Lorena Ochoa fact file

Name: Lorena Ochoa

Date of birth: 15/11/1981

Place of birth: Guadalajara

Nationality: Mexican

Height: 5’6″

Turned professional: 2002

Lorena Ochoa

About Lorena Ochoa

Retired Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa is considered to be one of the greatest female golfers of all time.

The two-time Major winner, who this week was selected to enter the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017, spent more than three years as the No 1 women’s golfer in the world.

She retired in May 2010 at the age of 28 to start her own family, be closer to home and work on her golf foundation.

Ochoa, 34, started her golfing career at the tender age of five and had the benefit of living near the the 10th tee at Guadalajara Country Club.

As a junior, she claimed 22 state events in Guadalajara and 44 national events in Mexico. She also won five consecutive titles at the Junior World Golf Championships.

Lorena Ochoa

She secured a golf scholarship at the University of Arizona and enrolled in 2000.

Ochoa picked up a host of honours and titles during her university years, including NCAA Player of the Year Awards for 2001 and 2002 and the 2001 Pac-10 Women’s Golf Championships.

In 2001, Ochoa was presented with Mexico’s National Sports Award, becoming the youngest person and first golfer to receive Mexico’s highest sporting accolade.

She left college in 2002 after her second year to turn professional and joined the Futures Tour, winning three out of 10 events and topping its money list to earn membership on the LPGA Tour for the 2003 season.

In her rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 2003, she had eight top-10 finishes, was crowned the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year and finished ninth on the LPGA official money list.

Lorena Ochoa

Her first of many victories on the LPGA came in May 2004 when she won the Franklin American Mortgage Championship.

She would go on to claim 26 more titles on the LPGA, including two Major championships.

The first of her Major crowns arrived in August 2007 at the Women’s British Open at St Andrews when she romped to a four-stroke victory ahead of Maria Hjorth and Jee Young Lee.

She clinched her second Major less than a year later in April at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Ochoa finished five strokes ahead of Suzann Pettersen and Annika Sörenstam.

She was the No 1 female golfer in the world for 158 consecutive weeks from April, 23 2007 to her retirement in May 2, 2010.

Lorena Ochoa

In April 2010, Ochoa announced she would be retiring from professional golf, although she has made sporadic appearances at tournaments in the years since.

She also plays host to the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, an LPGA event, every year.

Ochoa will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame next year along with 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam, 2016 Ryder Cup winning captain Davis Love III, 18-time LPGA Tour winner Meg Mallon and English golf writer and commentator Henry Longhurst, who died in 1978.

Social

Twitter: @LorenaOchoaR

James Broadhurst

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