Everything about Lorena Ochoa totally explained
Lorena Ochoa (born in
Guadalajara,
Jalisco on
15 November 1981) is a
Mexican golfer who plays on the U.S.-based
LPGA Tour and is currently
the number one ranked female golfer in the world. As the first Mexican golfer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world, she's considered one of the best Mexican golfers of all time.
Childhood and amateur career
Ochoa grew up next door to the Guadalajara Country Club and took up golf at the age of five. She won her first state event at the age of six and her first national event at seven. All told as a junior she captured 22 state events in Guadalajara and 44 national events in Mexico. She won five consecutive titles at the
Junior World Golf Championships and in 2000 she enrolled at the
University of Arizona in the
United States on a golf scholarship. While a student, with regular tutoring she greatly improved her English by watching movies and reading magazines between practice and tournaments.
She was very successful in women's collegiate golf in the next two years, winning the
NCAA Player of the Year Awards for 2001 and 2002, finishing runner-up at both the 2001 and 2002 NCAA National Championship and being named to the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) 2001 All-America First team. She won the 2001 Pac-10 Women's Golf Championships, was named
PAC-10 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year 2001 and was All Pac-10 First team in 2001 and 2002.
In her sophomore year she'd eight tournament wins in ten events she entered setting the single-season NCAA scoring average record as a freshman at 71.33 and beating her own record the next year by just over a stroke per round with a 70.13 average. She was also Duramed FUTURES Tour Player of the Year.
In her rookie season on the LPGA Tour she gained eight top-10 finishes including runner-up finishes at the Wegmans Rochester and Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill ending the season as the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year and ninth on the LPGA official money list. In 2004 she won her first two LPGA Tour titles: the Franklin American Mortgage Championship (where she became the first Mexican born player to win on the LPGA Tour) and the Wachovia LPGA Classic. That same year she placed in the top ten in three of the four
major championships.
In 2005, she won the Wegman's Rochester LPGA. In 2006, her first round score of 62 in the
Kraft Nabisco Championship tied the record for lowest score ever by a golfer, male or female, in any major tournament. Her playoff loss to
Karrie Webb marked her best finish until 2007 in an LPGA major. By the end of the year she won six tournaments, topped the money list and claimed her first
LPGA Tour Player of the Year award which goes to the player who gains the most number of points throughout the season based on a formula in which points are awarded for top-10 finishes and are doubled at the LPGA's four major championships and at the season-ending
ADT Championship. She also won the
LPGA Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour.
Her achievements were recognized outside the sport of golf when Ochoa won the 2006
Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award and received the National Sports Prize for the second time.
In April 2007, Ochoa overtook
Annika Sörenstam to become the world number one ranked golfer.
In August 2007, Ochoa won her first
major championship at the historic home of golf, the
Old Course at St. Andrews, with a wire-to-wire win by four shots at the
Women's British Open. She won the next two LPGA events, the
CN Canadian Women's Open and the
Safeway Classic, the first to win three consecutive events since
Annika Sörenstam in 2005.
Also in 2007, Ochoa became the first woman ever to earn more than $4,000,000 in a single season, surpassing Annika Sörenstam's previous record of $2,863,904.
In April 2008, Ochoa won her second major championship, this time at the
Kraft Nabisco Championship, becoming the first golfer to win consecutive LPGA majors since Sörenstam in 2005. She celebrated this victory in the traditional fashion for the Kraft Nabisco by jumping into the pond on the 18th green. The following week, she won the
Corona Championship in her home country by 11 strokes. This gave her the final tournament win she needed to qualify for the
World Golf Hall of Fame, although she can't be inducted until 2012, after she completes ten seasons on the LPGA Tour.
Ochoa is coached by Rafael Alarcon, a Mexican professional. Alarcon finished second in the 1976
Canadian Amateur Championship, won that title in 1979, then turned professional.
Tournament host
In November 2008, she'll become the host of a new LPGA event, the
Lorena Ochoa Invitational, to be held at her original home course, Guadalajara Country Club.
Professional wins (26)
Futures Tour (3)
LPGA Tour (23)
2004 (2) Franklin American Mortgage Championship, Wachovia Classic Hosted by Betsy King
2005 (1) Wegmans Rochester LPGA
2006 (6) LPGA Takefuji Classic, Sybase Classic, Wendy's Championship for Children, Corona Championship, Samsung World Championship of Golf, The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions
2007 (8) Safeway International, Sybase Classic, Wegmans LPGA, Women's British Open, CN Canadian Open, Safeway Classic, Samsung World Championship, ADT Championship
2008 (6) HSBC Women's Champions, Safeway International, Kraft Nabisco Championship, Corona Championship, Ginn Open, Sybase Classic
LPGA Majors are shown in bold.
Results in LPGA majors
DNP = didn't play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Green background for a win. Yellow background for a top-10 finish.
LPGA Tour career summary
| Year |
# of
events |
Cuts
made |
Wins |
2nd |
3rd |
Top
10s |
Earnings ($) |
Rank |
Scoring average |
| 2003 |
24 |
23 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
8 |
823,740 |
9 |
70.97 |
| 2004 |
27 |
27 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
18 |
1,450,824 |
3 |
70.02 |
| 2005 |
23 |
20 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
10 |
1,201,786 |
4 |
71.39 |
| 2006 |
25 |
25 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
20 |
2,592,872 |
1 |
69.24 |
| 2007 |
25 |
25 |
8 |
5 |
2 |
21 |
4,364,994 |
1 |
69.68 |
| 2008* |
9 |
9 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
1,838,616 |
1 |
68.56 |
*Official as of May 19, 2008.
Honors and awards
2001
Mexico National Sports Award (a)
2002
Futures Tour Rookie of the Year
Futures Tour Player of the Year
2003
LPGA Rookie of the Year
2006
Mexico National Sports Award (2)
AP Female Athlete of the Year
Mexico Athlete of the Year
LPGA Rolex Player of the Year
LPGA Tour Money Winner
LPGA Vare Trophy
Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year
2007
LPGA Rolex Player of the Year (2)
LPGA Tour Money Winner (2)
LPGA Vare Trophy (2)
Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year
Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year
Mexico National Sports Award (3)
Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (2)
AP Female Athlete of the Year (2)
EFE Sportswoman of the Year
Heather Farr Player Award
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lorena Ochoa'.
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