“I flew to Scotland and I drove to
St. Andrews with my family.
It was late and the night was falling
but the first thing I wanted to do was
to go to the Old Course.
I didn’t care that there was no light;
I had to go.
I have never been there and it was
my dream to know that place.
So I drove straight to the course
before getting to the hotel.
I stepped on the middle of the 18th
green all by myself.
All I had was the light of the moon
and my imagination.
I saw everything that surrounded me.
I started turning 360 degrees and I felt
the silence.
I saw the famous clubhouse, the hotel,
the bridge…
The benches were empty.
Then I made a second turn of 360 degrees and I saw the benches full of people, cheers, my family and myself lifting the trophy on the 18th green.
It felt real.
On Sunday, when that moment was real, the only thing that was missing was the moon.”
And so, in her own words, Lorena Ochoa’s victory at this year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open was, in fact, a dream come true. But it wasn’t a “wish upon a star” kind of dream for the 25-year-old. The victory at St. Andrews, like many of Lorena’s dreams that have come true, was the result of an incredible amount of dedication and focus from someone who’s known what she wanted for a long, long time, and who worked very hard to get it.
When I first interviewed Lorena in 2004 (her second year on Tour), she had just won her first LPGA victory. With a final-round 68 at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, she took the Franklin American Mortgage Championship. Afterward, she told me, “Since I was very little, I wanted to be the best player in the world. I’ve been taking steps little by little, and this was a big accomplishment for me.”
In April of this year, she reached her goal when she overtook Annika Sorenstam to become the world’s No. 1 — the first Mexican golfer, male or female, to do so. In August, there was the Women’s British Open, the first women’s major to be held at St. Andrews. Her victory there was great not only because she held together so well down the stretch (excepting a bogey at 17, which could have been much worse), but because she silenced those who’d criticized her being ranked No. 1 despite never having won a major. As she told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper after the victory, “I understand their comments. Now there is no more to say."
Her critics may have been silenced, but Lorena wasn’t through. She won the next two tournaments in a row after St. Andrew’s — the CN Canadian Women’s Open and the Safeway Classic — becoming the first golfer to win three consecutive events since Sorenstam did it in 2005. Was there any doubt she was No. 1? Not anymore.
Both the No. 1 ranking and the Women’s British Open garnered congratulatory phone calls from Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who says, “Lorena represents the eagerness of Mexicans and the Mexico we want to see, a Mexico that is not defeated by adversity, a country that fights, that takes a step onto the world, a winning Mexico.”
Top ranked, record victories and a national inspiration; It’s obvious 2007 has been good to Lorena, but don’t think for a second that it’s some kind of freak success. There’s precious little luck in Ochoa’s game, but there is plenty of persistence — all the more evident because the odds against a Mexican golfer even reaching the Tour, much less becoming the world’s No. 1, were so great when she started out. Mexican–Americans like Lee Trevino and Nancy Lopez may have done well, but the country itself has produced precious few pros considering its size. In a population topping 108 million, there are an estimated 18,000 or so golfers playing near 200 courses, many of which serve tourist properties.
Early Victories
Lorena herself might never have taken up the game had her family not lived next to the Guadalajara Country Club. There, while other 5-year old girls were playing with dolls, Lorena preferred to watch her father and his friends play golf. It didn’t take long for her to grab a club (an adult-sized club, as the story goes) and start hitting balls herself. At age 6 she won her first state event, at 7 her first national. She would go on to capture 22 local and 44 national junior titles before she nailed her first eye-catching victory at age 9 at the Junior World in San Diego; no Mexican had come remotely close to winning it in years past.
Though she couldn’t speak a word of English, the 2000 Junior World victory showed that Lorena could play the game. That fact was confirmed when she went on to win the tournament for the next four years in a row, break Tiger Woods’ records as a junior golfer, and get her name in the Guinness Book of World Records for her results. A star was emerging. Golf fans outside of Mexico started to notice the country, while Mexicans themselves started to learn about golf. Support from family and friends started to build, with various people offering equipment, airline tickets and accommodations for tournaments in and out of Mexico.
After the Junior Worlds victories, Lorena realized that to improve her game she was going to have to leave her native Guadalajara. She worked through high school in less than two years so she could spend time on golf, and landed quite a few full scholarship offers from different U.S. universities. With Mexican universities not offering athletic programs for golfers, the United States was the obvious choice for college. There was just one problem: She didn’t speak English. With one year of hard work, she rectified the language situation, passed her SAT exam and headed to the University of Arizona. It wasn’t easy. The distance from home and the language barriers were tough. “In the beginning, I was having a hard time with English and being away,” she explained previously. “Some nights I would cry and say, ‘What am I doing here?’ But at the same time, I knew I was making a sacrifice in the States, because I knew I wanted to get better. So I tried to remember my goals and keep going.”
In the spirit of doing everything to help her game, Lorena chose Sports Psychology as a major. Based on her final-round focus recently, it seems to have helped — though she didn’t stick around too long to mess with the books. In fact, she only competed in college for two years (2001 and 2002), but her accomplishments there placed her at the top of the list of all–time elite college players.
