The lithe young Mexican charged past the Swedish World No 1 with a closing 7-under 65 to win by two strokes, picking up her second victory in successive weeks and her fifth win of the season on the LPGA Tour with a 16-under 272 total.

Ochoa, currently World No 2 and star of the 2006 season so far, has the most wins on the tour this year and stretched her lead on the money list by claiming the top prize of 218,750 US dollars (£117.941).

Sorenstam had seemingly taken control of the tournament after a six-under 66 on Saturday .

She carded another five birdies on Sunday, but was undone by three bogeys, including two on the back nine in a closing round of 70 and that was enough to allow her tenacious rivals to sweep past her.

Sorenstam had won the tournament in 1995, 1996, 2002 and 2004 to join Hall of Famer Mickey Wright as one of only two players in LPGA Tour history to have won the same tournament five times.

She was looking for a record sixth win in the event and her 70th tour victory and was hugely disappointed at not making it.

She said: "I'm probably as disappointed as you can be. It just doesn't get any worse than this.I'm not going to analyze it too much. I gave it all I had this week. She just played very, very well. And that's really all I can say.

"I thought I played well today. It's was just one of those days where I couldn't really get anything going. I didn't make a lot of putts today. I hit a lot of lips. It was very frustrating because I felt like I played well."

Ochoa, fresh from a first-ever victory on home soil last week, gave notice of things to come when she drained an 18-foot putt for birdie at the opening hole, rolled in a 30-foot eagle putt on the third and nailed a 15-foot birdie on the fifth to pull level with Sorenstam at 13-under-par.

"I think making those long putts really changed my momentum and Annika's too," she said.

"It was probably my best round of golf in my professional career."

The putt that almost certainly swung things away from Sorenstam, however, came on the 10th where her Mexican rival replied to her bogey with an amazing 60-foot birdie putt that circled the hole and jumped into the air before it dropped in for a two-shot swing that again tied the score, this time at 14-under-par.

"That was probably the longest putt of my career," Ochoa insisted.

"It was a surprise. It kind of changed everything on my side. You know, luck, it's important to have it, get a couple of good breaks, good bounces, and I got that.

"When you play against Annika you got to do all of those, make a long par, good driving, get lucky bounces."

Ochoa then birdied the 11th to take the lead for good for the Swede's hopes of making a comeback were erased at the 15th where she carded her third bogey of the day only to watch Ochoa birdie the same hole.

Sorenstam birdied 16, but closed with two pars and had to settle for second place.

Fellow Swede Sophie Gustafson signed for a three-under 69 to finish third at 11-under 277.

Teenager Michelle Wie never mounted a threat and finished 17th in the 20-player event at five-over 293 after a closing round of 75 on Sunday.

ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
(USA unless stated, par 72):

272 Lorena Ochoa (Mex) 67 73 67 65

274 Annika Sorenstam (Swe) 67 71 66 70

277 Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 68 70 70 69

279 Stacy Prammanasudh 70 72 67 70

281 Paula Creamer 70 68 72 71

283 Juli Inkster 75 70 73 65, Cristie Kerr 71 71 68 73

284 Seon Hwa Lee (Kor) 68 74 71 71, Sherri Steinhauer 72 67 71 74, Pat Hurst 72 70 71 71

288 Natalie Gulbis 74 72 75 67, Se Ri Pak (Kor) 71 74 71 72

289 Karrie Webb (Aus) 71 69 75 74, Brittany Lincicome 76 71 72 70

290 Hee-Won Han (Kor) 76 68 73 73, Jeong Jang (Kor) 78 73 70 69

293 Michelle Wie 74 72 72 75

294 Meena Lee (Kor) 74 69 79 72

295 Mi-Hyun Kim (Kor) 74 74 71 76

307 Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 79 72 74 82