Lorena Ochoa Is A Winner Again

by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 5, 2009 10:48 AM EDT

Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin had been having a fantastic early portion of 2009. Ochoa had won twice through April, including once in her home nation of Mexico. Shin had won in Singapore at the HSBC Women's Champions. But, for the greater part of the spring, neither of the LPGA Tour's best found the winner's circle.

Speculation was abound that Ochoa had lost focus considering her upcoming wedding to Aeromexico CEO Andres Conesa. Shin's struggles were pinned on the transition to being a full-time member of the American tour.

As it played out, Shin was able to win in late June at the Wegmans LPGA, then again a few weeks ago at the P&G Beauty Northwest Arkansas Championship. It was later revealed that Shin may well have been suffering from the opposite emotion as Ochoa. Shin had broken up with her longtime beau earlier in the year, and that event negatively impacted her play.

This weekend, Lorena Ochoa was able to get back on track with her first win since April. She successfully defended her title at the Navistar LPGA Classic, winning by four shots on 18 under par.

After finishing runner-up to Sophie Gustafson at last week's CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge, Ochoa appeared to have found her game again. Three rounds in the sixties to begin the tournament gave Ochoa the lead heading into Sunday that she would only build upon.

Fourteen year old amateur Alexis Thompson fired her second straight 74 to finish T27, but certainly earned a lot of respect by finishing as highly playing a full week of golf - from qualifying on Monday through the final round on Sunday.

Michelle Wie snuck up on the field once again, finishing the tournament in second place with a Sunday flourish and the round of the day with 66.

The LPGA Tour now goes dark until the end of the month, marking another break for the Tour that impedes its momentum.

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I thought that was terrific yesterday. It wasn’t the head to head shootout we had last week – this was the kind of finish that plagued Ochoa a few years ago when she was trying to get into the winnner’s circle, but managed to find new and exciting ways to blow leads week in and week out. The only person she had to face was herself – and we all know how tough that can be. Now it’s down to the wedding ceremony and getting her lines right so she can get back to business in 2010.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Oct 5, 2009 10:59 AM EDT reply actions