As a freshman, she set the single-season NCAA scoring average record (71.33). Her sophomore year, she broke that with a 70.13 average and set another record by consecutively winning her first seven tournaments of the season (in fact, she won eight of the first ten). In 20 starts she won 12 times, finished as a runner-up six times and never placed out of the top 10, earning a slew of awards along the way. Not surprisingly, Lorena took NCAA Player of the Year both years she played.
All of the hard work was getting Lorena noticed, both at home and in the States. Her charisma and charm, completely apparent today, was only starting to be appreciated. Many of the Hispanics living in Arizona started to follow her, including the gardeners on the golf courses, the cooks at school and others who were proud of her success. And while much of the attention in the U.S. and Mexico was from “everyday” people, she was also starting to gain national recognition. In 2001, she had her first encounter with a Mexican president when, based solely on her amateur accomplishments, President Vicente Fox presented her with the National Sports Award and a parade was held in her honor. She became the youngest recipient to receive the country’s highest athletic recognition, and the only golfer to do so. As an amateur, she could not accept the accompanying monetary prize. In what everyone now knows is true Ochoa fashion, she donated it to the Mexican Golf Association to support the game in her country. Notably, she won the award again in 2006 (as a professional).
Professional at Last
After racking up several records, a whole room full of awards and Mexico’s highest national sports honor it was time to turn pro, and so Lorena did after completing her second year of college. The LPGA season had already started, so her professional debut was on the Futures Tour. With her brother as caddie and her father as support, she drove from tournament to tournament in a van she bought. She placed second in her first event, won three times on Tour and managed four runner-ups, eventually finishing No. 1 on the money list after only 10 events. For her work she was named 2002 Futures Tour Rookie and Player of the Year, easily earning her LPGA Tour card for 2003.
While she was taking off in golf, she never left her other passions behind. Lorena not only loves other sports, but she is talented in all of them. Name one, and she can probably beat you. A high school basketball star, she’s competed in triathlons, half marathons, 10K races and ecothons (a several-day event comprised of mountain biking, hiking, swimming, rappelling and kayaking). At 12, she climbed the 17,324-foot Mt. Iztaccihuatl in Mexico, and credits all of this with helping her game. “I think that has helped me very much to be where I am right now,” she said. “You just have to keep going and going even though you are really tired.”
At the start of 2003, she was a long way from the practice green where, as a kid, she dreamt of competing in the LPGA against the best golfers in the world. Now she was one of them — and on her way to being No. 1. But she still had a ways to go.
Her first year on Tour, she didn’t manage any victories but still finished ninth on the money list, earning 2003 Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2004, she captured her first win (the Franklin American Mortgage Championship) — after receiving some dramatic news. Early Sunday morning, before playing the last round, she received a call informing her that her brother Alejandro had just reached the summit of Mount Everest a few hours before. Exalted and motivated, Lorena took her first tournament on a dramatic 18th hole, becoming the first Mexican to win a tournament on the LPGA Tour and finishing off a great day for her career, for her family and for Mexico. A second victory came at the 2004 Wachovia LPGA Classic, as did LPGA Tour records for most birdies in a season (442), most rounds under par in a season (75), and most rounds in the 60s in a season (51).
The following year, 2005, saw one victory and four runner-up finishes. For many, Lorena had shown herself to be a great player but not necessarily No. 1 material. Lorena was distinguishing herself, but it was clearly Sorenstam´s era. The end of the year saw Lorena fourth on the money list, but overall 2005 was more about patience, consolidation, and change.
Those changes came on strong in 2006. Lorena returned with a different caddie and adjustments to her swing, physically and mentally prepared to take Annika’s crown. She made six victories, including one in her home country, claimed her first Rolex Player of the Year Award, the Vare Trophy (for lowest scoring average), and finished at the top of the money list, earning more than $2.5 million. She didn’t grab the elusive No. 1 spot from Annika, but she didn’t have long to wait.
No. 1
After 20 years of believing, in April of this year Lorena Ochoa was named the world’s No. 1 player. She was at her home course practicing with her coach Rafael Alarcón when she received the news. How sweet, then, her May victory at the Sybase Classic, her first as No. 1. But there was something missing: Unfortunately, Sybase wasn’t a major. Neither was the Wegmans LPGA in July, which she won. In the 23 majors she'd competed in, she managed 13 top-ten finishes and two runner-ups, but no victories. A No. 1 without a major? People were talking, but Lorena was unfazed.
As she says, she conquered her first major tournament “at the right moment and at the right place.” The win was on her mind from the moment she stepped out of the car and into the moonlight on the 18th green. Her name was atop the leader board all week. And when she crossed the Swilcan Bridge with her arms raised, everyone knew. Hugging her caddie, celebrating with her father and friends, the Mexican flags, the people on the benches, the champagne… She’d been there before. Twenty years ago in a young girl’s dreams, Lorena Ochoa, the world’s No. 1, took a historic victory at the birthplace of golf. This year, we all got to see it. And though it’s hard to imagine what she’s dreaming about tonight, it’s very likely we’ll find out in 2008.
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