LATEST NEWS

• Lorena Ochoa won the 2009 Corona Morelia Championship! (April 26, 2009)

Lorena Ochoa fired a five-under par 68 on to hold off Norway's Suzanne Pettersen and win her second straight Corona Championship LPGA title.

Ochoa, who also won the tournament in her homeland in 2006, nabbed back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 to break out of a tie with Pettersen.

She won with a 25-under total of 267.

Ochoa had to make do without regular caddie Dave Booker around the Tres Marias Country Club course after he was injured playing football on Saturday.

She called on childhood coach Rafael Alarcon and with him on the bag Ochoa collected her 26th career title and second this season.

"I hope Dave gets well soon. We don't know for how long he's going to be out. But Rafa was very important today," Ochoa said. "He knows my game very well and we will make a decision for the future later on this week.

"Rafa has been giving me advice since I was little, so we didn't do anything different out there, just enjoy it."

Ochoa also notched her third career LPGA victory in Mexico, where she has played 11 of the 13 tournaments sanctioned by the US women's tour.

South Korea's Na Yeon Choi finished third after a 70 for 274. American Wendy Ward was a further stroke back after a 70 for 275.

Ochoa won last year's tournament by 11 strokes but had to battle this time, despite finishing with the same total score.

"In a golf tournament, where one (shot) is enough to win, there is no difference," she said. "This is a complicated year. There are many players who want to win. You can see that every week.

"This year, it will be very hard to win by 10. That is why I keep practicing, trying to improve - to remain on top of them."

Pettersen started the day one stroke adrift and tied the lead with a birdie at the third hole.

Ochoa edged ahead with a birdie on the fourth, but Pettersen responded with a birdie at five.

Ochoa took a two-stroke lead with birdies at six and eight, but they were tied again after Ochoa bogeyed 11 and Pettersen birdied 12.

Ochoa finally took the lead for good with birdies at 15 and 16, leaving Pettersen still in search of her first LPGA win since 2007.

"I had a one-stroke lead over her after the 15th, she missed her putt and I knew that, with a birdie, I was going to take a two-stroke lead with two holes left to play, so I made the decision to go for it," Ochoa said. "I had a good putt, a little bit soft, but it fell. ... That was beautiful."

• Lorena Ochoa is just two shots behind the leader after 2nd round of Long Drugs Challenge (October 10, 2008)

Lorena Ochoa found a comforting routine Friday on a chilly, blustery day in Danville. She hit the ball, grabbed a lined jacket from her caddie and stuffed her hands inside the pockets. Then, when it was time to hit again, she removed the jacket and repeated the process.

"I could go for a hot shower," Ochoa said moments after completing her round.

She spoke with a faint smile in the fading sunlight on Blackhawk's Lakeside Course. Ochoa shot 4-under 68 in the second round of the Longs Drugs Challenge, plowing through daunting elements to vault into contention heading into the weekend.

South Korea's In-Kyung Kim (69) seized the lead at 8-under-par, one stroke ahead of Mollie Fankhauser (68). Ochoa's late surge left her two shots behind, at 6-under, with Angela Stanford (69) at 5-under. Defending champion Suzann Pettersen (72) and Yani Tseng (72) highlighted the group at 4-under.

Friday brought cool temperatures and strong, gusting breezes - the wind chill hovered near 40 degrees when the first groups teed off at 7:30 a.m., and the afternoon temperature topped out in the high 60s. The winds measured about 20 mph, with gusts reaching 30.

Not surprisingly, then, scores soared. Maria Hjorth and Michele Redman, the opening-round co-leaders at 66, staggered to rounds of 80 and 75, respectively. Seventeen players posted scores in the 60s on Thursday, in tamer weather; five were in the 60s on Friday.

Or just picture Hjorth's tee shot on No. 12, one of the most exposed holes. The ball drifted right, found the cart path and rolled ... and rolled ... and rolled at least 30 yards. Hjorth eventually made double bogey.

"It was very tough today," she said.

Ochoa, the world's top player, briefly wobbled in the wind, with bogeys on Nos. 12 and 14. She stood at 3-under at that point, five shots off the lead and yearning for a spirited finish.

That's exactly what happened - Ochoa made birdies on three of her final four holes. She nearly holed out from the fairway for eagle on No. 18, where her wedge shot from 113 yards sailed past the flagstick and spun back to 1 foot. She tapped in for an easy, satisfying birdie.

"For sure, dinner will taste better," Ochoa said. "I'm right there."

• Lorena Ochoa wins Navistar Classic in 3-way playoff(September 28, 2008)

Lorena Ochoa won the Navistar LPGA Classic on Sunday for her seventh victory of the year and first since May, beating Candie Kung with a two-foot par putt on the second hole of a playoff.

Recharged after a month away from the tour, the top-ranked Mexican star closed with a 2-under 70 to match Kung (67) and Cristie Kerr (66) at 15-under 273. Kerr was eliminated with a bogey on the first extra hole.

