Sorenstam withstands a Creamer charge for a Hammons Classic repeat Annika Sorenstam managed only a 73 Sunday, but it was just enough to hold off rookie Paula Creamer for her 64th LPGA triumph. 09.18.2005 07:23 pm (EST) BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) -- Annika Sorenstam closed with a 2-over 73 Sunday and withstood a late charge from rookie Paula Creamer to win the John Q. Hammons Classic for the second straight year and third time in four years. Sorenstam made 15 straight pars to start the final round and overcame bogeys on two of the last three holes to finish one shot ahead of Creamer at 5-under 208 for her seventh LPGA Tour win of the season. She also won a European Tour event in Sweden this year and has 64 career victories. The 19-year-old Creamer, who paced the United States to a 15 1/2 - 12 1/2 victory over Sorenstam and the European team in last week's Solheim Cup, started the final round five strokes off the lead. The rookie opened with six straight pars and closed out the front nine birdie-bogey-birdie. After three pars on the back nine, she birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get to 5-under, but gave the strokes back with bogeys at the 16th and 17th as Sorenstam's lead reached four strokes. Creamer, a two-time LPGA Tour winner this year, birdied the 18th for a 2-under 69 and a 4-under total. Sorenstam's precision play was perfect for the 6,551-yard, Cedar Ridge Country Club layout, where 2 1/4 -inch rough punished players for missing the narrow, tree-lined fairways. The Swede also won the event in 2002 at Tulsa Country Club. Entering the round with a one-stroke lead, Sorenstam pounded fairways and greens, but was unable to convert birdie putts at Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 to pull away. At No. 9, Sorenstam's drive sailed left of the fairway and settled among trees. With her heels against the cart path, Sorenstam hit a low liner that ran through the green to the back fringe. She popped her third shot close to the pin and saved par, her ninth in a row. While Sorenstam was steady, the three players closest after the second round -- Maria Hjorth, Michelle Ellis and Karine Icher -- faltered. Hjorth bogeyed the first and ninth holes, while Icher had back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 2 and 3. Ellis quickly fell back after a double bogey on the first and triple bogey on the third. The three, each searching for their first tour win, were the only players to start less than four strokes behind Sorenstam and each was in search of her first LPGA Tour win. Hjorth (75) and American Diana D'Alessio (69) tied for third at 2-under. Icher closed with a 75 and was the only other player under par for the tournament, finishing at 1-under.