Golf

Hot Ochoa is humbled on 72nd hole

With a likely winning score, the three-time LPGA Tour winner catches her 3-wood in the turf and chunks it into water, blowing her chances.

By BOB HARIG
Published June 27, 2005

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. - She teed off two hours before the leaders, 12 groups behind. The talk had been about Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel and Annika Sorenstam.

But when Mexico's Lorena Ochoa stepped to the 18th tee, the U.S. Women's Open was in her grasp.

"(I thought) that I was going to win the tournament," she said.

Instead, the three-time LPGA Tour winner encountered disaster.

She caught her 3-wood in the turf behind the ball and chunked it into the water, a shot that led to a quadruple-bogey 8.

A par, as it turned out, would have put her in an 18-hole playoff with Birdie Kim today.

"It's very difficult," Ochoa, 23, said afterward, fighting back tears. "Just trying to win the Women's U.S. Open is the best thing for a golfer. I just gave the tournament away."

Ochoa was a highly touted amateur who won 12 collegiate titles while at the University of Arizona. Her eight consecutive victories in the 2001-02 seasons remain an NCAA record.

She was rookie of the year on the LPGA Tour in 2003, won twice last year, earning more than $1.4-million to rank third on the money list. And she was coming off a victory last week in Rochester.

Ochoa shot the lowest round of the tournament at Cherry Hills Country Club, a 3-under-par 68 during the second round. She fell back with 77 on Saturday, putting her five strokes behind the co-leaders.

But she inched up the leaderboard as the rest of the field fell back on Sunday. Then Ochoa birdied the 10th, 11th, 13th and 16th holes, before barely missing a birdie putt at the 17th. She was 3 under par for her round.

So what happened at the 18th?

"When I get under pressure, I get too quick with my hands and I knew the 3-wood could be a little bit too much," she said.

"So I just tried to make an easy swing and my hands got me."

From there, Ochoa had to hit another tee shot, which landed in the rough. She laid up, then hit her fifth shot over the green. After a chip and two putts, she had made an 8, finished with a 72 and gone from 3 over to 7 over.

"This is the way golf is," Ochoa said. "I tried really hard and tried to do my best and I was fighting a lot for 71 holes. And all of a sudden on the last one, you give everything away. It's a humble game."

[Last modified June 27, 2005, 01:05:15]