First round LPGA leader Julieta Granada has a cautionary tale

This isn't the first time the Ladies Professional Golf Association has handed out a $1 million bonus at the end of the season.

It has been done three times before, from 2006-08.

The first winner?

Julieta Granada, who is Thursday's first-round leader at the CME Group Tour Championship after shooting a 6-under-par 66.

Granada leads Sandra Gal by two shots after her bogey-free round.

The three players who control their own destiny for the $1 million prize – Stacy Lewis, Inbee Park and Lydia Ko – are at 3-under, 1-under and 1-under, respectively.

While she isn't eligible for the big payday again, this is Granada's best season since she won her $1 million bonus eight years ago as a rookie at age 20.

Granada is a cautionary tale of what a big pay day can bring, or can't bring, especially at a young age.

As she said, "I wouldn't take it back" but it doesn't promise continued and immediate success.

"I didn't realize it at the moment because all my life was about making birdies and playing well," she said. "Once I was playing pro, it was about making money and when I made all that money, I was a little more relaxed. The intensity wasn't the same. I didn't regroup properly. I was young and you go through ups and downs."

Granada didn't make major changes in her life. She bought a Range Rover Sport. But after climbing the mountain, then suddenly reaching the top, she took a big exhale.

Lewis, who works with the same trainer as Granada, said if she had won that kind of money at age 20, it would've been hard.

"And that was her first win, right?," Lewis said. "Expectations go up after that first win. Add a million bucks to it and it's a really hard situation to be in. I'm glad I worked my way up through there.

"I'm glad Julieta has figured things out. She still has a lot of good golf in her."

That 2006 victory at the LPGA Playoffs at the ADT still stands as Granada's only tour victory.

After three, top-10 finishes in 2007, Granada didn't have another top-10 finish until 2011.

She rose in 2012, dipped in 2013 and now has worked her way up to No. 24 on the Race to the CME Globe and No. 48 in the Rolex Rankings. She has won more than $620,000 this season while earning seven, top-10 finishes.

"You know, I'm 28 now and I've been through 4th on the Money List to 30th on the money to 100th on the money list," she said. "I've been pretty much everywhere."

She feels that Lewis, Park and Ko are well equipped to handle the pressure. "They're tough and they're good players, so they will just keep playing their game," she said.

As for her game, Granada thinks she's a much better player now, more mature, more dedicated, more mentally tough to handle adversity.

It may have taken awhile to be consistently good again but Granada isn't about to change anything early in career – particularly the $1 million.

"It made me a better person when I went through that," she said. "It's maturing and having an appreciation for being out here. I think I have such a good appreciation, and I love to come out to every event."

Craig Handel writes for the News-Press in Fort Myers