Walking briskly between shots, leaving Hurst behind on the fairways and on the scorecard, Sorenstam turned the playoff into a snoozer at Newport Country Club with a 1-under 70 for a four-shot victory.

It was the largest margin of victory in a playoff at the major since Kathy Cornelius won by seven shots 50 years ago.

"It's fantastic," she said. "It's been a long wait, and a long road. On the way, I learned a lot. The way the season has gone, up and down, to win the Open is pretty ironic."

Sorenstam won her 10th major championship, tied with Babe Zaharias for fourth all-time and only five majors behind Patty Berg in LPGA Tour history. She has won a major in each of the last six years, the second-longest streak in LPGA history.

But this wasn't just another major.

The U.S. Women's Open is by far the biggest event on the LPGA Tour, and Sorenstam figured she would pile up several titles after winning in 1995 and 1996, so dominant in her second victory that she missed only five fairways all week at Pine Needles and won by six.

But it has been nothing but frustration since then.

Juli Inkster overcame a two-shot deficit to beat her in 2002 at Prairie Dunes. Meg Mallon outplayed her at The Orchards two years later. Sorenstam sometimes beat herself, making bogey on the par-5 18th at Pumpkin Ridge to miss a playoff by one shot in 2003.

Sorenstam had won 63 times and seven majors since her last Open victory, establishing herself as the best in the game, missing only another U.S. Open title for validation.

Both finished Sunday at even-par 284, a testament to the demanding conditions at Newport.

Honolulu's Michelle Wie tied for third, two shots back. The Punahou senior-to-be earned $156,038.