HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - Lorie Kane had too much fun in the first Canadian Women's Open in Atlantic Canada to worry about her putting problems.

"I don't think I've ever laughed as much as I've laughed this week," Kane said. "My family has been here. We've had a real great time. I've seen friends I haven't seen in a really long time. Minus the golf, it's been an awesome week."

The four-time LPGA Tour winner from neighboring Prince Edward Island shot a 3-under 69 on Sunday to tie for 27th at 1 over, 10 strokes behind South Korean rookie Meena Lee on the picturesque Glen Arbour course.

"It's been a strange week," Kane said. "I think tee to green, I've probably hit it the best I have in a very long time."

Kane is doing her best to help the Royal Canadian Golf Association find financial backing - about $2.5 million a year - to save the event following Bank of Montreal's decision to pull out as the title sponsor.

"We need to work hard to convince somebody that this is a viable event," Kane said. "I know the economy is tough. You compare the U.S. dollar to the Canadian dollar, there's a lot of variables that go into it."

Bank of Montreal bailed out the RCGA in 2001 after the du Maurier Classic - a major for 22 years - folded because of Canada's restrictions on tobacco promotions.

"I really feel that somebody will step up," Kane said. "I hope so because I plan to bring it back here if I can, to PEI especially. We need the LPGA in Canada to keep young players' dreams alive about where they want to play."

Kane had another large vocal gallery for her early final round.

"It's been awesome," she said. "I would have liked to have been in one of the lead groups to keep the great fans around. I hope they stick it out today - it's such a nice day - and support the other players."

They certainly did, enthusiastically cheering for Lee and the other leaders and being extra careful not to distract the players during the tense finish.

Lee couldn't relax until Janice Moodie finished.

Moodie, the leader after each of the first three rounds, had a chance to force a playoff with a birdie on the par-5 18th, but three-putted for a double bogey.

"I couldn't watch her," Lee said through a translator. "I was very nervous."

The 23-year-old Lee closed with a 69 to edge playing partner Katherine Hull by a stroke and become the tour's record-tying fourth straight first-time winner.

Lee, the top player on the money list in the field just seven months after earning her tour card with a 25th-place tie in the qualifying tournament, finished at 9-under 279. She earned $195,000 to jump from 13th to seventh with $643,933.

"She played well all day and deserved to win," Hull said.

Lee nearly won the LPGA Corning Classic and HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship earlier this season. She tied for second in Corning in late May, closing with a double bogey to finish two strokes behind Jimin Kang, and lost 1-up to Marisa Baena two weeks ago in the match-play final in New Jersey.

"I didn't think about winning at the start, so I felt very free," Lee said. "Later, I was getting nervous and very intense."

Hull, a 23-year-old Australian who was the 2003 college player of the year at Pepperdine, also closed with a 69 for the best finish of her short career.

"I missed some putts on the back nine, but overall I'm very pleased with a second-place finish," Hull said. "But it's kind of bittersweet getting this close."

Leta Lindley (68), Il Mi Chung (72) and Angela Stanford (73) finished two strokes back at 7 under, and Moodie (75) tied for sixth at 6 under along with former Duke star Brittany Lang (68), Johanna Head (68) and Dorothy Delasin (73). Lang, making her second pro start after tying for second in the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur, eagled the 542-yard 18th after reaching the green in two.

After bogeying two straight holes to fall into a tie for the lead at 8 under, Lee pulled in front with a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th. She two-putted for pars on the difficult par-3 17th and long 18th.

Birdie Kim began the streak of first-time winners in the U.S. Women's Open, Baena followed with her match-play victory over Lee, and Heather Bowie won the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic last week.

Divots: Lee was on the ninth tee when play was

held up for several minutes while four ducks slowly waddled across the fairway to one of the large lakes on the course. ... Only five of the record 27 Canadians in the field made the cut. British Columbia's Dawn Coe-Jones (70) matched Kane at 1 over.