Ochoa, Lorena

Lorena Ochoa, (born November 15, 1981, Guadalajara, Mexico), Mexican golfer who was one of the leading players in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in the early 2000s.

Ochoa, who grew up near the Guadalajara Country Club in Mexico, won 44 Mexican national junior events, plus five consecutive age-group titles (1990–94) at the junior world golf championships in San Diego, California. (Tiger Woods was among the other age-group winners her first two years there.) While attending the University of Arizona, Ochoa was twice National Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year, and in her sophomore year she set an NCAA record with victories in her first seven events. In November 2001 she became the first golfer and youngest athlete to win Mexico’s National Sports Award. After turning professional in 2002, Ochoa topped the money list on the Futures Tour to gain promotion to the LPGA, where she was the 2003 Rookie of the Year. The following year she became the first Mexican-born player to win on the LPGA circuit.

Ochoa’s opening-round 62 in the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship equaled the lowest round ever in major championships. She lost in a play-off to Karrie Webb, but with six wins Ochoa went on to surpass Annika Sörenstam as the tour’s leading money winner in 2006. That season she was named LPGA Player of the Year. Her impressive results continued as she won the 2007 Women’s British Open, the first women’s professional tournament ever staged on the Old Course at St. Andrews. After a number of near misses in other major championships—she had finished in the top 10 in 11 of the previous 15 tournaments—Ochoa dominated at St. Andrews from start to finish. She led by two strokes after her opening-round six-under-par 67, stretched her advantage to six with a round to play, and won by four strokes, despite a one-over-par 74 on the final day. In addition to claiming her first major title, Ochoa also won seven other tournaments in 2007, and she surpassed Sörenstam to become the world number-one-ranked woman player. The following year she won seven events, including her second major tournament, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She continued to be ranked number one in 2009, as she captured three titles and received her fourth consecutive Player of the Year award. In April 2010, however, Ochoa announced that she would be retiring from competitive play. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.