Lee converted a three-stroke third-round lead into a four-shot triumph at Pine Needles Country Club to pocket a cheque for a record $US1.8 million ($A2.5m).

The 26-year-old finished at 13 under par for the tournament after closing with a 71 on Sunday.

Lee is the third Australian to win the US Women’s Open, the biggest event in female golf, after Karrie Webb (2000 and 2001) and Jan Stephenson.

The Perth star’s dominant victory follows her breakthrough maiden major at the Evian Championship last July and is set to catapult Lee from fourth to No.2 in the world.

The win also elevated Lee into an esteemed company as only the sixth Australian golfer to have captured multiple majors.

Webb, with seven major championships, Stephenson (3) and men’s greats Peter Thomson (5), Greg Norman (2) and David Graham (2) are the only other Australians to have won more than one.

After starting the final round three clear, Lee all but slammed the door shut on the chasing pack with consecutive birdies on the first two holes to charge five clear.

The world No.4 then made bogeys on the fifth and seventh holes but still reached the turn where she’d started at 13 under par, while her American playing partner Mina Harigae had dropped one shot to slip four behind.

Lee turned the back nine into a procession as her challengers fell away, with Harigae (72) finishing runner-up.

Already the LPGA Tour’s 2022 scoring average leader and victorious in her last two stroke play starts, Lee’s next target will be the Women’s British Open next month.

She could potentially replace Korean Jin Young Ko as world No.1 if she wins the final women’s major of the year at Muirfield.