Katherine Hull wins Australian Masters

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Katherine Hull moved into the top 20 in the world with her Australian Masters victory.

GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) -- Katherine Hull followed up her LPGA Tour win last year with her first big victory on home soil by winning the Australian Ladies Masters on Sunday.

Hull, who won last year's Canadian Women's Open, birdied the first hole and went on to shoot a 4-under 68 for a five-stroke victory at Royal Pines.

The 26-year-old Hull, who started the day with a three-stroke lead, finished with a four-round total of 16-under 272. Australian Tamie Durdin (70) and South Korea's Ryu So-yeon (67) were tied for second.

Hull was pleased to have been consistent over four rounds.

"I've always been capable of putting three good rounds together, but four was iffy," she said.

"I've dreamt about this since I was a kid. It hasn't sunk in yet ...."

There was a four-way tie for fourth at 10-under 278, six shots off Hull: Tseng Ya-ni of Taiwan (66), last week's New Zealand Open winner Gwladys Nocera of France (67), Sarah Kemp of Australia (68) and American Mollie Fankhauser (70).

Hull's win will improve her world ranking into the top 20. She finished second in last month's New South Wales Open and in a tie for second in the New Zealand Open last weekend. Hull plans to play in next week's Women's Australian Open at Metropolitan in Melbourne.

Durdin closed to within two shots of Hull when she birdied the sixth hole, but Hull birdied Nos. 12, 13 and 14 to pull away from the field before bogeying the 18th.

Six-time Masters winner Karrie Webb shot a 73 to tie for 30th at 3 under. Webb has played the Masters 18 times, finishing in the top 10 on 16 occasions.

"The most disappointing thing about the day was I felt really good going to the first tee," Webb said.

"I actually believed that I could shoot something that would give me a chance if the wind got up."

Webb believes she'll play well at next week's Women's Australian Open, where she'll be trying for her sixth national title.

"Even though it didn't look like it, there was some good feels with the putter, it's probably the best I've felt for a long time," she said.