LPGA Playoffs at The ADT

The LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, also known as the ADT Championship, is the season-ending golf tournament on the United States-based LPGA Tour.

The tournament was played for the first time in November 2006, the winner of the event, Julieta Granada, received $1 million, the highest first-place prize in the history of women's golf. The event took place at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

From 1996 through 2006 the tournament was a standard-format, 72 hole stroke play event. It had a purse of $1,000,000 in its final season with the winner receiving $215,000.

The playoff event was the first time golf has ever used a postseason of any kind on any tour. Beginning in 2007, the PGA Tour also employed a playoff system.

The title sponsor is ADT, a worldwide supplier of electronic security and fire alarm systems, communication systems and integrated building management systems, with headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida.

How the competitors are selected

2008 selection process

As in the two previous seasons, the 2008 season is split into two halves, with 15 players from each half qualifying for the ADT Championship using a performance-based points system. In addition, two wild card players will be chosen at the end of the regular season. This means 32 players will compete in the ADT Championship.

The first half began with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay and ended with the LPGA Championship. The second half began with the Wegmans LPGA and will end with the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, one week before the Playoffs.

LPGA members qualify for the ADT Championship by accumulating ADT Points during each half of the season or by winning an automatic entry by winning one of 13 designated "winner" events—defined as any event with a purse of at least $2 million—throughout the season. The two wild cards will be the top two players from the LPGA Official Money List who were not otherwise qualified after the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

2007 selection process

The selection process in the 2007 LPGA regular season was the same as in 2008, with the only differences being:
*The first half ended with the Wegmans LPGA.
*The second half began with the US Women's Open and ended at The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions, one week before the Playoffs.
*Only 10 "winner" events were held during the season.

More details on selecting competitors for the 2007 Playoffs can be found at: [http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=9664&mid=1 LPGA.com] .

2006 selection process

The 2006 LPGA campaign was split into two halves. The first half began with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay and ended with the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic. The second half began with the Evian Masters and ended with The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions, one week before the Playoffs. The top 15 points scorers and one wild card from each half qualified for the Playoffs, making for a total of 32 players who will take part in the season-ending event.

Most of the events on 2006 LPGA schedule were "points" events, in which the top twenty finishers were awarded points. In addition, all winners of the LPGA's majors and five limited field events, such as the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, automatically qualified for the Playoffs.

Once the first half ended, and the first 16 players were awarded spots in the Playoffs, the point totals from the first half were wiped out, and the second half began with a fresh scoresheet, meaning points did not carry over from half-to-half.

More details on selecting competitors for the 2006 Playoffs can be found at: [http://www.lpga.com/Content_1.aspx?pid=5133&mid=4 LPGA.com] .

2008 Qualifers

First half qualifiers

#flagicon|MEX Lorena Ochoa — won the HSBC Women's Champions (also won the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the Ginn Open, and the Sybase Classic)
#flagicon|SWE Annika Sörenstam — won the Stanford International Pro-Am (also won the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill)
#flagicon|KOR Seon Hwa Lee — won the Ginn Tribute Hosted by ANNIKA
#flagicon|TWN Yani Tseng — won the McDonald's LPGA Championship
#flagicon|USA Paula Creamer — 923,742 points
#flagicon|KOR Jeong Jang — 664,249 points
#flagicon|KOR Song-Hee Kim — 509,000 points
#flagicon|AUS Karrie Webb — 505,867 points
#flagicon|NOR Suzann Pettersen — 484,664 points
#flagicon|KOR Na Yeon Choi — 464,709 points
#flagicon|SWE Maria Hjorth — 422,446 points
#flagicon|ENG Karen Stupples — 378,342 points
#flagicon|KOR Jee Young Lee — 375,695 points
#flagicon|KOR Inbee Park — 368,124 points
#flagicon|USA Laura Diaz — 367,228 points

econd half qualifiers

#flagicon|KOR Eun-Hee Ji — won the Wegmans LPGA
#flagicon|SWE Helen Alfredsson — won the Evian Masters
#flagicon|KOR Ji-Yai Shin — won the Women's British Open
#flagicon|AUS Katherine Hull — won the Canadian Women's Open

Inbee Park, who won the U.S. Women's Open, qualified via first-half points.

