Mexican Teen Is Playing Like Pro

The future of women’s golf is 5 feet 3 and is from Guadalajara. Or maybe the future will turn out differently, but you can be sure that Lorena Ochoa is going to try her best to make it on the professional level, just as soon as she finishes her finger-painting class.

There are long-handled putters taller than Ochoa, and Amy Alcott probably has grips older than the University of Arizona freshman, who is 19 and seems so much younger. It’s as if her major is sandbox and she commutes to school from Sesame Street.

All during her childhood, which as far as anyone can tell is still going on, Ochoa has had one golfer who has been her heroine. It’s Annika Sorenstam. Annika is 30. Sorenstam smiled when she was told about Ochoa’s devotion and said she really doesn’t feel all that old.

The LPGA got a little younger Saturday at the Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills, where a red-shirted teenager from Mexico proved once again that she belongs out there.

Ochoa was two under through 15 holes and only three shots from the lead, but three-putted for a double bogey at the 16th hole and finished her day with a 74. So when the last round of the LPGA’s first major of the year begins this morning, you will find Lorena Ochoa Ruiz at one-over 217, six shots behind leader Rachel Teske and in a tie for 20th.

This is not a normal position with Ochoa. In her six tournaments this year at Arizona, Ochoa has won three and finished second twice. She is ranked No. 1 in one of the major college golf rankings, which is understandable because Ochoa has had an amateur career that has been one for the books almost from the beginning.

At 5, she started tagging along with her dad, a Sunday golfer, to Guadalajara Country Club. At 8, she started winning tournaments. She won the Junior World in San Diego. She won it again when she was 9, 10, 11 and 12.

That was enough to convince Ochoa to follow in the spike prints of Sorenstam and play college golf at Arizona. Chances are, it’s not going to be a very long understudy program, though. She’s giving it one more year after this, then she’s taking her teddy bear and turning pro.

How well Ochoa succeeds is problematic, but if recent tournaments mean much, you would have to say she has a decent shot. Two weeks ago, in the LPGA event at Tucson, she began the last day in 23rd place and ended it tied for seventh. If Ochoa has a good round today, another top-10 finish is possible.

And after that? It’s back to school for sure, no matter how much the pro game beckons to a straight-hitting, smooth-swinging battler who simply doesn’t back down. Two of her three college victories this year have been in playoffs.

Ochoa figures she needs college to learn to be more aggressive. That’s been a problem in tournaments, says Ochoa, who was content to win tournaments by two, three or four shots. Now, she wants to win them by 12, 13 or 14 shots. This is the type of attitude that could come in handy when she finally does turn pro.

Ochoa is already convinced she belongs on the pro tour. Last year, she qualified for the U.S. Open at the Merit Club in Libertyville, Ill., and she missed the cut, spending too much of her energy just being glad she was there.

After rounds of 72-71-74 at Mission Hills, Ochoa is still glad to be here, and this time she is playing like it. She says she is confident, she knows she can play at the pro level, she likes being around the other pros and she doesn’t feel a lot of pressure.

And if that’s not enough, her mental game is improving and she is playing more intelligently. At least that’s the way she sees herself as she prepares for her life’s ambition of playing professional golf.

In the meantime, Ochoa stays busy. A former half-marathon runner, she runs 45 minutes to an hour each day and loves mountain biking. She says she doesn’t wear a helmet, but don’t tell her coach, she adds quickly.

Better not tell her mother either, or she’ll probably get grounded.