SYLVANIA, Ohio - As soon as her last putt hit the bottom of the cup, Heather Bowie was able to celebrate an LPGA victory for the first time in his six-year career.

"It was a relief, a tremendous relief," Bowie said. "That was a huge monkey off my back. And it was getting bigger every year."

Bowie parred the third hole of a playoff with Gloria Park in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic on Sunday. Fighting back tears, she hugged and kissed caddie/boyfriend Jeremy Young after winning in her 138th start on the tour.

"The longer it goes, the harder it is," she said.

Park made things easy for Bowie, hitting a low hook out of the rough and into a creek on the par-5 18th hole. After hitting clutch putts on the first two extra holes to extend the playoff, Park triple-bogeyed the last hole.

Bowie, who earned a career-best $180,000 and a three-year LPGA Tour exemption, closed with a 4-under 67 to match Park at 10-under 274.

Park finished with a 66 to force the playoff, birdieing the 17th hole in regulation to pull into a four-way tie.

Bowie has always been seen as a promising star who never lived up to that promise, a two-time NCAA champion at Texas who seemed to forget how to win in the pressure cooker of pro golf.

She faltered down the stretch in regulation with a costly bogey at the 17th to drop into the four-way tie, then plugged away while Sung Ah Yim and Hee-Won Han posted late bogeys to fall out of the logjam.

Han, who started the day with a two-shot advantage, led by four shots with eight holes to play before collapsing. She had three bogeys and a double bogey in the final eight holes.

"I'm disappointed," she said. "I played bad. No reason."

She fell from the four-way tie with a three-putt bogey at 17, with Yim bogeying the closing hole. She charged a long putt that ran 6 feet past the hole, then missed the comebacker.

"I tried a little bit harder on that (first) putt," she said.

Yim (68) and Han (73) ended up at 9-under 275.

Both Bowie and Park parred the first playoff hole, Park saving par by rolling in a 10-foot putt to send the players to the next tee.

On the second playoff hole - the same 17th she had bogeyed less than an hour earlier - Bowie hit a wedge that checked up just inches from the cup. She tapped in for birdie, but Park then matched her with a 20-footer.

Park found trouble with her drive on the third playoff hole.

"There was very deep rough on the right side," she said. "The ball was sitting really, really low. I was thinking about just chipping it out. But it was a playoff, so I said, `Just hit it.'"

Her ball ended up in a creek. She ended up with an 8.

Bowie hit her first two shots into the fairway, then hit safely onto the green and two-putted from 22 feet.

"I think the first one has to be the hardest," she said. "I don't know. Hopefully I'll get to experience that second, third and fourth and I'll know that the first one is the hardest."

Paula Creamer shot the tournament's low round, a 64, to tie Jeong Jang (72) at 8-under 276. Defending champion Meg Mallon (72), Leta Lindley (71) and Pat Hurst (69) followed at 7 under.

Amateur Morgan Pressel finished with a 70 and was at 282. Brittany Lang, making her pro debut, shot a 75 to end up at 284.