Ochoa feels like a million
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 at West Palm Beach, Fla. , and claim the $1 million prize, the richest in women's golf.
Ochoa was 4 shots ahead 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 1 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 2-shot victory.
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 30 years. And the big payoff pushed her earnings to over $4 million.
Dunlop Phoenix: England's Ian Poulter won the Dunlop Phoenix, shooting a 1-under 69 for a 3-stroke victory over Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano at Miyazaki, Japan.
Poulter had an 11-under 269 total. Fernandez-Castano shot a 68. England's Luke Donald (71) and Japan's Shingo Katayama (68) tied for third at 7 under.
Hong Kong Open: Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Hong Kong Open for the second time in four years, taking advantage of Robert Karlsson's final-hole bogey for a 1-stroke victory in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tour.
Jimenez closed with a 3-under 67 for a 15-under 265 total. Karlsson shot a 72.