Miyazato new No. 3 in women's golf ranking

Miyazato, from Japan, won the HSBC Women's Champions tournament in Singapore, using a final-round 3-under-par 69 Sunday to hold off a charge from American Cristie Kerr. She won the LPGA season-opening Honda PTT in Thailand the previous week.

She had one LPGA regular-tour title before this season opened but won 15 times on the LPGA of Japan Tour and opened 2010 ranked No. 8 in the world. The early-season success moved her to a No. 3 ranking.

She displaced Norwegian Suzann Pettersen, the runner-up in Thailand, knocking her to No. 4. Kerr moved up one spot, switching places with Taiwanese Yani Tseng, to fifth.

Mexico's Lorena Ochoa, who finished tied for 18th in Thailand and tied for 38th in Malaysia, was still the top-ranked women's player and South Korean Jiyai Shin, who tied for third in Malaysia, remained No. 2.

The lower section of the Top 10 also stayed the same with Swede Anna Nordqvist in seventh, followed by Americans Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie and Angela Stanford.

Copyright 2010 United Press International.