ranked 65th at -2 after her 72 (+1) of the day; and finally Céline Herbin, who played 74 (+3), finished 76th at +1.