Mallon Becomes Major Force on Women’s Tour : Golf: She shoots a final-round 67 to win U.S. Women’s Open two weeks after taking the LPGA championship.

Meg Mallon won a lot a friends but no tournaments in her first five years on the LPGA Tour.

Mallon, voted the most popular player on the tour, is making up for lost time. She shot a four-under-par 67 Sunday to win by two strokes in the 46th Women’s U.S. Open, her third victory this year and her second major championship in three weeks.

“I can’t believe I did it again,” Mallon said. “I used my experience from winning the LPGA two weeks ago and it paid off.”

Mallon, 28, overcame 98-degree temperatures (the heat index was 105) and two of the tour’s toughest pressure players to finish at one-under-par 283 for 72 holes at Colonial Country Club.

Pat Bradley, 40, opened up a three-stroke lead by making birdies on two of her first three holes, and Amy Alcott, 35, lurked near the lead all day, but Mallon’s play down the stretch was too much for the two former Open champions.

Mallon, a former Ohio State player who is from Ramona, Calif., took the lead with an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-four, 400-yard 14th hole and made a 20-footer on the 15th for another birdie. She played the back nine in three-under-par 32 to earn $110,000 for first place.

Bradley, the 1981 Open winner, began the day tied with Joan Pitcock and finished second with a final-round 71. Pitcock had a 75 for a 289.

Alcott, who needs one more victory for entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame, also had a 71 and finished at 286.