WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On the verge of an unlikely collapse, Lorena Ochoa came through with a $1 million shot.
Wrapping up a sensational season, Ochoa overcame a double bogey on the 17th hole with a daring shot out of the rough and over the water to 3 feet for birdie Sunday to win the ADT Championship and claim the $1 million prize, the richest in women’s golf.
Lorena Ochoa nearly collapsed down the stretch, but her crucial putt on the 18th hole won the ADT Championship on Sunday.
She didn’t expect so many nerves so late in a final round at Trump International that had been devoid of drama.
Ochoa was four shots clear with two holes to play until a three-putt double bogey on the par-3 17th, where earlier this week she had made a quadruple bogey. Natalie Gulbis made birdie to cut the lead to one shot, and Gulbis followed with a hybrid into 15 feet on the 18th.
The 26-year-old Mexican star never flinched.
Her shot hit the front part of the green and didn’t stop rolling until it was 30 inches away. Gulbis missed her putt, and Ochoa calmly rapped in her birdie for a 4-under 68 and a two-shot victory.
“The best shot of my career,” Ochoa said. “Five years, that was the best one. All of you saw that.”
And that she laughed, looking up at a gallery that indeed saw a spectacular finish by the game’s best player.
Despite the close call she could have done without, and a quirky format that reset the scores after the second and third rounds, there was no disputing the new queen on the LPGA Tour. That would be “la reina” in Spanish, pronounced very similar to Lorena.
It was her eighth victory of the year, joining Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez as the only players to have done that in the last 20 years. And the big payoff pushed her earnings to over $4 million.
Gulbis, who again showed she is much more than just a glamour girl, gave all she had by giving herself birdie chances on the last six holes, but she only converted two of them. She wound up with a 70, earning $100,000.
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