Golf | Her career shot worth $1 million for Ochoa
The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Lorena Ochoa could see only the top half of her golf ball that was buried in Bermuda rough. Even more daunting was the water that separated the 161 yards between her and the 18th hole.
No less than $1 million was riding on this shot Sunday at the ADT Championship.
“It came out perfect,” she said.
On the verge of an unseemly collapse, Ochoa wrapped up a sensational season with what she called the best shot of her career. Clinging to a one-shot lead over Natalie Gulbis, who already was on the green 15 feet away for birdie, Ochoa hit a 6-iron that rolled 30 inches from the cup for one final birdie.
It gave her a 4-under 68 for a two-shot victory in the ADT Championship and the $1 million prize, the richest in women’s golf.
“I had a horrible lie,” Ochoa said. “Because of the conditions, and because I was only one shot leading the tournament, I think it was my best shot so far in my career.”
Even more stunning was how she got into this predicament.
Despite being the No. 1 player in women’s golf, Ochoa has a history of blowing tournaments, and this would have been a doozy. After blowing away the seven other players who qualified for this 18-hole shootout, she had a four-shot lead with two holes to play.
But she butchered the par-3 17th with an 8-iron over the back of the green, a putt that got hung up in the fluffy rough, and three more putts from 20 feet for a double bogey. Gulbis made a 7-foot birdie putt, narrowing the lead to one shot with one hole to play.
It was about the only drama of the balmy afternoon, certainly more than Ochoa needed.
“It was fun for the fans and for all of you,” she said, “but it didn’t feel very good.”
On No. 18, Ochoa hammered a tee shot over the corner of the lake and the bunker, but it wasn’t enough to hop out of the rough, and the ball sank to the bottom of the grass. Gulbis hit first, a hybrid 3-iron that covered the flag and put even more pressure on Ochoa.
“Lorena was spending a lot of time looking at her lie, so I was assuming that the lie was not very good,” Gulbis said. “She’s the best player in the world, so I thought that at least we’d get kind of an eye-for-an-eye putt at it.”
That thought didn’t last long.
Gulbis made Ochoa’s 30-inch putt look even shorter when her birdie attempt stopped well short of the hole. Even so, Gulbis again showed she’s more than just a glamour girl, giving everything she had in what looked like a hopeless situation. She shot 70, the only other player to break par on a difficult day. Gulbis earned $100,000 as the runner-up.
Ochoa finished the year with $4,364,994, already having shattered the record set by Annika Sorenstam five years ago ($2,863,904).
“It was unbelievable the year she had,” Gulbis said.
Ochoa won for the eighth time this season, joining Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez as the only players to have done that in the past 30 years.
The money was meaningful for other reasons. Ochoa said she would give $100,000 to a relief fund for flood victims in Tabasco, Mexico, and a good chunk to her foundation to buy land for an elementary and high school it is building for underprivileged children.
“I always want to give back,” she said. “And this is a good day.”
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
• Tommy Armour III won the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational in California, closing with a 2-under 70 for a two-stroke victory over Rocca Mediate (67) and Ronnie Black (68). The 48-year-old Armour had a 16-under 272 total in the event that features both male and female players. Seattle’s Jeff Gove tied for sixth, finishing with a 70 for a 10-under 278.
• Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Hong Kong Open by a stroke after third-round leader Robert Karlsson had a double bogey on the final hole. Jimenez had an eagle and five birdies against four bogies for a three-under 67 and a 15-under 265.
• England’s Ian Poulter shot a 1-under 69 to win the Dunlop Phoenix in Miyazaki, Japan, by three strokes. Poulter claimed the $364,250 winner’s purse after beating out Spain’s Gonzalo Fdez Castano (68).