Lorena Ochoa, the Mexican star who once struggled in the majors, now is making them look easy.
Ochoa continued her dominance of women’s golf Sunday with a five-shot victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, giving her the last two majors by a combined nine shots. She was the only player without a bogey in the final round on a tough Mission Hills course, closing with a 5-under 67 and taking the greatest swim of her life.
She won by five shots over Suzann Pettersen and Annika Sorenstam, among many major champions being left behind in the massive wake of Ochoa, who has won three out of four tournaments this year by a combined 23 shots.
“Nothing can stop her,” said Se Ri Pak, who became the youngest player inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, a record that certainly will be broken by the 26-year-old Ochoa.
Ochoa, who finished at 11-under 277, never trailed under the blazing desert sun, and was threatened only briefly. But she fired off three straight birdies around the turn to build a five-shot lead, and kept it simple with pars the rest of the way.
This was the 20th anniversary of when Amy Alcott began the Nabisco tradition of the winner jumping into the lake surrounding the 18th green, but there has rarely been such a festive moment.
A mariachi band serenaded Ochoa with “Canta y no llores,” which translates to “Sing and don’t cry.” Ochoa grabbed hands with her parents and sister-in-law, sprinted toward the water and jumped with both arms in the air. Her brother, Alejandro, coach Rafael Alcaron and caddie Dave Brooker leapt from the bridge. Before long, there were two dozen friends and family in the water, bobbing to the rhythm of the mariachi band and celebrating another major championship.
Lorena is pronounced similar to “la reina,” Spanish for the queen, and there’s no doubt who rules women’s golf.
Ochoa became the first player since Sorenstam in 2005 to win consecutive majors, and with as much dominance as Tiger Woods enjoys on the PGA Tour, she also has raised possibilities of winning all four majors.
Kraft Nabisco Championship Scores 210 Lorena Ochoa (Mex) 68 71 71
211 Hee-Won Han (Kor) 72 69 70
212 Cristie Kerr 74 72 66, Maria Hjorth (Swe) 70 70 72, Hwa seon Lee (Kor) 73 71 68
213 Heather Young 69 70 74, In-Bee Park (Kor) 73 70 70, Liselotte Neumann (Swe) 70 72 71
214 Annika Sorenstam (Swe) 71 70 73, Suzann Pettersen (Nor) 74 75 65
215 Na Yeon Choi (Kor) 74 72 69, Se Ri Pak (Kor) 72 70 73, Karrie Webb (Aus) 76 70 69, Diana D'Alessio 74 69 72
216 Mi-Hyun Kim (Kor) 70 70 76, Karen Stupples (Eng) 67 75 74, Natalie Gulbis 69 74 73
217 Brittany Lang 75 70 72
218 Paula Creamer 71 74 73, Ya-Ni Tseng (Kor) 72 71 75, Meg Mallon 73 73 72
219 Michele Redman 71 72 76, Reilley Rankin 72 77 70, Jee Young Lee (Kor) 73 71 75, Ai Miyazato (Jpn) 68 74 77, Rachel Hetherington (Aus) 76 69 74, Angela Stanford 75 73 71, Silvia Cavalleri (Ita) 76 72 71, Heather Daly-Donofrio 75 71 73, Amanda Blumenherst 73 73 73
220 Shi Hyun Ahn (Kor) 74 72 74, Morgan Pressel 71 74 75, Sarah Lee 74 74 72, Helen Alfredsson (Swe) 75 72 73, Ji-Yai Shin (Kor) 73 71 76, Ji-Young Oh (Kor) 77 72 71, Shiho Oyama (Jpn) 72 72 76, Hye Jung Choi (Kor) 72 74 74, Janice Moodie (Sco) 73 73 74, Jeong Jang (Kor) 73 73 74, Katherine Hull (Aus) 76 70 74
221 Meena Lee (Kor) 71 75 75, Angela Park 77 71 73, Julieta Granada (Par) 74 73 74, Marisa Baena 73 72 76, Sakura Yokomine (Jpn) 76 73 72, Becky Morgan (Wal) 72 77 72, Mhairi McKay (Sco) 78 71 72, Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 74 71 76, Hee Young Park (Kor) 75 72 74
222 Lindsey Wright (Aus) 73 73 76, Laura Davies (Eng) 76 71 75, Beth Bader 76 71 75, Russamee Gulyanamitta (Tha) 78 70 74, Pat Hurst 73 72 77, Candie Kung (Tai) 73 74 75, Soo-Yun Kang (Kor) 72 76 74, Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 71 75 76, Moira Dunn 76 68 78, Maria Jose Uribe (Col) 70 74 78
223 Mallory Blackwelder 71 76 76, Teresa Lu (Tai) 72 76 75, Il Mi Chung (Kor) 71 77 75, Carin Koch (Swe) 72 76 75
224 Wendy Ward 75 71 78
225 Minea Blomqvist (Fin) 75 74 76, Juli Inkster 74 75 76, Alena Sharp 75 72 78
226 Giulia Sergas (Ita) 74 75 77
227 Meaghan Francella 75 73 79
229 Sung Ah Yim (Kor) 76 73 80
