PORTLAND, Ore. — The South African golfer Lee-Anne Pace was ready to retire this spring. She had been on the road for more than a decade, her body ached almost constantly, and her peaks, which included topping the Ladies European Tour’s money list in 2010, seemed like specks in a rearview mirror.

Then she heard from her sister, who had stumbled across a shocking list online. It was the standings for a new season-long risk-reward competition, believed to be the first contest in golf to offer an equal bonus for the winners from both the PGA and L.P.G.A. tours. The prize: $1 million , the kind of single payday only two other women — the winners of the U.S. Women’s Open and the Tour Championship — will see this year.

“And you’re leading,” Pace’s sister, Simone Krog, told her. “So you can’t quit.”

Pace, 38, had no idea. As far as she was concerned, the season had been a disaster. Her accountant had told her that, after expenses, she was $50,000 in the hole for the year.

But her sister was right. She couldn’t quit, no matter how much her love of the game had succumbed to exhaustion, pain and a longing to return to South Africa. Most days, Pace said, “I just want to go home.”