CHONBURI, Thailand – Anna Nordqvist of Sweden ended a five-year victory drought when she beat defending champion Inbee Park of South Korea by two strokes to win the LPGA Thailand at the Siam County Club Pattaya Old Course on Sunday.

Nordqvist, who held the lead for the last three days, shot a final-round 68 for 15-under 273, to edge Inbee, who carded a final round 66 for a 13-under 275 total.

The victory was her third LPGA title after winning the LPGA Championship and the LPGA Tour Championship in 2009.

“It’s been a while, but I’m just so happy to finally break through again,” Nordqvist said. “Inbee kept pushing me at the end. I just really had to stay strong. Had a rough first couple holes, but kept playing good on the back. Just unbelievable to get that win again,” she said

Nordqvist, whose form dipped dramatically in 2013, gave much of the credit for keeping her going to new coach Jorje Parada of Spain.

“I have to thank my family and friends and coach (Jorje Parada) for keeping pushing me through the good and bad times. They really inspired me and believed in me no matter what. And here I am sitting here with the trophy,” said Nordqvist.

Catriona Matthew of Scotland shot a second straight 65 to finish third on 277. Michelle Wie, who was tied second after three rounds, shot three birdies plus an eagle on the 10th against two bogeys for a final-round 69 and fourth place another shot back.

Former champion Tseng Yani, with a 68, was joint fifth along with the American trio of Gerina Piller, Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Paraguayan Julieta Granada, who all finished on 279.

MARANA, Ariz. –  The most fickle part of the Match Play Championship for Louis Oosthuizen was his nagging back injury.

His luck ran out Saturday when he felt pain in his back while warming up on the range. When he first tried to hit a draw on the par-5 second hole, it got even worse. And one point, he was on his back on the 13th tee as his trainer tried to stretch him out.

“It’s a bit painful that it always happens when I’m playing well,” Oosthuizen said after losing on the 17th hole to Jason Day.

He was playing well enough that Oosthuizen required only 47 holes to reach the quarterfinals, the fewest of anyone. But it was a battle from the start, especially against a player like Day who has reached the semifinals the last two years.

Oosthuizen pulled off an unlikely birdie on the second hole to square the match, and he went ahead on the third with a 25-foot birdie putt. Day was able to at least try to drive the par-4 fourth green to set up a birdie, while Oosthuizen chose to lay back. Day won the hole and never trailed again.

“If I can commit myself to hit the shot, it’s not that bad,” Oosthuizen said. “But I can’t commit. My body is restricting me to go through the shot.”

Oosthuizen needs to get his back sorted out. He’s been dealing with it since last summer. Some weeks it feels good, other weeks not so much. He said it most affects him when he plays a long stretch of golf.

And this has been a long week.

“I’m glad to not be playing tomorrow,” he said with a smile. “I don’t want to be the first guy to withdraw from the finals or semifinals.”

Oosthuizen is scheduled to play the Honda Classic next week ahead of the next World Golf Championship at Doral. He said he would see how he feels in a couple of days, and might end up dropping Honda and adding the week after Doral at Innisbrook.

MENTAL EXAM: Jordan Spieth lost his match to Ernie Els. He also lost his cool.

It’s the one area of Spieth’s game that he’s still trying to master as he enters his second full year on tour. When the golf isn’t going well, Spieth shows it.

Els noticed.

“I could almost sense the frustration in Jordan today that he wasn’t quite playing the way he did yesterday,” Els said. “And I was kind of playing on that a little bit, just making sure if I was missing a shot, that I made sure that I got it up-and-down to keep kind of him at bay, or keep him frustrated.”

Spieth described himself as a “little mental midget out there,” as he constantly turned toward caddie Michael Greller.

“Actually kind of embarrassing looking back,” he said. “I was dropping clubs and just whining to Michael, and you just can’t do that. In match play, you’ve got to keep your cool. Any time you show that, it’s a weakness, and Ernie can take advantage of it.”

And he did.

A LONG WALK: Rickie Fowler might have logged more miles than anyone this week, and not just because he has played 71 holes to reach the semifinals.

