Three strokes behind leader Andrea Lee going into the round, Jutanugarn shot a six-under 66 in mostly calm conditions for a two-stroke victory from Russia’s Nataliya Guseva (68), South Korean Narin An (66) and American Angel Yin (69). Her third career win on the American circuit.
“Kind of been a long time since my last win,” Jutanugarn said. “To be in contention for the last few days, it’s kind of nice. I feel like I haven’t been in contention for a little while. It kind of keep your on toes and exciting.”
The 30-year-old Jutanugarn finished at 22-under 266, playing the first 71 holes without a bogey, stumbling only at the last hole.
Australia’s Grace Kim started the last round tied ninth and finished in the same position after a 70 left her five shots behind the winner.
Robyn Choi was next-best Aussie (73, -11) at tied 39th, with Gabriela Ruffels (72, -9) and Hira Naveed (73, -7) further back.
The 21-year-old Guseva is the first Russian player with an LPGA Tour card.
“I’m, honestly, pretty happy,” Guseva said. “I put a lot of work into that, but at the same time, I’m kind of disappointed because I knew like I could win this thing very easily.”
Jutanugarn’s previous individual LPGA Tour victory came in the 2018 HUGEL-JTBC LA Open. In 2021, she teamed with younger sister Ariya Jutanugarn to win the 2021 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
“So excited and so proud of her, because like I know she been waiting for so long,” said Ariya Jutanugarn, a 12-time LPGA Tour winner who closed with a 65 on Sunday to tie for ninth.
Sofia Garcia (68) and So Mi Lee (70) tied for fifth at 19-under, and second-round leader Dewi Weber (72) was another stroke back.
Andrea Lee, the 2022 winner for her lone LPGA Tour title, had a 74 to finish in the group at 17-under.
Weber dropped back with a double bogey on the par-4 15th and a bogey on 16. She was trying to win for the first time on the LPGA Tour and send a statement to the Dutch Olympic committee that it made a mistake by declining to send her to Paris.
She qualified for the Olympics under International Golf Federation standards, but was left out because of the Netherlands’ separate standards for all sports to meet a realistic chance of a top-8 finish.
With the Olympics next week, no one from the top-30 in the world ranking was in the field. The lone Olympian in Portland was Aditi Ashok of India. She finished with a 72 to tie for 22nd at 14-under.
© Golf Australia. All rights reserved.