Ochoa was winless in seven starts after opening the year with six wins in nine events, including four straight.

Shanshan Feng (66) and Song-Hee Kim (69) tied for fourth at 14 under on the links-style Senator Course, part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Capitol Hill complex.

Sweden's Louise Friberg, tied for the lead with Ochoa at 13 under entering the round, shot a 72 to tie for sixth at 13 under with Wendy Doolan (68), Sarah Jane Kenyon (69), Jill McGill (69) and LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng (70).

Hamilton's Alena Sharp 4-under 68 to finish tied for 34th.

Ochoa eagled the par-5 eighth and also had a bogey and a birdie in the round that she finished with six straight pars - eight including the playoff. She earned US$210,000 for her 24th career LPGA Tour victory to push her season total to $2,591,048.

On the second playoff hole, Ochoa two-putted from the back fringe, leaving only two feet for par. Kung three-putted from about 35 feet.

• Lorena Ochoa tied for the lead after 3rd round of Navistar Classic (September 27, 2008)

Winless since May, top-ranked Lorena Ochoa shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday for a share of third-round lead in the Navistar LPGA Classic.

The Mexican star, making her first start since tying for sixth in the Safeway Classic on Aug. 24, matched Louise Friberg (65) at 13-under 203. "It was a little bit tougher today for me," Ochoa said. "I didn't feel a great rhythm with my irons, with my swing. So I was struggling a little bit, but I was able to finish under par and I think that's always good."

Ochoa has four top-seven finishes in a row, but is winless in seven starts. She opened the year with six wins in nine events, including four straight.

"What matters is to be in a good position for tomorrow, to be in the last group and to have a chance to win the tournament," Ochoa said. "So I'm going to be there tomorrow, 100 per cent, it will be great to do it."

After opening with consecutive 67s, Ochoa had five birdies and two bogeys in the third round on the links-style Senator Course, part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Capitol Hill complex.

"Overall, I think it was a good round," Ochoa said. "I think as long as you make birdies and give yourself chances, it will be there. There's nothing I need to change. I'm going to try to do the same for tomorrow.

• Lorena Ochoa one shot behind leader of Navistar Classic (September 26, 2008)

Recharged after a month off, Lorena Ochoa shot her second straight 5-under 67 on Friday to move within a stroke of leader Janice Moodie halfway through the Navistar LPGA Classic.

The top-ranked Ochoa is making her first start since tying for sixth in the Safeway Classic on Aug. 24, her fourth top-seven finish in a row, but seventh straight winless start. She opened the year with six wins in nine starts, including four straight.

"I'm just glad I took advantage of an early round today," Ochoa said. "It was playing a little bit easier today than yesterday in the morning. I think I just gave myself a lot of birdie chances. I've been very accurate with my irons and good with the distance and hopefully I can continue that. I have no reason to change anything and hope to do the same thing on the weekend and hopefully I can be out there on Sunday."

Moodie followed her opening 66 with a 67 on the links-style Senator Course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Capitol Hill complex.

The Scot birdied five of her last seven holes.

"I looked up at the scoreboard and I was definitely losing ground at that point," said Moodie, who finished on the front nine. "But I'm like, 'You know what, I'm playing well. Just kind of keep it going.' And suddenly I got a birdie barrage."

She won the last of her two LPGA Tour titles in 2002.

"I'm just enjoying the moment right now and trying to keep everything smooth and trying to keep the putting stroke smooth, the golf swing going smooth, and I'll get to that on Sunday," Moodie said.

Ochoa birdied her final two holes, hitting a hybrid to 25 feet to set up a two-putt birdie on the par-5 eighth, and holing a 12-footer on the par-4 ninth.

"I like these greens," Ochoa said. "I think that I do feel comfortable reading the greens and I think that's important to have a positive attitude."

• Lorena Ochoa shot an even par 73 in the 1st round of US Women's Open (June 26, 2008)

Lorena Ochoa did not play like the best female golfer in the world in the first round at the United States Women's Open, but a late comeback saved her day and perhaps the tournament.

Unlike Michelle Wie, who in one horrendous hole threw away any chance of contending, Ochoa dug herself out of a perilous predicament to keep alive her hopes.

"I'm really happy with my even par," the Mexican said after finishing strongly to post a 73 that left her six strokes behind leader Ji Young Oh at Interlachen Country Club.

"We all know that anything around even par for the US Open is always good. I'm a little disappointed I didn't take some advantage of the great conditions, but at the same time I'm still in it and that's what's important."

But Ochoa was in danger of not staying in it as she fell to three over after 12 holes.

A couple more bogeys and she would have been in deep trouble, but she turned it around like the champion she is with three birdies in the final five holes.

"Sometimes you get tired of waiting and waiting (for birdies)," she said, admitting her patience had started to wane.

"It was playing fairly easy in the morning. It was important to come back and finish even par."