Fowler has been taking hikes up the mountain behind The Ritz-Carlton at Dove Mountain with his mother and sister, a peaceful way to end a day and a great place to watch the sunset over the high desert north of Tucson.

“The first night I went on my own, which was kind of fun,” Fowler said after his 1-up win over Jim Furyk. “My mom and sister came in on Tuesday, so made them go with me. And I guess we’re going to continue that. It’s been working. I’ll be going on a hike a little later this afternoon and go hang out up there and just relax and watch the sunset and go down and have some dinner at the hotel.”

Fowler said it’s about a 25-minute hike. Once they get to the top, they send pictures and used FaceTime with friends.

“It’s just a fun way to relax and enjoy the afternoon,” he said.

MIC CHECK: Jordan Spieth had to aim away from the hole from a bunker on the par-5 second. The idea was to splash out with some side spin, catch the fringe and have the ball trickle toward the hole.

It worked except for one tiny detail _ he forgot to have the TV microphone removed.

The ball struck the base of the microphone and stayed there. Spieth could only get up-and-down for par, and Els two-putted for birdie to win the hole.

A WORLD AFFAIR: For only the third time in 16 years of the Match Play Championship, the semifinalists are from four continents _ Australia (Jason Day), Africa (Ernie Els), Europe (Victor Dubuisson) and the United States (Rickie Fowler).

Those four continents also were involved in 2007 (Geoff Ogilvy, Trevor Immelman, Henrik Stenson and Chad Campbell).

The first time it happened was in 2001 in Melbourne, when the semifinalists were from the United States (Steve Stricker), Africa (Els), Europe (Pierre Fulke) and Japan (Toru Taniguchi).

DIVOTS: At 44, Ernie Els is the oldest player to reach the semifinals in the Match Play Championship. The oldest winner was Kevin Sutherland, who was 37 when he won in 2002. … Victor Dubuisson is the 11th player to reach the semifinals in his Match Play debut. That includes the four semifinalists from the inaugural year in 1999. Geoff Ogilvy and Jeff Maggert are the only players to win in their first year. … Dubuisson has played 67 holes this week, the fewest of the four players remaining.

Quarterfinal Results & Semifinal Match-ups:

CHONBURI, Thailand – Swede Anna Nordqvist shot a 5-under 67 at the LPGA Thailand on Saturday for a 4-stroke lead over top-ranked Inbee Park and Michelle Wie.

The 27th-ranked Nordqvist sprinkled her third round at the Siam Country Club with four birdies and an eagle on the 10th against a bogey on No. 5.

Leading since the first round, the 26-year-old Nordqvist has an overall 11-under 205. She is chasing her first win on the U.S. LPGA Tour since 2009.

Park shot 67 and Wie 69.

“I think the great players out there, Inbee, Stacy (Lewis), they’ve been up there so many times, so they look pretty comfortable out there,” Nordqvist said. “For me, it’s a matter of keep putting myself in those positions and the win will happen eventually.”

Defending champion Park, playing her first tournament of the season, birdied the opening two holes and Nos. 10-13, with a lone bogey on the eighth.

“I hit a lot of great irons shots out there today, I think I still left four birdies out there,” the four-time Major champion said.

The 2010 runner-up Wie had an error-free round.

“Couple hard pins, couple easy pins. Didn’t really take advantage of the par 5s like I wanted to, but I can’t really complain about it. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll just have a lot more birdies,” Wie said. “I really want that win, but I’m not going to put the added pressure on myself.”

Paraguay’s Julieta Granada (71) was a further stroke behind in fourth.

Tseng Yani of Taiwan, winner here in 2011 and `12, carded a 6-under 66 for an overall 5-under 211 and a share of fifth with Americans Cristie Kerr (68) and Lexi Thompson (69) as well as New Zealand teen prodigy Lydia Ko (69).

MARANA, Ariz. – The weekend arrives at the Match Play Championship along with the usual assortment of surprises.

Only this year, the surprise is not who.

It’s how.

