|
|
|
 Americas & Beyond | May 2008 
Mexican Star Lorena Ochoa's Sunny Outlook
 Rich Radford - The Virginian-Pilot
go to original
| | Lorena Ochoa reacts after missing a birdie putt during the final round of the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill in Williamsburg in 2006. (Genevieve Ross | The Virginian-Pilot) | | |
Reunion, Fla. - Ten years from now, Lorena Ochoa probably will be standing in her kitchen, sorting through mail when she stumbles across a letter from the United States Golf Association.
It will want her to play in the U.S. Women's Open.
She will smile as she hears a little voice at her side: "Mama, que es eso?"
She'll look down at the child with the cherubic face and deer-brown eyes.
"It's a letter from some people, honey. They want me to play in a golf tournament."
"Are you going to?"
"No."
"Why not?"
" I thought we might go to Puerto Vallarta with your Abuelita that week and do some painting. What do you think? Is that a good idea?"
"I like painting with Grandma. I like that a lot."
Lorena Ochoa is the hottest golfer on the planet right now; with Tiger Woods sidelined by knee surgery, who can argue, But know this about Ochoa, She is not long for the competitive game of professional golf.
Listen closely and you'll hear her dropping hints at every turn that her career will play out like a shooting star, that she's destined to return to the simple life in Guadalajara, Mexico.
"I said I wanted to play 10 or 12 years, being 100 percent, having golf as my priority," said Ochoa, who is single and unattached. "Around that time, I'm going to be getting to the Hall of Fame. To me, it will be a dream come true to finish all I want to finish at that time and then after that just go home and... hopefully have a family."
After tying for fifth Sunday, five shots off the lead at the SemGroup Championship in Broken Arrow, Okla., Ochoa's run of four straight wins ended. She'll try to start a new streak this week at Kingsmill, where she has been runner-up three times in five tries.
Ochoa has won 10 of her past 16 starts, including the LPGA's past two majors. Her five wins this season have come by a combined 37 shots.
In winning the Corona Championship in her homeland a month ago, she qualified for the LPGA's Hall of Fame. Of course, she still has to wait until 2012 to get in, since she hit the LPGA victory requirements long before she hit its mandate that a golfer has to play 10 years on the tour before she is eligible. That's how dominant she has been - less than halfway there on the calendar, yet already there in the record book.
That's big.
So is Ochoa, who leads the LPGA in average driving distance at 277.5 yards. Where her power comes from is anybody's guess.
At 5-foot-6 and 120 pounds, there's no incredible leverage. But there are well-shaped forearms and hands that look a size larger than what they should be for someone her size.
And there's her intense desire to knock the stuffing out of a golf ball.
"I am improving my swing," said Ochoa, one of the few on the LPGA Tour who plays without a glove. "I have better position at the top of my backswing and that helps me to have better angles and to create more speed when I hit the ball."
Couple that with incredible touch and maybe the 26-year-old nicknamed "La Reina" - "The Queen" - should instead be nicknamed "La Tigresse."
"She'll make 30-footers on you all day and not even think twice about it," fellow tour player Brittany Lincicome said. "Obviously, she's been on this great run so you can never count her out of a tournament. When she's there, you know you're going to have to shoot so many under par, depending on the golf course, to win."
It might be easier for Ochoa's competition to get their game faces on if she wasn't so darn likable.
"She's a very enjoyable player to play with," said defending Kingsmill champion Suzann Pettersen, who won five times on the tour last year to Ochoa's eight victories. "She makes you feel comfortable around her. We've just got to... make sure she doesn't win that many."
"If you put Lorena under the gun, she will make mistakes like every other human being. I think we've just got to step up and give her a bit of a challenge."
For all her immense talent, Ochoa is humble to a fault. When she arrived at the Ginn Open a few weeks ago with her caddie nowhere to be found, Ochoa grabbed her 50-pound golf bag - the one with the Mexican flag - slung it over her shoulder and trudged toward the registration table to sign up. She said hello to everyone she passed on the way, then went out and won.
Can anyone picture Tiger doing that?
Considering her status as the world's top player, Ochoa has somehow flown under the radar, at least in the United States. Her image doesn't overwhelm the general public and she's not peddling soft drinks or cereal (though there's talk of a possible deal with Gatorade).
In Mexico, however, her appeal is more significant. She's aligned with Audi, Banamex, Rolex, Lacoste, Ping, Callaway, Footjoy, Aeromexico, Selter and SemGroup, earning about $10 million a year in endorsements.
Given her shyness, not much more is expected.
"She's not the kind of girl who's looking for options to be on TV or in magazine articles," said her agent and brother, Alejandro Ochoa, in an interview with SportsBusiness Journal. "She just wants to be the No. 1 player in the world."
"I'm just trying to enjoy my moment," Lorena said. "This has been something that took me a long time to achieve. It's not something that happened in a couple of days or a couple of months."
When Ochoa turned pro, many thought she'd dominate from the start. In two years at the University of Arizona, she won 12 times, including eight tournaments her sophomore year. She was named NCAA Player of the Year both seasons.
But it took time to win on the LPGA Tour. Although she was Rookie of the Year in 2003, she quickly earned a reputation as a player who didn't know quite how to close the deal. One of her most painful runner-up finishes was at Kingsmill in 2004, when she was tied for the lead entering the final round only to finish two shots behind Se Ri Pak.
Ochoa followed that, however, with the first pro victory.
"It was just a learning process," Ochoa said. "I knew it would take me a few years to feel comfortable, to get my first win, and I knew it would take me five-plus years to get to the No. 1 position."
"All those moments and tough times and bad tournaments is what made me who I am today. I remember those times with a lot of joy, with a smile on my face."
While Lee Trevino was known as "The Merry Mex " and Mexicans rallied around him in his heyday, Trevino was born and raised in Dallas. Ochoa is authentic Mexican, born and raised in Guadalajara, where her dad is a real estate developer and her mom an artist. She's the first Mexican-born player to win on the LPGA Tour and has quickly grabbed the attention of a nation that has banked its hopes on its soccer teams for as long as anyone can remember.
When Trevino spoke, he sounded like a municipal course hustler trying to reach into your wallet; his only accent was a Texas twang.
When Ochoa speaks, her accent is thick, her enthusiasm genuine, her nationality unquestionable.
At home, Ochoa gets the rock star treatment. Trips to the grocery store turn into autograph sessions. Going out for a quiet dinner is nearly impossible.
Yet, in the United States, she leads a much more understated existence. On the eve of the Kraft Nabisco Championship a month ago, she sneaked away and made breakfast for the Latino grounds-keepers at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Karma can be a wonderful playing partner: Ochoa won by five shots - her second consecutive major victory.
She can't help but giggle when she attaches her spotless reputation and value system to attending to a Catholic school while growing up.
"I'm not going to change," she said. "I think that would be wrong. That's my No. 1 goal, to be the same inside or outside of golf. And this is who I am."
Neither will her goal change, she says. Ten years on the LPGA Tour, maybe 12. There's a yearning to return home, to start a family, to ground herself in everyday life.
And it's as strong as her yearning to be No. 1.
For now.
rich.radford(at)pilotonline.com |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us