After a remarkable four-day display of patience and perseverance, Patty Sheehan captured her second U.S. Women's Open Championship with a record-tying, 7-under-par 277 that edged Tammie Green by one.

Helen Alfredsson unleashed with one of the most sensational rounds ever produced. She collected eight birdies en route to an eight-under-par 63, a number never bettered by any player, man or woman, in a major championship.

In the first round, no fewer than 24 players had or equalled their career best round in a Women's Open. Two dozen broke par, compared to three in 1989, and the scoring average was nearly two strokes lower than the opening round five years ago.

Alfredsson finally recorded a bogey on her 31st hole of the championship to finish with a 2-under-par 69 and a two-day total of 132, 10 under. That figure not only bettered the Women's Open record by two strokes, it was a full six shots lower than the record set in 1989 by Betsy King when the Women's Open was last played at Indianwood.

At the halfway point, Alfredsson led Laura Davies y four strokes and Michelle Estill, Peru's Alicia Dibos, and Sheehan by five. But after an eight-over for the last 11 holes in the third round, Alfredsson finished with a 76 for the day, and things remained disappointing for Sunday. A double bogey at the third and a triple at No. 7 were most responsible for a disappointing 77.

There were plenty of key shots from the final group of Sheehan and Green, but none probably more important than the ones Sheehan saved at the eighth and ninth. At the eighth she managed to save par from 12 feet, while a terrible lie near the back lip of a greenside bunker prohibited her from playing toward the hole at the ninth, yet she managed to hole a seven-foot putt for bogey.

Green made a great par at the 16th after hitting her drive into a fairway bunker and then getting up and down from better than 100 yards. Sheehan, meanwhile, drove into the right rough, then rolled a flier of a 7-iron onto the back of the green, where she would make a 5-foot birdie putt that was eventually the difference.

Wtih one final chance on the monstrous 18th green, Green caused her 12-foot birdie putt to tie slip by. Sheehan made her 18-inch putt for par and became the 10th woman with multiple Women's Open titles.