Ochoa's million-dollar shot same as her year: spectacular

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A brief note of advice to LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens and her marketing staff.

Lorena Ochoa clinches the biggest payday in women's golf. (AP)

Since the tour is forever tweaking the format of the ADT Championship anyway, next year you might want to consider resetting the scores after nine holes on Sunday, too.

The LPGA's year-ending money grab ended in the same fashion as the regular season, by underscoring the obvious and reaffirming the established order. With an upside-down exclamation point in Spanish, no less.

Absolutamente, Lorena Ochoa es numero uno.

Racing to an early lead at Trump International Golf Club while everybody else collapsed, the Mexican star shot a 4-under 68 to claim the biggest prize in women's golf, the $1 million winner's check, despite a scary wobble down the stretch.

Thanks to a strong start, the last-round tension was brief, but Ochoa delivered the million-dollar shot at the 18th when she needed it most, chopping a 6-iron out of the rough from 160 yards to within 30 inches for a clinching birdie and a two-stroke victory.

"There's no question who's the No. 1 player in the world," Christina Kim said.

There was a question with regard to Sunday's winner for about 15 minutes. Ochoa held a four-shot lead over playing partner Natalie Gulbis with two holes to play but double-bogeyed the 17th, missing the green and badly three-putting. Gulbis rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt to slash the lead to one with the tricky 18th left to play.

"It was fun for the fans and for all of you, but it didn't feel very good," Ochoa said, laughing.

Thursday, she'd hit two balls in the water on the 17th and told her caddie and family that she was hoping for at least a four-shot margin when she played that hole Sunday, just in case something bad again transpired.

"And that's exactly what happened," Ochoa said.

It precipitated the only teeth-gnashing portion of what was, otherwise, a runaway day. She found the rough off the tee on the 18th, but stiffed the iron shot to tap-in range. Amazingly, faced with a chance to potentially tie and put some pressure on Ochoa, Gulbis left a 15-footer on the 18th well short. Ochoa bailed her out, making it academic by tapping in.

"Probably the best shot of my career of five years," Ochoa said of her approach. "That was the best one and all of you saw that."