Lorena Ochoa With the Old Switcheroo
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 23, 2009 10:03 PM EDT
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PrintLorena Ochoa is switching caddies. I suppose that Cristie Kerr leading the money list is enough to make LoCho get a different looper.
From the AP report:
Lorena Ochoa has a new caddie, switching to veteran Greg Johnston starting next week at the Jamie Farr Classic in Ohio. Ochoa won two majors and reached No. 1 in the world with David Brooker, but she said Tuesday they are parting because of a new phase in her career.
"It’s not easy to let him go knowing he is such a great caddie and person," Ochoa said.
Johnston spent a dozen years working for Juli Inkster, and together they won 20 times and four majors. He left Inkster to work for Michelle Wie when she was 15 and had at least a share of the lead on the back nine of three majors.
I believe Lorena's quote is a nice way of saying, "He's not getting it done anymore. It's time for a switch."
So, what better way to celebrate than with a clip from the very easy The Price is Right game Switcheroo? I can't think of one, so here you go.
If you'd like to get a preview of this week's Wegman's LPGA event in Rochester, check out Hound Dog or The Constructivist's very good previews.
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Beyond off-course issues
It had been speculated during a recent PGA Tour Confidential that Ochoa’s on-course woes were a result of all that she had going on off the course, but this makes me believe it was more something on the course. Then again, maybe it was just time for a change. Either way, I think this change resets her energy for 2009 and she will still wind up as the Player of the Year on the LPGA Tour.
Eli Miller
http://www.southlandgolfmagazine.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/millertimegolf
I wrote a piece wondering the same thing (actually, I believe I beat them to the punch on it, but it’s a natural topic). Maybe she needs to go back to shorts since the skirt isn’t working. Could be that, could be marriage, could be a lot of things but seems like making a caddy change is an honest attempt to see if tinkering will improve results.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 23, 2009 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Don’tcha love how it’s never the person swinging the club’s fault – it’s the person handing them the club that causes the bad play ? And here we were – reading all the speculation that her bad play and lack of wins were because she switched from shorts to skirts. :-)
Hope the new guy works out – I kind of miss seeing her put strings of birdies together…or maybe it really IS the skirt.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
hope it works for her
Now I’m wondering what’s going to happen with the LPGA’s top 2 caddies. Annika’s old caddie is in a trying-out period with Momoko Ueda, and while her performances have largely improved on last year (stats-wise, at least), her results are a bit worse—more consistent, but less impressive. So I’m wonderting if he’s going to leave her….
by The Constructivist on Jun 24, 2009 2:43 AM EDT reply actions
I wouldn’t have put Annika’s caddy with Ueda. Annika was the poster child for the stoic Swede – self-disciplined, motivated, and in control of her own game. Ueda isn’t exactly a wild child, she’s a bit more bubbly, but she doesn’t seem like she’s the one calling the shots – she defers to the caddy for too much of the decision making.
Should be interesting to see what kind of a team they make.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
changes
The litany plays out at Life on Tour with regularity. If the game is going south the player will first change caddie. If that doesn’t work, change clubs. If that fails, change instructors. Lorena isn’t the first to work through changes — she won’t be the last.
My question would be, when a player starts down that road, what percentage of the time does the game turn around?
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
Very true, but you don’t normally expect to see this kind of thing from the #1 ranked player.
That’s a heck of a question about the success rate of caddy switches. I’d have no clue how to answer that one!
But, maybe this caddy change is her Steve Williams shift.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 24, 2009 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions
maybe
But I don’t think so. The caddie change is cosmetic and probably won’t alter her game much. I think once someone overtakes her, which should happen before the end of the year, she’ll sink like a rock.
Lorena has too many things going on in her life besides golf. She’s seems to be spending a lot of time with her charitable stuff and the wedding and the (whatever). I’m not being critical, I’d love her to stick around. But she’s skipped a bunch of tournaments she should have played if she was serious about keeping the ranking.
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
Totally agree – it really seems like golf has taken a huge backseat to the rest of her life.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 24, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
you’re right – except that on her level, a caddie is a bit more than cosmetic. If you hire the wrong person, and you need someone who can help you adjust your mood, or has a better feel for wind and weather, or can add and subtract a little better than you – that team is at a disadvantage and the caddie won’t be around long.
definitely right on her head going too many different directions to play her best golf. I’m afraid she bought into the Tiger Woods theory of playing a minimum number of tournaments and no more and it’s hurting her. She hasn’t been as sharp as she was when she got to #1 playing a heavy schedule. The same thing happened to Annika when she drank the Tiger Woods schedule Koolaid.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I’d agree completely if we weren’t talking about someone of Greg Johnston’s caliber. He can probably read the wind and weather as well as add and subtract. Lorena is fortunate he was available.
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
Well
Ochoa would have been doomed if she hired Caddy blogger Larry. Larry claims to have been a caddy for 31 years and he’s had 3 winning bags(Donna White twice in the 1980’s and Mi-Hyun Kim in 1999). One win in 24 years, Ochoa might as well retire.
Ok – the caddy does not swing the club – the caddy does not win. If you only look at things that way, Bill, MOST caddies are abject failures. Why ? Because there are 144 players starting each week…and how many winners ? One.
Ochoa won because she was the best woman golfer on the planet for those 2+ years – not because of who was on her bag. During that time, she might have won carrying her own bag. If a caddy gives bad information, a player…a good player…will figure it out pretty quickly and he/she will be looking for a new bag or a new industry very quickly.
A good caddy is a huge help – especially on the LPGA where the caddy carries the clubs, cleans the clubs, figures yardage, reads wind, chooses clubs, lines up the player, cleans the ball, reads the putts, lines up the player for the putt, then puts the flag back in the hole – but sooner or later, the player has to pull the trigger and hit the ball.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
You're missing
The sarcasm in my last post.
Larry with all his experience, you’d think would have better bags than he’s had. Look at the group of golfers he’s worked for since he started blogging. Golfers going no where, veterans in decline. He worked for Ammacapane for the longest time, but Dina not Danielle.
weird thing about #1 LPGAers lately
If what Dianemarie is saying is right, and I don’t buy it right now, isn’t it strange that Annika bowed out of a potential rivalry with Ochoa and now Ochoa seems to be backing out of a rivalry with a half dozen players or more? If it does play out this way, I really don’t understand it. Dominance is great, but becoming or staying #1 when it’s close seems like an even bigger achievement…. Why not go for it?
by The Constructivist on Jun 24, 2009 10:32 PM EDT reply actions
D would probably smack me on the back of the head for saying this – but it’s a girl thing. Women have more options than men in this world. A woman can go after a career if she wants – but if she just decides to change her mind, she can pursue the “wife and kids” route and nobody thinks less of her.
It’s way too early to count Ochoa out of this queen of the hill talk. Right now, she is dealing with too many things in her life to play her best golf. Planning a wedding makes normal women psychotic at times, Ochoa is playing golf around the world, plus having to please her sponsors, plus the relationship, plus the wedding itself. That’s a lot for one plate. We don’t know if she will just hang up the sticks and be the wife and have the kids – or maybe she’ll get back to her old self, working her butt off away from the course and winning tournaments on.
About Annika, come on – she had been on top for more than 10 years where she faced rivalries from Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, Grace Park, Dottie Pepper, Laura Davies, and a dozen other great names. Then you add the divorce, the new marriage, and the desire for kids – a clock we men don’t deal with. I can’t get on her too much for stepping aside when she did.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
The Tiger Woods' schedule Koolaid must be pretty rank by now
because it was first made by Jack Nicklaus almost forty years ago…
by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Jun 27, 2009 4:12 PM EDT reply actions
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