Graeme McDowell has defied all logic at a fickle tournament that never had much of it in the first place. How else to explain how a player can go 58 holes without once having the lead while any of his rounds were in progress and yet still win all three matches?

“You might win one of those three matches,” McDowell said. “You don’t win all three of them. It just doesn’t happen.”

But it did.

He was 3 down with three holes to play against Gary Woodland in the opening round and won the next four holes. He was 2 down with four holes to play against Hideki Matsuyama and won on the 18th hole. And on Friday, he was 2 down to Hunter Mahan and still managed to win. McDowell made a 10-foot slider for par on the 17th (Mahan missed from 8 feet on the same line), he birdied the 18th from 6 feet, made a 20-foot par putt on the 20th hole to extend the match and won in 21 holes with a birdie.

“Nine lives have been used up – and then some,” McDowell said.

And then there’s Ernie Els, the Big Easy who has had the toughest time at the Golf Club of Dove Mountain. Els has made nine birdies all week, which is one fewer than Jordan Spieth had in one round. Els is 5-over par for the week. Factoring the conceded putts, he has rounds of 75-73-73.

He’s still playing, facing Spieth on Saturday.

“Every match has been like that, you know?” Els said after a 1-up win over PGA champion Jason Dufner. “I’ve been playing a little ‘C’ golf and hanging in there. At the end, I’m hitting good shots when it counts.”

And ultimately, winning is all that counts.

Jason Day at No. 8 is the top seed remaining. Rickie Fowler at No. 53 is on the other end of the spectrum. The good news for Fowler is that winning three matches _ after coming into this event having missed the last three cuts _ assured he will move into the top 50 in the world and play the next World Golf Championship in two weeks at Doral. That one is stroke play, with a little more sanity.

Here is how the quarterfinals shape up for Saturday.

Day needed 40 holes to win his opening two matches. He had far less trouble against George Coetzee of South Africa, winning on the 17th hole. Next up for Day is Louis Oosthuizen, the South African with the dream swing. Oosthuizen is among the best in the world when he’s healthy and on his game, and he was both of those on Friday in a 5-and-4 win over Webb Simpson. It was the shortest match of the day.

Spieth, the 20-year-old whose future appears as bright as the noon sun in his native Texas, had 10 birdies on his card when he dispatched of defending champion Matt Kuchar. He rolled in a 10-footer on the last hole for a 2-and-1 victory. Now he faces Els, who won the first of his four majors less than a year after Spieth was born. Els has looked scrappy, but it’s amazing how much can change from one day to the next. Els will be trying to make the semifinals for the first time since 2001, when the Match Play was held in Australia.

Jim Furyk is the local favourite, having played college golf in Arizona. He had to work extra hard to take down Harris English. When it looked like Furyk would close it out on the 17th with a shot into 6 feet, English stuffed it to 6 feet and matched birdies. Furyk won on the 18th hole and now plays Fowler, a 1-up winner of Sergio Garcia.

This match featured the strangest development.

Garcia received a free drop because of bees around his ball on the sixth hole, a ruling that took forever. On the next hole, he felt it was unfair for Fowler to have to wait that long in match play. Garcia had 7 feet for par, Fowler had 18 feet for par. Garcia offered to halve the hole because he thought that was fair. Watch the video recap below.

Would he have done that in the Ryder Cup? Doubtful. But he felt good for himself, and he won the next hole.

Fowler won the next three holes, however, stayed in the match when Garcia missed short putts and took him out with a birdie on the 18th hole.

The final match Saturday is McDowell against Victor Dubuisson of France, who took down Bubba Watson, 1 up.

How fitting.

McDowell has never led in any of his three matches until he won them. Dubuisson has never trailed.

Expect anything.

DUBLIN – Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington has disclosed he has undergone treatment for skin cancer.

The Irish golfer, whose father Patrick died from cancer, says he underwent surgery for sun spots.

The 42-year-old Harrington told Irish radio station Today FM: “I’ve had a number of skin cancers removed off my face.”

