Exactly a year after declaring she wanted to ‘do an Annika’ by becoming the longest-running ladies world No.1, Cristie Kerr took her most decisive step yet toward fulfilling her goal – and she did it in Sorenstam-esque record-breaking style.

A 12-stroke victory in the LPGA Championship at Locust Hill Country Club in New York with a record-breaking 19-under-par total earned Kerr the world No.1 spot she has craved since joining the LPGA in 1997.

And not only that, but she became the first American woman to do so – proving, perhaps, that the US aren’t quite ready to relinquish their tour to the invasion of Asian players with whom it has been bombarded with over the last five years.

And though her rise to No.1 involved whipping the top spot from right under the nose of Japan’s Ai Miyazato, the American, if she is to be held by the words she uttered after winning the 2009 Michelob Ultra, has no intention of giving it back any time soon.

“I’ve always said I wanted to get there once in my career,” she said of the world No.1 spot just 12 months ago. “Who knows, if you look at Annika, she got there and then stayed there for like ten years.”

Just weeks ago, after winning the State Farm Classic at Panther Creek, Kerr’s relief was not just to have won an event for herself, but to have won one for her country, saying: “I’m just happy not to have to answer, ‘why are there no American winners anymore,’” but I am sure her latest victory, her second major and biggest winning margin, will define, not only her career – but her country’s success for years to come.