2007 Qualifers

First half qualifiers

#flagicon|USA Morgan Pressel — won the Kraft Nabisco Championship
#flagicon|USA Brittany Lincicome — won the Ginn Open
#flagicon|NOR Suzann Pettersen — won the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill (also won the LPGA Championship)
#flagicon|USA Nicole Castrale — won the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika
#flagicon|MEX Lorena Ochoa — 1,524,404 points
#flagicon|USA Paula Creamer — 685,729 points
#flagicon|KOR Mi Hyun Kim — 647,110 points
#flagicon|KOR Sarah Lee — 580,948 points
#flagicon|USA Stacy Prammanasudh — 552,707 points
#flagicon|KOR Jee Young Lee — 521,842 points
#flagicon|AUS Karrie Webb — 407,786 points
#flagicon|USA Cristie Kerr — 395,180 points
#flagicon|BRA Angela Park — 375,519 points
#flagicon|USA Juli Inkster — 372,980 points
#flagicon|USA Angela Stanford — 367,855 points

econd half qualifiers

#flagicon|KOR Seon Hwa Lee — won the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship
#flagicon|USA Natalie Gulbis — won the Evian Masters
#flagicon|SWE Maria Hjorth — 756,904 points
#flagicon|KOR Jeong Jang — 748,129 points
#flagicon|KOR Se Ri Pak — 490,656 points
#flagicon|USA Christina Kim — 434,742 points
#flagicon|JPN Ai Miyazato — 427,108 points
#flagicon|ENG Laura Davies — 354,785 points
#flagicon|KOR Inbee Park — 349,906 points
#flagicon|USA Laura Diaz — 326,537 points
#flagicon|SWE Annika Sörenstam — 325,940 points
#flagicon|USA Sherri Steinhauer — 302,618 points
#flagicon|KOR Shi Hyun Ahn — 292,816 points
#flagicon|USA Reilley Rankin — 281,929 points
#flagicon|SWE Sophie Gustafson — 264,607 points

The remaining three "winner" events in the second half were won by golfers who had already qualified via first-half points—the U.S. Women's Open by Cristie Kerr, and the Women's British Open and Canadian Women's Open by Lorena Ochoa.

Wild cards

#flagicon|SCO Catriona Matthew — $504,366
#flagicon|USA Meaghan Francella — $499,292

How The Playoffs at The ADT work

*Round 1: All 32 players compete in pairs of two.
*Round 2: All 32 players compete, re-paired in pairs of two with those with the highest scores from Round 1 starting earliest and those with the lowest scores starting latest in the day. At the end of the Round 2, the 16 players with the lowest cumulative scores from Rounds 1 and 2 continue to Round 3. The other 16 players are eliminated from the tournament. In the event of a tie a sudden-death playoff takes place.
*Round 3: The remaining 16 players compete in pairs of two. Scores are wiped clean for all players, however starting position is determined by the cumulative score from Rounds 1 and 2, with the players with the highest scores starting earliest in the day and the players with the lowest scores starting latest. The eight players with the lowest scores at the end of Round 3 advance to Round 4. If a tie exists, it is settled with a sudden-death playoff.
*Round 4: The remaining eight players compete in pairs of two. The players participate in a live draw where they pick which time slot they would like to play in with the first pick going to the low score and the final pick going to the high score. The player with the lowest score after Round 4 wins $1 million. As in previous rounds, ties are settled with a sudden-death playoff.

Controversy surrounding $1 million prize

Most players have supported the tournament, though some criticism has been raised. Annika Sörenstam, for example, commented that a player who had a great year, like Sörenstam did in 2005, when she won 10 times, could miss the cut after round three, and not only lose the tournament, but also the title given to the player who tops the LPGA Money List for the year to someone not even in the List's top 10 at the event's start.

Sörenstam, as well as others, have suggested that only half the prize count toward the money list, while the other half be given as a bonus, and not counted on the money list. The LPGA said it would consider this before consider criticism before the 2007 event [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6894882/] . No change was made for 2007.

Winners

LPGA Playoffs at The ADT

External links

* [http://www.lpga.com/adtchampionship.aspx Official website]
* [http://www.lpga.com LPGA official website]
* [http://www.lpga.com/tournament_microsite.aspx?id=5382 LPGA official tournament microsite]
* [http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=5715&mid=1 LPGA Tour Playoffs 2006]
* [http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=7388&mid=1 First half of LPGA Playoffs 2006 comes to a close] LPGA Press Release, July 17, 2006