Rookie wins LPGA’s $1-million prize

Shortly after Julieta Granada came to the United States at 14 to hone her golf game at David Leadbetter’s academy in Florida, she grew concerned over how much money her family was spending.

So she and her mother stopped renting cars, relying instead on a bicycle to get around town.

“We rode the bike around for a year,” Granada said. “We only rented cars for tournaments.”

Money no longer is a concern for the Granada clan, especially after Sunday.

Two days after turning 20, the LPGA Tour rookie from Paraguay got her first victory, taking home the first $1-million prize in women’s golf. Granada shot a bogey-free round of 68, topping an eight-player final-round field to win the ADT Championship at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla., and claim most of the $1.55-million purse.

The win pushed her season’s earnings to $1,633,586 -- not bad for someone who finished outside the top 10 finishers in 23 of 30 events this year.

Player of the year Lorena Ochoa (70) was second, earning $100,000 and securing the top place on the season-ending money list. She finished with $2,592,872.

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Tiger Woods squandered a three-stroke lead with six holes left, then lost to Padraig Harrington on the second hole of a playoff at the Dunlop Phoenix in Miyazaki, Japan.

Harrington capped a remarkable comeback with a tap-in birdie to prevent Woods from winning the $1.69-million tournament for the third straight year.

“I was struggling all day with my swing,” Woods said after a rare playoff loss. “It wasn’t just my tee shots, it was everything.”

Harrington played the back nine in four under par. The Irishman then birdied both extra holes at Phoenix Country Club. Harrington and Woods shot three-under-par 67s to finish at nine-under 271, one shot ahead of Japan’s Keiichiro Fukabori.