Harrington, who did not say when the treatment took place, was speaking out to urge people to see a doctor if they have concerns about their health.

Harrington says his “father had symptoms but didn’t do anything about it. It’s the nature of men in Ireland and certainly older men. I would be much more inclined to go and do something about it.”

Patrick Harrington died in 2005 of cancer of the esophagus.

CHONBURI, Thailand – Despite two late bogeys, Anna Nordqvist of Sweden shot even-par 72 to cling to the lead at the LPGA Thailand after a rainy second round on Friday.

Nordqvist, chasing her first win on the U.S. LPGA Tour since 2009, bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes to settle on 6-under 138, one stroke in front of Paraguay’s Julieta Granada (68), Spain’s Azahara Munoz (68) and Germany’s Sandra Gal (70), who all have one career win.

A further shot behind were Americans Stacy Lewis (69) and Michelle Wie (73) on 4 under.

World No. 1 and defending champion Inbee Park and No. 2 Suzann Pettersen were four shots off the pace in a field including all of the top 10.

While rain dampened Siam Country Club, it wasn’t enough for organizers to suspend play. But only 22 players were under par after two rounds.

Nordqvist was at 8 under until her late stumbles, and wasn’t too fussed.

“I hit it good yesterday and kept hitting it really good on the first nine today,” she said. “Then there were some tougher pins in the back, but I just tried to be aggressive and give myself chances for birdie. Felt like I did, but just couldn’t make them.

“I’m excited. This is a position I’ve been practicing to be in. Hopefully, I can make a couple of more putts over the weekend and that should take care of it.”

Granada enjoyed a bogey-free round with four birdies.

“I holed out twice with lob shots, so that was nice. It was very welcome,” Granada said.

Munoz birdied the 18th, and Gal sank three birdies, all on the front nine when it rained the most.

Lewis was up and down more than most, offsetting four bogeys with seven birdies. She was par for the tournament after six holes, turned at 2 under and birdied the last to be 4 under with Wie. Wie bogeyed three holes on her front nine then had three birdies to return to 5 under, until she bogeyed the 17th.

MARANA, Ariz. – Getting to the round of 16 in the Match Play Championship was all that mattered Thursday.

Jordan Spieth made it look like child’s play. Graeme McDowell aged another 10 years with another stunning escape. And it proved too difficult for Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, who lost in extra holes on another wild day at Dove Mountain.

“I thought I was dead and buried both days,” McDowell said.

One day after he rallied from 3 down with three holes to play to win in overtime, McDowell was two holes behind on the 15th tee when he made an 8-foot birdie, halved the next hole with a 10-foot par, won the 17th with a birdie and then holed a 6-foot par putt on the 18th for a 1-up win over Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.

In two matches, McDowell has stood on the tee with his match all square only four times – and two of those were at the start of the match.

Jason Day already has played 40 holes in two rounds. He won a tough match against Thorbjorn Olesen in the opening round, then rallied from 3 down early in his match against Billy Horschel and beat him 22 holes.

“Doesn’t matter how you get it done,” Day said. “Find a way to win.”

The top seeds lost their way.

Stenson, the No. 1 seed, fell behind early against Louis Oosthuizen and never caught up in a 4-and-3 loss. It was the sixth straight year, dating to Tiger Woods winning the Accenture Match Play Championship in 2008, that the top seed failed to make it out of the second round.

Rose (No. 2) and McIlroy (No. 4) followed him.

In one of the best matches of the day, Ernie Els poured in one clutch putt after another to stay in the match, and then beat the reigning U.S. Open champion. Els got up-and-down on the 18th hole by making a 6-foot par putt. Els and Rose both made 10-foot birdie putts on the 19th hole, and then Els finally got a break to go his way in a format that has haunted him over the years.

His approach settled on the slope of the bunker’s collar, and while the shot didn’t go as planned, it was close to perfect.

“It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime shots, really,” Els said. “I caught it a smidgen thin, and it just came out perfectly. It hit the bank and just trickled over to about 4 feet. It was an impossible shot, but it was obviously the right one at the time.”

