Daniel Shoots 64 for Three-Stroke Victory in Illinois

Beth Daniel denied defending champion Betsy King her fourth LPGA Rail Classic title in five years Monday, firing an eight-under-par 64 and beating King and Alice Ritzman by three strokes.

Daniel, who finished with a total of 13-under-par 203, one shot off the three-round tournament record, tied her career-low round Monday with two 32s on the 6,403-yard Rail Golf Course.

King shot a 69, and Ritzman, who led after two rounds, a 71.

Players were helped by a rule that allowed them to pick up the ball, clean it and place it on fairway lies.

The win was Daniel’s second within a month, as the Furman University graduate has bounced back from injuries, illness and swing problems that had seen her go winless for nearly four years before the Greater Washington Open in early August.

King, who almost walked off the course Saturday because of an left index finger injured while cutting a bagel, took the lead with a birdie on the par-4 fourth hole and added a two-putt birdie on the par-5 sixth. Playing with a bandage on her finger, King led Daniel by one shot at the turn.

But after two-putting for par on No. 6, Daniel birdied five of the next six holes and overtook King on the 13th. She sealed the victory on the 16th with her eighth birdie of the day.

Ritzmann, playing in the same group as King, three-putted the fourth hole to drop a shot back and never challenged despite birdies on 16 and 17.

Penny Hammel, who had a 69 for a total of 207, finished fourth.