We Should Have Seen the Signs Mounting for Ochoa's Retirement

When I got my first message this morning in NYC asking me if I knew what was up with Lorena, I asked back to the sender if they had heard Ochoa was pregnant.  Nope, she was retiring, I was told.  I immediately phoned down to Daytona Beach to see if what I was told was true.  It was.  They were just as shocked as I felt at that moment.

As I walked - well, scurried - to Times Square to write a post to sum up what I had heard, I realized that this should not be surprising at all.  There were signs that Ochoa was preparing to retire sooner than the 2012 tape barrier that would give her ten LPGA Tour seasons and a place in the Hall of Fame.

The first was last year when I wrote a column for the now defunct Golf News Net site that detailed the personal struggles and adjustments of both Lorena Ochoa adjusting to the prospect of marriage and Ji Yai Shin's immigration to the US.  At the time, using the clear change in Lorena's fashion and mannerisms on course to interpret clear personal issues was questioned and even mocked.  Others saw the same nuanced changes and appeared concerned.

We always knew that Lorena Ochoa was intending a career not much longer than a decade, particularly when Andres Conesa entered her life in a serious way.  The problem for Ochoa wasn't that she couldn't handle being in a relationship - hardly.  It was the conditions in which she found love that complicated her life.  Conesa has three children from a previous marriage.  Ochoa is a devout Catholic, and the Church frowns heavily upon the notion of divorce (to them it doesn't even really exist) and remarriage (which is a massive sin).  The fallout from becoming a 28 year old Catholic stepmother to three kids half her age was going to be a strain for Ochoa and her family.  It should have been obvious that the complication would have a toll on her golf and enjoyment of the sport.

Choosing not to belief in the dress theory, perhaps the sudden firing of her caddy Dave Brooker last June should have been an indication.  It was sudden, with very little whisper of the transaction's likelihood spreading through LPGA circles.  The theory at the time was that chemistry may have soured, or it was a sign of desperation from Ochoa, who was clearly losing her grasp on the number one ranking she has owned for the better part of four years now.  She said Brooker and her parted ways because she was "entering a new phase in her career."  Yeah, the epilogue.

Ochoa seemed back on track, though, during a February 19 conference call with the media in which she indicated that she would play almost every LPGA Tour event this season (also fueling speculation now that Ochoa is already pregnant).  The new Mrs. Conesa said she would play for another two years - enough to get into the Hall of Fame - and then decide what to do.

Why the sudden change between mid-February and, presumably, the last week?  18th, 38th, and 52nd.  Those were her first three starts on the LPGA Tour in 2010.  Her first three starts of '09? Win, sixth, and runner-up.  The difference in momentum was clear to onlookers, but likely could not have been starker to Ochoa herself.

Sure, a 4th at the Kraft Nabisco Championship - a site of one of her major wins and major letdowns over her short career - probably helped, but perhaps her mind was already made up by then.

The Magic 8 Ball has a very poor track record of prognosticating, but all signs really did point to yes when it came to Lorena Ochoa taking indefinite leave from the sport of golf.