ADT Championship

The ADT Championship was a women's professional golf tournament on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. The season-ending event on the tour, it became the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT from 2006 through 2008.
History.
The tournament was played in its final playoff form for the first time in November 2006; the champion of the event, Julieta Granada, won $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 2005 the tournament was a standard, 72-hole stroke play event. It had a purse of $1,000,000 in its final season, with a winner's share of $215,000.
The playoff event in 2006 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.
Through the 2008 season, the title sponsor was ADT, a worldwide supplier of electronic security and fire alarm systems, communication systems and integrated building management systems, with headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida.
Successors.
On October 16, 2008 it was announced ADT would not extend its sponsorship. Another entirely new tournament, the LPGA Tour Championship, took ADT's place on the LPGA schedule for two years in 2009 and 2010; it was succeeded by the CME Group Titleholders in 2011
Selection process.
2008 selection.
As in the two previous seasons, the 2008 season was 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 were chosen at the end of the regular season; a total of 32 players competed 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 ended with the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, one week before the Playoffs.
LPGA members qualified 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 were the top two players from the LPGA Official Money List who were not otherwise qualified after the Lorena Ochoa Invitational: Sun Young Yoo and Christina Kim.
2007 selection.
The selection process in the 2007 LPGA regular season was the same as in 2008, with the only differences being:
More details on selecting competitors for the 2007 Playoffs can be found at: LPGA.com.
2006 selection.
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: LPGA.com.
2008 qualifiers.
Second half qualifiers.
Inbee Park, who won the U.S. Women's Open, qualified via first-half points.
2007 qualifiers.
Second half qualifiers.
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.
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 the 2007 event. No change was made for 2007.
Possible revival of the ADT Championship?
On November 21, 2009, Golf Channel's Randall Mell reported in a blog post that the LPGA was in preliminary discussions to bring back the tournament in 2011.
Winners.
ADT Championship.
Tournament names through the years: