Ochoa’s big victory draws quite a crowd

This time, Lorena Ochoa’s coronation came complete with a mariachi band, Spanish-language cheers and, of course, a splashdown -- or 20.

The 26-year-old Mexican shot a bogey-free, five-under 67 Sunday in the final round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage and won in a five-shot runaway with a four-round total of 11-under 277.

Annika Sorenstam shot 68 and tied Suzann Pettersen for second place, but Ochoa’s landslide victory was never much in doubt after she began the day with consecutive birdies.

And then, after the domination, came the celebration.

Or, perhaps more appropriately, the fiesta.

As Ochoa departed the 18th green with her third victory in four tournaments this year, a five-piece mariachi band serenaded her with traditional Mexican party songs until Ochoa made the traditional victory leap into the greenside pond. About two dozen friends and family soon followed, turning Poppi’s Pond into a pool party.

“For some reason I couldn’t stop thinking of that jump in the lake,” Ochoa said. “It was something that I’ve been waiting for for a long time.”

So have her friends and family, who have made the journey from Guadalajara to watch Ochoa at the Kraft Nabisco since she played as an amateur. She let the title slip away after taking a three-shot lead into the final round in 2006, but not this time.

“All of them were people that I know for many, many years,” she said of the crowd that joined her victory swim. “They have been coming here eight years. They come every year. So we promised each other that, you know, we jump in the lake, it was going to be all of us.”

Ochoa has won 12 times in 37 starts since August, 2006, rocketing to the top of the world rankings. The only knock was the lack of a major, which she took care of by winning the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews last August.

But that was an ocean away and celebrated by only a handful of friends and family that made the trip. Sunday’s victory came in front of decidedly pro-Ochoa crowd, and that made it feel like the first time all over again for Ochoa.

“It was the best, knowing that I have so many people behind [me],” Ochoa said. “You know what, I mean, I don’t want to say that it’s better than St. Andrews, but the ratio, you can put it that way.”

Ochoa began the final round with a one-shot lead over Hee-Won Han and two ahead of Cristie Kerr, Seon Hwa Lee and Maria Hjorth.

None of them were able to mount a charge, but Sorenstam, who began the day four shots out, made a front-nine run with birdies at No. 7 and 8 that got her to within three strokes of Ochoa.

But the world No. 1, playing three groups behind, answered with a string of three consecutive birdies, capped when she made a 40-foot putt at No. 10 that got her to 11 under. A bogey by Sorenstam at No. 13 put the Swede six shots behind and all but ended any chances of a dramatic comeback.

“But she has come out as the leader and is staying the leader,” said Sorenstam, ranked No. 1 in the world before Ochoa supplanted her last year. “That takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of guts and it takes a good athlete.”

A subplot all week has been Sorenstam’s mysterious illness, which had her in the hospital Saturday night for intravenous fluids.

She nearly withdrew during a third-round 73 for the round, but felt “a lot better” Sunday.

“I’m very proud of this week,” Sorenstam said. “I gave it all, I can tell you that. I’m pleased to come back and fight the way I did and I’m going to remember this round for many reasons.”

So, too, will Ochoa, who appears to have seized control of the tour. Asked who or what could stop her, Ochoa was blunt.

“I hope nobody or nothing,” she said.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com