Springfield, IL (My Sportsbook) - South Korea's In-Kyung Kim made eight birdies and shot a seven-under 65 -- her best round of the week -- to win the LPGA State Farm classic on Sunday.

Kim birdied the 16th and 17th holes and finished at 17-under 271 to beat fellow Korean Se Ri Pak by a shot, earning the world No. 10 her second career LPGA Tour crown.

Pak, the 31-year-old Hall of Famer who was an inspiration to Kim's generation of Korean golfers, birdied seven holes on Sunday and shot a six-under 66 to take second place.

Pak joked with the 20-year-old Kim as the two shared the scoring tent together.

"I think she's a really good player, so I'm really happy for her," said Pak, who finished at 16-under 272.

Two more Koreans, Hee-Won Han (65) and Jee Young Lee (66), ended another stroke further back at 15-under 273 with Angela Stanford (67).

Third round co-leader Cristie Kerr had a disappointing 70 and led a large group at 14-under 274 that also included Paula Creamer (65), Suzann Pettersen (68) and Ai Miyazato (68).

Kim, in the middle of her third full season on the LPGA Tour, began the round two shots off the lead shared by Kerr and Kristy McPherson. She made four birdies and a bogey on the front nine at Panther Creek.

"I thought if I had three more birdies I would be on the top of the leaderboard," said Kim.

She got four more birdies.

But with so many players jockeying for position at the top -- six players were tied for the lead on two different occasions -- Kim couldn't be sure what score would be good enough.

After rolling in birdie putts at 11 and 13, Kim shared first place with four other players. It was her back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 that gave her the lead by herself.

Her 20-foot birdie putt on 17 moved her one shot ahead of Pak, who had tapped in a short birdie putt earlier at 16. Kim nearly holed another long birdie putt at 18, rolling it just past the edge of the cup, but par was good enough.

Kim knew how tight things were down the stretch.

"On No. 16, Se Ri made a birdie and then I had to make birdie," said Kim. "It was a tricky putt, but I made it. I was thinking six-under, and [then] I had to make one more birdie to be outright (leader)."

A brief weather delay of about 15 minutes interrupted the finish for the final two groups. Only Stanford had a chance to catch Kim, but she needed to hole her second shot at 18 for eagle. She parred the hole.

"These girls are good," said Stanford after she collected her sixth top-10 finish of the season.

Pak, who was seeking her 25th LPGA Tour win, said she has renewed confidence in her game. Before Sunday, the five-time major champion hadn't finished better than 13th in her nine previous starts this season.

Next week is the second major of the season, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, which Pak has won three times.

"I'm really comfortable, actually, and the most important thing is I'm happy with [my game]," said Pak.