American veteran Angela Stanford felt her persistence and determination had finally been rewarded after claiming her first major title at the 76th attempt.

The 40-year-old won the Evian Championship by a shot on Sunday after long-time leader Amy Olson double-bogeyed the final hole.

Stanford finished on 12 under par in France with Olson having to settle for a share of second place alongside fellow Americans Austin Ernst and Mo Martin, and South Korea's Kim Sei-Young.

An emotional Stanford told www.lpga.com: "There's a lot of relief. Sometimes you just never know when you play golf, you never know if it is going to work out for you or not.

"You play by faith and hope and hope it works out for you and finally it did. I'm proud that I didn't give up. It was nice that it ended well this time."

Stanford carded a three-under-par 68 to set the clubhouse target in the fifth and final major of the year but she may have felt her chance had gone after a double bogey on the 16th.

Stanford moved to 13 under with an eagle at the 15th but then immediately gave those two shots back by taking five at the next. She recovered with a birdie at the 17th but brushed the hole with another birdie attempt at 18 and the title was still Olson's to lose.

Olson knew a par four at the last would be enough for victory but she could not recover after hooking her tee shot into the rough. She did have a bogey putt to force a play-off but missed from six feet.

She was left to sign for a three-over-par 74 as victory became Stanford's.

Martin, who shot a one-under-par 70, might also have forced a play-off had she not narrowly missed a putt at the last.

Further down the leaderboard, England's Georgia Hall fell away to finish in a tie for 16th on six under after shooting 74. Charley Hull was a stroke further back after a 70.