St. Andrews, Scotland – Splashed with champagne, Lorena Ochoa was certain her first major victory would come at the home of golf.
She completed a runaway, four-stroke victory in the Women’s British Open on Sunday with a 1-over-par 74. After hugging her caddie and getting doused with bubbly by her father, the top-ranked Mexican reflected on what she had done.
“It’s a long way, 24 majors, and finally I have this (trophy) here, and I think it’s for a reason and I couldn’t be more happy,” she said.
Ochoa, who tied for second at the U.S. Women’s Open a month ago, had been banging on the door of a major victory for a while. This was her fourth victory of the year to go with the six she collected last year. During those 24 months, she was runner-up 10 times.
“This is the most special round of golf I ever played,” said Ochoa, who led the tournament from the ninth hole of her opening-round, 6-under 67. “Hopefully this is the first of many (major titles) to come.”
Ochoa, who passed $2 million in earnings this year and has $1 million more than anyone else on the tour, made history on all sorts of fronts.
She won the first women’s professional tournament to be staged at St. Andrews, home of the exclusively male Royal & Ancient Club. And she became the first player to win her first major at St. Andrews since Tony Lema’s triumph in the men’s British Open in 1964.
She finished with a 5-under 287 total, four strokes better than Jee Young Lee (71) and Maria Hjorth (71). Reilley Rankin (71) was another stroke back at par.
Annika Sorenstam, who shared third entering the final round, finished at 296 after a 76 that included a 7 at the 17th Road Hole.
Hall of Famer Beth Daniel, winner of 33 tour events, including the 1990 LPGA Championship, retired after closing with a 75 for a 304 total. The 50-year-old American returned to the British Open after a tie for sixth last year.
Ochoa, the only player to master the strong wind, began the final round with a six-stroke lead and was the only one under par.
Her only problem Sunday came at the 17th, where her second shot landed in one of the pot bunkers well short of the green. The ball was near the steep front side of the trap and she had to pitch sideways into the rough, but she then played a superb short chip to the putting surface and escaped with a bogey 6. She went to the last hole four shots ahead and a par captured the title.
“A very special week,” Ochoa said.
