aug6 Ochoatriumphs

Mexico’s World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa etched her name into the history books by becoming the first woman to win a professional event at the Home of Golf, yestrday clinching the Ricoh Women’s British Open on the Old Course, St Andrews.

The 25-year-old from Guadalajara won her first major championship and her fourth title of 2007 by four strokes with a total of five-under-par 287.
Sweden’s Maria Hjorth and Jee Young Lee of South Korea were her closest challengers on one-under-par 291 and took a share of second position, though they never looked like closing in on Ochoa, who carded a final round 74.
Hjorth, who spent three year’s playing golf in Scotland as a student at Stirling University, including playing in the St Rule Trophy, carded a 71, as did Lee, and was one of only three players to finish the tournament in red figures.
Linda Wessberg of Sweden , who began the day six strokes off the pace, carded a 75 to finish in joint seventh position on two-over-par.  Some consolation will come from the fact that the Swede now finds herself inside the top five places for automatic European Solheim Cup Team qualification, for the event that takes place just 45 minutes from her home at Halmstad Golfklubb in Sweden next month.
But the weekend belonged to the waif-like Mexican who completely dominated proceedings after opening her accoutn with an opening round of 67, which set her two strokes apart from the field. She made a strong start to the final round with birdies on the fifth and sixth holes, building a seven stroke lead on eight-under-par before three putting from 40 feet on the par-three eighth to move back to seven-under-par.  
That she would win was never in doubt; she was out in 34, two-under-par, and held a six stroke lead with nine holes to play. However there was a slight wobble as she dropped three shots coming home, at the 11th, 15th and 17th holes.
 “I believed that I would win the tournament on Monday when I first started practising ‑ but not until the 18th tee shot when I found the nice, big fairway did I realise I’d won it. I was walking with my caddie down there and  it was a great feeling.”
Ochoa is delighted to have proved some of the critics wrong, adding: “There were a lot of people saying that I wasn’t good enough or that I couldn’t win a major. This is a big step forward.  I’ve done it now and there’s no more to say.”
“I love St. Andrews and I love making golfing history. This is going to be there for the rest of my life. It would be great to go back to St Andrews one day, hopefully that will happen.”
Ricoh Women’s British Open
Final Scores:
287 – Lorena Ochoa (MEX) 67 73 73 74
291 – Jee Young Lee (KOR) 72 73 75 71, Maria Hjorth (SWE) 75 73 72 71
292 – Reilley Rankin (USA) 73 74 74 71
293 – Eun Hee Ji (KOR) 73 71 77 72, Se Ri Pak (KOR) 73 73 75 72
294 – Miki Saiki (JPN) 76 70 81 67, Paula Creamer (USA) 73 75 74 72, Catriona Matthew (SCO) 73 68 80 73, Linda Wessberg (SWE) 74 73 72 75
295 – Mhairi McKay (SCO) 75 74 79 67, Yuri Fudoh (JPN) 74 69 81 71, In-Bee Park (KOR) 69 79 76 71, Na On Min (KOR) 72 75 75 73, Brittany Lincicome (USA) 71 76 75 73
296 – Gloria Park (KOR) 74 75 76 71, Melissa Reid (Am) (ENG) 73 75 76 72, Virginie Lagoutte-Clement (FRA) 72 73 78 73, Becky Brewerton (WAL) 74 75 74 73, Stacy Prammanasudh (USA) 74 76 72 74, Annika Sorenstam (SWE) 72 71 77 76, Karine Icher (FRA) 72 71 77 76
297 – Alena Sharp (CAN) 77 70 79 71, Natalie Gulbis (USA) 73 76 76 72, Beth Bader (USA) 73 77 75 72, Sherri Steinhauer (USA) 72 71 80 74, Wendy Ward (USA) 71 70 80 76
299 – Suzann Pettersen (NOR) 74 76 78 71, Sarah Lee (KOR) 72 76 79 72, Ji-Yai Shin (KOR) 76 74 77 72, Jimin Kang (KOR) 77 72 75 75, Karrie Webb (AUS) 77 73 74 75
300 – Juli Inkster (USA) 79 68 82 71, Kim Hall (USA) 74 74 79 73, Cristie Kerr (USA) 77 71 79 73, Trish Johnson (ENG) 75 75 77 73, Sophie Gustafson (SWE) 73 72 81 74, Meena Lee (KOR) 71 76 79 74, Louise Friberg (SWE) 69 76 80 75, Candie Kung (TAI) 72 74 79 75, Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 78 72 75 75
301 – Kerry Smith (Am) (ENG) 77 74 80 70, Michele Redman (USA) 75 73 81 72, Lotta Wahlin (SWE) 74 77 78 72, In Kyung Kim (KOR) 72 76 79 74, Rebecca Hudson (ENG) 70 73 82 76, Karen Stupples (ENG) 75 72 78 76
303 – Hye Yong Choi (Am) (KOR) 74 76 83 70, Catrin Nilsmark (SWE) 72 74 86 71
304 – Dina Ammaccapane (USA) 76 73 83 72, Sally Watson (Am) (SCO) 78 73 80 73, Beth Daniel (USA) 74 75 80 75, Rachel Bell (Am) (ENG) 77 74 76 77, Grace Park (KOR) 75 74 77 78
305 – Rachel Hetherington (AUS) 75 72 82 76, Belen Mozo (Am) (ESP) 75 72 82 76, Momoko Ueda (JPN) 73 76 79 77
306 – Anna Nordqvist (Am) (SWE) 76 75 84 71, Iben Tinning (DEN) 77 74 81 74, Jin Joo Hong (KOR) 76 73 82 75, Lisa Hall (ENG) 73 73 84 76, Christina Kim (USA) 75 74 79 78, Ai Miyazato (JPN) 70 80 77 79
308 – Joanne Mills (AUS) 71 78 79 80
309 – Diana D’Alessio (USA) 74 76 85 74, Martina Eberl (GER) 73 75 75 86
310 – Nicole Castrale (USA) 73 78 83 76
311 – Meg Mallon (USA) 74 74 83 80
312 – Naomi Edwards (Am) (ENG) 74 77 86 75