ROGERS -- Nasa Hataoka's facial expression never changed, even after her first putt on No. 18 raced 15 feet past the pin.
The 22-year-old LPGA golfer from Japan was calm as she walked to her ball, confident knowing that a three-putt on the final hole of the NW Arkansas Championship was all she needed to secure her second win at Pinnacle Country Club.
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Even as her second putt rolled several feet past the hole again, she remained laser-focused. With a one-shot lead, Hataoka calmly knocked in the short par putt to cap a 16-under 197 to hold off Eun-Hee Ji and Minjee Lee for the championship, her fifth career win on the LPGA Tour.
"This was pretty stressful, pretty tight because the other players were so close to me," said Hataoka through an interpreter. "On that first putt, I had not had any long putts all week, and it looked like it was going uphill, so I just went for it."
Hataoka, Ji and Lee were all grouped together Sunday, all knowing exactly what the others were scoring. Lee and Hataoka shared the lead at 12 under heading into the final round, and Ji lurked one shot back at 11 under.
When it was all over, Hataoka was able to hold off the other two and claim the $345,000 payday, moving her earnings for the year to $1.4 million. She also won the Marathon Classic earlier this season.
"Here and there, I did feel some pressure," said Hataoka of being in the final group. "But they are all shot-makers. I felt more pressure on the second shots because they are players who can get really close to the pin, so that's where I felt most of the pressure."
Hataoka was well off her tournament record 21 under when she won this event in 2018, but her three days were highlighted by a pair of aces, one in each the first and second rounds. On Sunday, she opened an early lead with birdies on three of her first four holes and had five birdies to move to 17 under before she hit a hiccup at No. 13.
Her bogey at the par-4 13th was her only blemish of the round, but it could have turned out much worse. Hataoka's second shot flew the green to the far left and her chip shot rolled 50 feet past the pin. She was staring at what looked like a potential double bogey, but her long first putt tracked the pin and actually hit the back of the cup. The speed of the putt caused the ball to pop out, but she tapped in for bogey that salvaged her narrow lead.
Lee was hot on Hataoka's heels after she birdied the par-3 17th, pulling within one shot as they headed to No. 18. Lee's tee shot at No. 18 was crushed down the middle of the fairway, but her second shot hit into the steep hill into the green and rolled back down, while Hataoka's second shot landed to the left, but on the green. That left Lee little room for error and she was not able to make up any ground.
"Today I missed a couple of other birdie opportunities that I should have made," said Lee, who earned $178,028 along with Ji after they finished tied for second. "Under the circumstances, Nasa did play very well today. I'm disappointed with my shot at 18, but I still had a great week."
Ji came within a whisker of forcing what would have been a playoff with Hataoka with an unconventional shot out of the greenside bunker. Ji used her putter for the sand shot and the ball rolled less than an inch past the left side of the cup for an eagle had it dropped. She tapped in for birdie to share second place with Lee.
Hataoka's win moved her from 18th to 7th in the Race to the CME Globe. In five appearances in this event, she has only once failed to make the cut.
"This course, the grass is similar to what I played when I was younger," she said. "I know how to play this kind of course and I think that helps me play well here."
There were seven current or former University of Arkansas golfers in the field, and veteran Stacy Lewis, the former world's top-ranked player was a familiar face high on the leaderboard on Sunday.
Lewis shot a 5-under 66 and finished at 12 under for the tournament to earn $70,047. Lewis played a bogey-free final round.
"I think I played really solid, but I just couldn't get the putter going," Lewis said. "Today, I made five birdies and three of them were within about a foot and a-half and one was a chip-in, so I just hit it really solid, but just never got the putter going."
Maria Fassi, who was paired with Lewis on Sunday, finished at 5 under, and current Razorback Brooke Matthews was 2 under. Gaby Lopez, Alana Uriell and Cory Lopez all failed to make the cut.