RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- They played four extra holes and practically needed glow balls to do it, but the crowning of this year's ANA Inspiration champion will have to wait one more day.
LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park of South Korea, who won this event in 2013, along with Jennifer Song of Michigan and Sweden's Pernilla Lindberg, returned to the 18th hole for a sudden-death playoff to break a three-way tie at 15-under-par 273.
With the sun setting over the mountains, the trio then returned three additional times to the 18th hole, matching shots until Song missed her birdie putt on the third visit. Park's and Lindberg's birdie putts dropped in, sending the last two women standing back to the 18th tee for the fourth time in near darkness.
It was dark enough that tournament officials brought out spotlights to help illuminate the green. After Park and Lindberg opted to play No. 18 for a fourth time, officials determined that play would be suspended until the following morning.
The players will return to Mission Hills Country Club at 8 a.m. PT Monday to complete the round, starting on the 10th tee.
"It's just hard to judge [playing in the dark] because you can't really see the greens, how much it has grown or how quick it's going to be," Park said. "So it's all about feeling."
Park joked that she isn't used to a morning tee time after playing late in her regulation rounds this week.
"It's an early start for me," said ninth-ranked Park, who is hoping to win her 20th LPGA victory and eighth major championship. "So I'm just going to have to relax well and go out early in the morning."
The early-morning tee time on Monday is a welcome opportunity for Lindberg, however, who is still hoping to win her first LPGA tournament. Lindberg's gritty performance of making clutch putt after clutch putt to stay alive in the playoff even brought praise from Park, who is arguably one of the best pressure putters in the game.
"It feels like we have nothing to lose [because] we've been fighting all day," said the 95th-ranked Lindberg, who is in her eighth LPGA season. "This is just a bonus in the end, being in the playoff now."
The LPGA's 2018 ANA Inspiration seemed destined for drama even before the playoff began. Six of nine players on the leaderboard after three rounds, including Lindberg, had never won an LPGA tournament.
But the experience emerged as the day wore on in Sunday's final round. Top players began inching closer to that traditional champion's plunge into Poppie's Pond beside the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club.
By late afternoon, five players shared the lead at 14 under, with eighth-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn carding a 7-under 65 to charge up the leaderboard and 12th-ranked Jessica Korda adding her own 66.
Breathing down their collars were Park, Lindberg and Song, also seeking her first LPGA win.
Song, No. 69 in the world rankings, was the first to grab the outright lead at 15 under when her third shot into the par-five 18th green hit the back edge. The ball trickled down to 4 feet, and the former University of Southern California All-American drained the putt for birdie.
At that point in regulation, four players were still on the course, including Park, who watched from the fairway as Song stroked in her putt. Park knew what she had to do.
The South Korean laid up on the final par-five hole and stroked her wedge to 3 feet to successfully set up the birdie putt for a share of the lead with Song.
Playing the final group in regulation, Lindberg went to the 18th hole knowing she had to make a birdie for a chance to join Song and Park in a playoff.
Her second shot landed in a fairway bunker, forcing the Swede to play for the lay-up area. From that spot, she landed her approach 4 feet from the hole and again drained the putt for birdie and a share of the lead.
"I've always said that putting has been the strength of my game," said Lindberg, 31. "I just love these greens. I'm seeing the lines, I'm starting it great, and I just feel really confident with the putter in my hand."
Sunday's action also featured some sisterly competition and memorable shot-making.
Tied for the lead, Jutanugarn went for the par-five 18th hole in two shots. The long-hitting Thai player barely cleared the water hazard on her second shot and could only three-putt for par to maintain her share of the lead at 14-under 274.
Playing behind Jutanugarn and trailing by one stroke, Korda also used her length and went for the 18th green in two shots, landing just off the green. She missed her first putt for eagle and the outright lead but made her birdie to move into a group of five sharing the top of the leaderboard.
Korda had already produced some remarkable final-round theatrics, holing out two shots with the pressure on. Her first came with an eagle-3 on No. 9, where she holed out from the fairway to grab the lead.
Her second no-putt hole came on No. 14, where she holed out from a bunker to again take a one-shot lead. Korda toured the front nine at 5-under 31 with four birdies, a bogey and the eagle.
Her sister, Nelly, also holed out for eagle from the sixth fairway earlier in the round to make her own charge, posting a 5-under 67 to finish tied for 13th at 10-under 278.
Jutanugarn's older sister, Moriya, also jumped into the sibling showdown, gunning for her own first LPGA title. She was one shot off the lead with one hole to play but finished tied for sixth at 13-under 275 -- one stroke behind her sister.
Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul earned honors as the ANA Inspiration's low amateur at 5-under 283. She carded her low round of the week on Sunday, with a 3-under 69 to finish tied for 30th.
But while Mission Hills, a mainstay venue on the LPGA's schedule, offered perfect conditions for the tour's first major championship of the year, it was its pristine putting surfaces that sorted the two remaining players from the rest of the field.
Winner of the Bank of Hope Founders Cup two weeks ago, Park showed her signature mettle with the flat stick all week and managed two critical putts in the dark on the fourth playoff hole to move into Monday. The first putt came from 35 feet above the hole from the back of the green to 4 feet for a par save.
Lindberg held or shared the lead for three rounds and relied on her deft putting touch to keep her in the game through 76 holes. On the fourth playoff hole, the Swede two-putted from the fringe from 15 feet and saved par to move a step closer to making a dream come true Monday morning.
"Inbee's one of the best female golfers of all time," said Lindberg, whose best major performance thus far is a tie for fifth at the 2015 U.S. Women's Open. "So to even have a chance to go out and beat her in a playoff, I think I'm going to sleep great tonight, and I'm going to be ready to go in the morning."