Lorena Ochoa wasn't on the leaderboard for the first two rounds of the Sybase Classic in New Rochelle, N.Y. When the rain-shortened tournament was over, however, she was right where she has been for the last two months.

Ochoa extended her impressive run with a two-stroke victory yesterday, the sixth straight tournament which she has either won or been the runner-up.

The 24-year-old Mexican closed a 5-under 66 with a 4-foot birdie putt for a 5-under 208 total that allowed her to retake the season money lead ($1.1 million) after losing it last week.

"I didn't make any bogeys and it's a fine round when you don't make any bogeys on a course like this," she said. "We knew the scores wouldn't be too low and we hung around the first two days and knew we would have a chance to win the tournament. On the back nine we hit a couple close and made the putts and then we were one shot behind and then in the lead."

The tournament was shortened to 54 holes after heavy rain and a saturated course wiped out all play on Friday.

Hee-Won Han, the champion here in 2003, had a closing 69 and tied for second with rookie Kyeong Bae, who matched Ochoa's final-round 66.

Annika Sorenstam finished with a 3-over 74 for a 213 total.

ELSEWHERE

Irish Open: Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke was 2 under for eight holes yesterday to take a two-stroke lead in the suspended final round at Maynooth, Ireland. Play was scheduled to resume today at Carton House. Clarke was 6 under overall when play was suspended because of rain. England's Paul Casey and Ross Fisher and Sweden's Peter Hedblom were 4 under.