South Korea's Shin Jiyai overcame atrocious weather and survived a marathon 36-hole final day to claim a second Women's British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club by nine shots on Sunday.

With rounds of 71 and 73, the 2008 champion finished on nine under par and won the final major of the season by an outstanding margin from South Korea's Park Inbee.

It was the biggest winning margin since the Championship became a major in 2001.

Park, the 2008 US Women's Open Champion, birdied the last for a closing 76 and second place, with American Paula Creamer, who closed birdie, eagle, par birdie, taking third on one over par after a 72.

Finishing in near darkness, the victory and the £266 000 cheque completed a remarkably impressive week for 24-year-old Shin, who has now won 10 times on the LPGA Tour.

Last Monday, she had needed nine extra holes to beat Creamer in a play-off for the Kingsmill Championship on the LPGA Tour.

"That was a long, long day and very tough," said the new champion. "I have never played in such bad weather, but I managed to stay focused and now I'm just so excited.

"Winning at Sunningdale four years ago was my fist big win and changed my life. Now I have even more great British Open memories."

Friday's play had been wiped out due to severe winds and the weather again caused havoc on a day of catch-up.

There was even an eight minute break in the second round when the gusting wind and torrential rain made it impossible to hit shots.

Shin, who shot a course record 64 in Saturday's second round, added a 71 in the third round and her lead was reduced to three by Karrie Webb, the three-time former champion charging into contention with a 68.

But as conditions deteriorated so did the golf and Webb's hopes of an eighth major title began to slip out of her grasp with a double-bogey, bogey, bogey start.

Shin also hit trouble at the start of the final round with a three-putt, triple-bogey seven.

But the 24-year-old bounced back with a 25-foot birdie at the short sixth and another from 18 feet at the seventh.

Seven ahead at that stage, she was never troubled by anything other than the weather.

While Webb stumbled to an 82 and fell back into a share of fifth on three over, Creamer finished birdie, eagle, par birdie for a 72.

Lydia Ko, the 15-year-old New Zealander who became the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour at last month's Canadian Open, took the amateur prize, the Smyth Salver.

The teenager shot 72 and 78 to finish in the top 20 on nine over par, two ahead of English amateur, Holly Clyburn.

Shin's victory completed an Asian clean-sweep of this year's four women majors.

Koreans Yoo Sun-Young and Choi Na-Yeon won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and US Women's Open respectively, while Feng Shanshan became the first Chinese player to win one of the big four at the LPGA Championship.

rti\� rdr& 8\" id not address the grievances of his minority community.

 

"Some Tamil youngsters may be happy about cricket and the Twenty20 tournament, but it won't do anything to address the core issues," he told AFP, referring to Tamil demands for greater political autonomy.

Last year, Sri Lanka also narrowly lost to Australia in its bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but it is pitching for several other Asian tournaments as part of its drive to become a major sporting destination.

Charu Lata Hogg, a Sri Lanka expert at the London-based think-tank Chatham House, believes the government will struggle to turn the spotlight off its tainted record.

"Hosting an international sporting event will not deflect international attention on its core human rights responsibilities," she told AFP.

"Attention on the issue of war crimes investigations is unlikely to cease until there is a genuine effort by the Sri Lankan state to establish accountability."

Her remarks were underscored by a top US diplomat who declared on Friday that there were "questions" about Sri Lanka's commitment to probe serious violations of human rights during the final offensive and thereafter.

"There are lot of questions now about how quickly Sri Lanka is really committed to moving ahead on these things," Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake told reporters in Colombo.

Blake, the top US diplomat for South and Central Asia and a former ambassador to Colombo, said he had asked for "accelerated progress" in reconciliation and urged de-militarisation of former war zones as well as power sharing with the Tamils.