Hutchinson ? Annika Sorenstam hit her golf balls longer, straighter and more consistently than Juli Inkster.

It wasn’t enough to give the Swede a third U.S. Women’s Open title.

Sorenstam, the third-round leader, shot even-par 70 Sunday at Prairie Dunes Country Club and finished at 2-under-par 278. But she couldn’t fend off Inkster, who tied a course record with a 4-under 66 and finished at 4-under 276.

“I played some excellent golf,” said Sorenstam, the 1995 and 1996 Open champion. “I had a lot of chances. I made a few, and it’s been a great week. It’s just that Juli played really good today. There was nothing I could do about it. When you give everything, what else can you do? So I’m going to walk away from here this week, and I’ll be smiling anyway.”

It might have helped that Sorenstam pocketed $315,000 for her second-place finish, which pushed her LPGA record for career earnings over the $10 million mark.

“I didn’t lose today; Juli won,” she said. “And I gave it everything I had. And I’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m going to take a few weeks off and enjoy this, so this is not going to haunt me for very long.”

While Sorenstam took the loss in stride, it was stunning to the crowd of 20,599. The 31-year-old had won 23 times in 38 previous tournaments when leading in the final round.

She has won six times this season and entered the tournament leading the LPGA in scoring average, rounds under par, top-10 finishes, birdies, greens in regulation and earnings.

Her statistics were better than Inkster’s this week off the tee and in the fairway, but the American dominated the greens where she made 18 fewer putts than the Swede.

Ironically, Sorenstam made it through holes 12 through 14 unscathed on Sunday but faltered down the stretch. Sorenstam had bogeyed the 363-yard, par-4 No. 12 and the 342-yard, par-4 No. 14 twice each. In Thursday’s first round, she bogeyed all three.

On Sunday, Sorenstam parred Nos. 12 and 13 and birdied No. 14 with an 8-foot putt. The birdie pulled her within a stroke of Inkster at 3-under with four holes to play.

“I figured I got four more holes,” she said, “I can birdie all four, and I need some help.”

She didn’t get it.

Not even from herself.

Inkster, playing in the group ahead of Sorenstam, saved par with a 15-footer on No. 15, just moments after Sorenstam birdied 14.

It was all over in a matter of minutes.

Sorenstam had a bad lie off the green on No. 15, and her uphill chip just missed the cup. She then missed a 3-foot putt for par and tapped in for bogey.

Inkster clinched it soon after with a birdie on No. 16.

The gallery groaned when Sorenstam two-putted for bogey again on No. 16.

Sorenstam has been so good in final rounds that she’s been compared to Tiger Woods.

“Tiger is human,” Inkster said. “Annika is human. I just think you have to go out and play your own game, and you can’t worry about what Tiger is doing or what Annika is doing.

“I just felt that when I’m playing well, I can play with her. I don’t do that every week  she wins every other week  but given the right situation, I feel like I can play with her, and I just played my own game today.”