BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland — Maja Stark of Sweden closed with a 10-under 63 on Sunday and won the ISPS Handa World Invitational for her third victory this year on the Ladies European Tour, and this one with an additional perk.
The tournament is co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour, giving the former Oklahoma State star access to join the LPGA.
Stark started the final round 2 shots behind Amanda Doherty and quickly seized control with a 31 on the front nine at Galgorm Castle. She had nine birdies through 14 holes and turned a tight race into a rout.
She finished at 20-under 271, 5 shots clear of Allisen Corpuz, who closed with a 68.
The tournament was held at Galgorm Castle and Massereene, played concurrently with a European Tour event. The men and women competed separately but for the same prize fund, with Stark collecting a career-high $225,000 from the $1.5 million purse.
Ewen Ferguson went wire-to-wire in the men’s event, shooting a 1-under 69 on Sunday to win by 3 strokes over Borja Virto and Connor Syme.
Stark, 22, won two times on the LET late last year. She was the runner-up and low female player in the Asian Mixed Stableford and then captured the Women’s New South Wales Open and the Amundi German Masters.
She can take immediate LPGA membership or wait until 2023 for her rookie year. The LPGA Tour has nine tournaments left on its schedule before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.