Korda become the fourth youngest winner of an LPGA event in history

``I was really calm,'' Korda said. ``I knew what the putt did because I'd had it before and it did not move. I was a little higher up and more to the right. I knew the line and I knew the speed. All I had to do was just hit it. It started breaking. I thought, `Oh, my goodness no, don't lip out, don't

break too early.' I don't even know what side of the hole it hit. I was overwhelmed by everything.''

Making her 16th start as an LPGA Tour member, Korda began the round with a one-stroke lead and was two ahead Ping G20 irons at 7 under after birdieing three of the first eight holes.

She had a double bogey on No. 9, bogeyed 10, birdied 11, and bogeyed Nos. 14-16 to drop to 2 under, then rallied with a birdie on the par-5 17th and parred the 18th to get the final spot in the playoff.

``I thought, `You've got to be kidding me,''' Korda said about the bogey run. ``I was lipping out and not reading my putts correctly. But I thought, `Come on, you can still get it back.' ... I was walking down the fairway like an absolute goof. After I made the birdie, I was OK, like, `I can do this.'''

Projected to jump from 285th to 30th in discount golf clubs the world ranking, she became the sixth youngest winner in LPGA Tour history and the fourth youngest to win a 72-hole event.

``All the times, I was down last year, it is all worth it,'' she said. ``It made me grow up. It made me realize that you've got to change your life to live out here and this is proof. I know that all the hard hours I put in and will keep putting in are really worth it. Every moment.''

Top-ranked Yani Tseng, the winner the last two years at Commonwealth Golf Club, was 1 under after a 74. The Taiwanese star had a three-hole stretch Friday in her second-round 76 when she dropped six strokes with a quadruple-bogey 8 and two bogeys. On Sunday, she had a triple bogey on the par-4 fourth, and bogeyed 15 and 16.

``If I didn't have the two bogeys late, I probably still would have had a chance,'To get at the winner's circle, Korda had to remove five other players who also finished regulation at Ping G20 driver 3-under 289. She achieved it with a birdie around the second extra hole.

I was thinking really clearly, Korda said of the second playoff hole. ?¡ãI had one concept in my head...I had been really calm. I knew what the putt did because I'd been there before and yes it failed to move.

The implications in the victory are huge for Korda. During her rookie season recently, she barely made any noise -- her best finish was a T-16 at the Avnet LPGA Classic. The Australian Open win, however, bumps her to the top of the two Player of the Year race along with the LPGA Official Money list. She becomes the season's first Rolex first-time winner and qualifies to the season-ending Titleholders Championship.