Rose left his shot in the bunker.

McIlroy had his hands full against English, who has two PGA Tour wins in the last nine months. Boy Wonder managed a strong comeback, however, winning three straight holes for a 1-up lead with two to play. English responded with a 20-foot birdie putt to square the match, and off they went to overtime.

McIlroy went from the left rough to the desert on the 19th hole, and his only hope was to play an explosion shot that came off perfectly. It didn’t, sailing over the green by the television tower. He made double bogey and was headed home to Florida, though hardly depressed.

“He played really solid today and didn’t really do much wrong, didn’t really give me anything,” McIlroy said. “I don’t feel in any way disappointed leaving so early because I feel like my game is there. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks.”

Sergio Garcia at No. 5 is now the top seed remaining after his 3-and-1 victory over Bill Haas. Next up for Garcia is Rickie Fowler, who is finding this format to his liking. Coming off three straight missed cuts, Fowler outlasted one of golf’s hottest players, Jimmy Walker, in 18 holes.

Kuchar had a 1-up victory over Ryan Moore in a match so close that 15 of the 18 holes were halved. Kuchar, the defending champion and a former U.S. Amateur winner, improved to 17-3 in this tournament. Hunter Mahan didn’t take his first lead until the 17th hole in a 2-up win over Richard Sterne of South Africa.

Kuchar and Mahan are the only players to reach the third round in each of the last four years.

Next up for Kuchar is Spieth, who has been a factor in four of the five tournaments he has played this year. Mahan faces McDowell, which prompted one British writer to jokingly ask McDowell if they had ever played each other.

McDowell beat Mahan in the final match of the Ryder Cup four years ago in Wales, making a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole.

PATTAYA, Thailand – Former LPGA Championship winner Anna Nordqvist of Sweden fired an opening-round 66 to grab a one-stroke lead over American Michelle Wie in the US$1.5 million LPGA Thailand at the Siam Country Club Pattaya Old Course on Thursday.

Playing under overcast skies, the 26-year-old who is based in Florida hit six birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on the 15th to take a solo lead at 6 under par in the 70-player tournament.

“I started with three birdies, so obviously got some momentum off the start,” Nordqvist said.

“On 15 I had 59 yards to the pin, pitched a little bit past, and then spun in the hole. So that was pretty cool to make an eagle there.”

After barely registering a top-10 finish, late last year Nordqvist had to find a new coach, Jorje Parada of Spain, and changed equipment.

“It felt like at one point last year I was about ready to quit golf,” added the world No 27. “I just kind of lost the reason why I play golf, the fun of it. I have good people around me now. They have been really helping me to get that inspiration back.”

Wie fired six birdies, while bogeying the third, for a 67.

“I birdied all four of the par 5s today, which definitely helps on this golf course,” she said.

Three more Americans are a stroke further back on 68 – Lexi Thompson, Jennifer Johnson and Angela Stanford, whose round was aided by a hole in one on the par 3, 146-yard eighth hole.

World No 1 and defending champion Inbee Park of Sputh Korea hit a 71 to join a large group of players on one-under that also includes world No 3 Stacy Lewis, 2012 LPGA Championship winner Feng Shanshan of China and Australian Karrie Webb, who just claimed a home tournament in Victoria on Sunday.

MARANA, Ariz. – Graeme McDowell pulled off the biggest stunner on a day of comebacks in the Match Play Championship.

McDowell won the last three holes against Gary Woodland to force extra holes, and then beat him with a 6-foot birdie on the 19th hole on Wednesday. It was a classic case of this fickle event providing hope even when it appears to be hopeless.

Jason Dufner also escaped against Scott Stallings. The PGA champion rallied from 3 down with five holes to play to beat Stallings with a par in 19 holes.

Patrick Reed defeated Canada’s Graham DeLaet 1-up. The Weyburn, Sask. native was 2-up thru 6 holes, but bogeys on No.’s 7, 12 and 17 proved to be too much of a hurdle to overcome.

After the loss he took to Twitter for some jovial banter.

