Angela Stanford was not about to make excuses when a subpar effort translated to an over-par final round at the 2014 LPGA Lotte Championship.

Stanford, who led Honolulu’s Michelle Wie by four strokes entering Saturday, was not nearly as sharp as her middle rounds of the tournament, firing a 1-over 73 to finish two shots behind Wie at Ko Olina Golf Club.

Was it because of a right forearm injury, which some watchers speculated was the cause of several of her drives listing to the right?

"No, it actually felt the best today," said Stanford, who had the arm wrapped with athletic tape during the tournament. "So, that was good. So, yeah. Felt the best today."

Stanford, of Texas, shot 72-64-67-73—277 (12 under) and won $155,874 as the runner-up.

Had she held on, it would have been her sixth LPGA win and first since the 2012 HSBC Women’s Champions.

"I just wasn’t making my putts," said Stanford, who putted 29 times compared to a 25.5 average the previous two days. "I mean, that was it. I mis-clubbed a couple times, but that’s going to happen. And she (Wie) played great. I mean, I didn’t want to shoot over par today, but I didn’t think I played terrible. Just didn’t make as many birdies (two) as I needed to."

Among Stanford’s tour victories was the 2009 SBS Open at Turtle Bay, when she outdueled Wie.

This time the Punahou product defended her island. Wie lobbed some gracious comments the way of Stanford, 36, who is 17th in the Rolex rankings.

"It was fun out there today," Wie said. "Angela played awesome. It was really tight for a long time and it could have gone any other way. It was hard to catch up to her today. It was not easy. She was striking it well, she was making everything."

Indeed, Stanford seemed implacable entering the final day. But in reality the Texas Christian University alumna’s expectations weren’t to win going into the week, as she’d been tweaking her putting game. She hadn’t finished better than fourth in six previous events in 2014. Prior to the Kraft Nabisco Championship two weeks ago (in which she finished in a tie for seventh) Stanford failed to make the cut in consecutive events.

"It was a nice surprise. I enjoyed the week and ultimately just didn’t get it done today," Stanford said.

She had a terrific chance to pick up where she left off from her 5-under round on Friday, but a birdie putt lipped out on No. 1.

"Half the ball was in the hole and sitting on the edge. So, just one of those days that it didn’t go in," Stanford said. "I don’t really know how to explain it. If I could, I’d be a billionaire." She laughed.

Bogeys on 6 and 8 allowed Wie and Hyo Joo Kim to pull into a tie for the lead at the turn at 12 under.

Stanford fell behind by two strokes through No. 13 but conjured a curving 12-foot birdie on 14 that shaved Wie’s lead to one.

A long approach shot on 17 resulted in a putt going 8 or 9 feet past the hole coming back, and she absorbed her third bogey of the day to all but seal it for Wie.

Wie played it safe over the water hazard with a three-shot lead on the dangerous No. 18 to win with a comfortable bogey.