Lorena Ochoa Wins 3rd Straight LPGA Tour Title
Over the weekend, LPGA golfer Lorena Ochoa of Mexico played 54 holes and stayed an impressive five strokes ahead of 4 other players to be crowned as the champion in the Safeway Classic presented by Pepsi at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Oregon, USA. Ochoa also earned a first-prize purse of $255,000. It was a win she dedicated to her mother, whose birthday was Sunday, the day Ochoa claimed the Safeway Classic presented by Pepsi championship. Ochoa’s number one finish in the Safeway Classic presented by Pepsi also gives the Mexican golfer her third consecutive title in the last three scheduled tournaments of the LPGA.
Lorena Ochoa’s streak started in the first week of August when the LPGA Tour made a scheduled stop at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland for the Ricoh Women’s British Open. Lorena Ochoa scored 287 after 72 holes and beat out South Korean Jee Young Lee and Swedish golfer Maria Hjorth by four strokes, to give her the Ricoh Women’s British Open Champion and a $320,000 purse. This was also Ochoa’s first major title since her rookie year in 2003.
Two weeks ago, Lorena Ochoa was in Canada to take part in the CN Canadian Women’s Open at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton, Alberta. Ochoa led by three strokes after 72 holes to beat 22 year-old American Paula Creamer to the CN Canadian Women’s Open title and a $337,000 prize.
The last player to win three straight tournaments was Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam who made the feat in March 2005, winning the 2005 MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta, the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi (she defeated Ochoa in a playoff) and the Kraft Nabisco Championship Sorenstam also won four straight in 2001, matching the LPGA record for most consecutive wins in scheduled events also shared by Mickey Wright (1962 & 1963) and Kathy Whitworth (1969).
Being ranked number one in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Lorena Ochoa could be well on her way to have her name among those record-holders. Unfortunately, Ochoa will not be playing in this weekend’s upcoming State Farm Classic at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois.
“They keep saying, ‘You should play, you can do four in a row.’ But it’s time for me to go home. I’m very happy with my three wins. And this year has been very special to me,” Ochoa said.
Ochoa is scheduled to go back home to Mexico to attend her brother’s wedding, and stay away from the LPGA Tour scheduled events for around 1 month. Ochoa already has 6 LPGA titles this 2007 season.
It looks like State Farm Classic’s 2006 Champion Annika Sorenstam will not have the red-hot streak of Ochoa to worry about when she defends her title. However, Sorenstam will have to ward off Rolex Ranking’s number two Karrie Webb, who is seeking her first win of the 2007 season as well as Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Morgan Pressel, US Women’s Open champion Cristie Kerr and SBS Open champion Paula Creamer, whose also had a lot of second place finishes this season.
Annika Sorenstam, who has also just announced her engagement to Mike McGee, her boyfriend of two years. It will be the second marriage of Sorenstam following a divorce from David Esch in February 2005. That was also the year she won three consecutive. This season, Annika has yet to win a title, and record the 70th in her career. So far, the closest she’s got was a runner-up finish behind Meaghan Francella in the MasterCard Classic held in Mexico City, Mexico last March 2007. Well, maybe the good news of her engagement will spark something good on the fairways and greens.
For more odds on the LPGA Tour, click here.