“@DUSTYTROUT: @GrahamDeLaet cost me a #proline commmmme onnnnn you owe me $5 #thanks” It cost me a hell of a lot more than that…

— Graham DeLaet (@GrahamDeLaet) February 19, 2014

In other matches:

– Harris English made his Match Play Championship debut with a 5-and-3 win over Lee Westwood.

– Billy Horschel made six birdies in 13 holes to beat Jamie Donaldson of Wales, 6 and 5, in the shortest match of the day.

– Rickie Fowler, coming off three straight missed cuts, caught Ian Poulter on a bad day and sent the Ryder Cup star packing with a 2-and-1 victory. “It feels like a big win after those missed cuts,” Fowler said. “It was nice to be the underdog. I had nothing to lose.”

– Bubba Watson was giving holes away early before winning three straight holes on the back nine in a 2-and-1 win over Mikko Ilonen of Finland.

– Henrik Stenson was in a battle with Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and won 2&1. Stenson avoided becoming the third straight No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round.

Video Recap:

Vijay Singh received a favorable ruling in his lawsuit against the PGA Tour when a judge allowed his complaint that he was treated differently from other players under the tour’s anti-doping policy.

The New York State Supreme Court only partially dismissed the lawsuit, meaning the case could be headed for trial.

The tour announced a year ago that Singh would be suspended for saying in a Sports Illustrated story that he took deer antler spray, which was believed to contain the banned substance IGF-1.

Late in the appeals process, the tour dropped the case when the World Anti-Doping Agency said deer antler spray was no longer a concern.

Singh sued the tour in May – the day before The Players Championship – saying it exposed him to “public humiliation and ridicule” during the investigation.

In Tuesday’s order, Judge Eileen Bransten threw out five of seven elements in the tour’s motion to dismiss. Four of them effectively agreed with the tour’s argument that Singh had to abide by the anti-doping policy because he willingly signed up as a PGA Tour member.

Another part of the ruling rejected Singh’s claim of intentional emotional distress.

“This is a big win,” said Peter Ginsberg, an attorney for the Hall of Fame golfer from Fiji. “The cornerstone of our lawsuit is that the PGA Tour violated in covenant to treat Vijay fairly, and the court has allowed us to proceed with that claim.”

Asked if the tour or Singh had talked about a settlement, Ginsberg declined comment.

PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said it does not comment on pending legal matters.

Along with ruling in favor of Singh on his allegations of fair treatment, the court sided with his complaint that the tour unfairly held $99,980 in PGA Tour earnings while the case was being investigated. Singh says his prize money was being held in escrow since the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, before he was informed of his suspension.

Most damaging for the tour in Tuesday’s ruling is the potential for Singh to demand evidence involving other players. Both sides already are battling over how much information the tour should hand over regarding its handling of other players.

“So far the tour has put up a road block and failed to produce anything,” Ginsberg said. “The court has made it clear that the PGA has to satisfy our requests. We’ll go through discovery, and we expect to go all the way through with this.”

The tour is the only major sports league in America that does not announce how it punishes its players for violations, such as bad conduct. Even when John Daly told The Associated Press in 2008 that he had been suspended for six months for his conduct, the tour would not confirm it.

The anti-doping policy requires the tour to announce when a player has been suspended for performance-enhancing drugs (but not which one). Doug Barron is the only player to have been suspended since the program began in July 2008. But the commissioner does not have to disclose any suspension for recreational drugs.

Even though Singh agreed to the anti-doping policy as a PGA Tour member, Bransten said Singh could proceed under the “good faith and fair dealing” because of his allegation that the tour was “reckless in its administration of the program.”

The tour had warned players about deer antler spray because it was believed to contain an insulin-like growth factor on the tour’s list of banned substances. It can only be detected through a blood test – the tour only tests urine samples.

But the admission of taking a banned substance constitutes a positive test under the tour’s anti-doping policy.

Singh’s lawyers have said the amount of IGF-1 in the spray is so diluted that it would be comparable to pouring a shot glass of bourbon in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and then drinking a shot from the pool water.