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Lorena Ochoa will not win this week's Kraft Nabisco: She's more Norman than Tiger under major pressure
Thursday April 3, 2008 | 01:05:40 317 words, 3671 views
The LPGA’s first major of the season begins in a matter of hours. Not that you’re likely be aware of this, considering it’s gotten all the buzz of the return of How I Meet Your Mother. Where’s that Sports Illustrated special preview issue on the Kraft Nabisco? Yeah, your mailman must have stole it. Still even if the LPGA’s first big tournament of the year finds itself going up against the Final Four (oops! - schedule makers), there are plenty of compelling stories in one of the Palm Springs’ region’s biggest party weeks. Only the little coverage the Kraft Nabisco has received has almost all centered on the idea of Lorena Ochoa as a dominant force everyone else in the field must fear. As I wrote in a WorldGolf.com newsletter a few weeks, Ochoa’s done her best to try and cast herself as the female Tiger Woods, knowing that the LPGA Tour desperately needs that type of hook. It’s simply not true though. Sure, Ochoa won her first tournament of the year by 11 strokes and she won again last week outside of Phoenix by seven shots. But those are not majors and Ochoa feels the pressure in majors as surely as Greg Norman did. Even in her overwhelming dominant 2007 season, Ochoa only went 1-for-4 in the majors. And that’s the only major win she has at the age of 26. If Tiger had won only one major with his 27th birthday approaching, he really would have retired from golf. The truth is that Annika Sorenstam even as an old shadow of her former self has a better shot of winning this week than Ochoa. Neither probably will though. Instead it will be another good story that the media might recognize a few months after the fact. Of course, it will take even longer than that for the truth that Ochoa is not a big-tournament golfer to be accepted. 
Comments:
Comment from: Brooklyn [Visitor]
Outstanding analysis and reason. Let's recap! Annika won her first major at 24, Lorena won her first major at 25. Annika is 37;Lorena is 26. Annika has 10 majors; Lorena is 11 yrs her junior. It stands to reason if Lorena doesn't equal or better the mark of 10, then maybe we have a story.
But since she has clearly demonstrated Norman tendencies at the ripe old age of 26, retirement seems appropriate. 
2008-04-03 @ 09:42
Comment from: R PRAT [Visitor]
What are you? A polemist? or just a spoiler? "Not a big tournament player to be accepted" That is the biggest piece of BS I've heard, She's the number 1 golfer in the world today and matter how much mud you throw her way, it is her who is famous and you who are a little known writer for a little known golf magazine. As I write this she is tied for first spot on the KN with -5, and 5 holes to go, while Karen stupples has finished her round at 5 under. So Lornea may very well have the opportunity to shut you up. We all know you deserve it, you looser.
2008-04-03 @ 16:02
Comment from: Irma [Visitor]
I think it is too soon to make that assumption. How many majors in a career would make you happy? 6? 7? Or does Lorena has to surpass Anika (before her 30th birthday) for you to believe she is a good golfer? Winning breeds winning. ONe thing Lorena has always shown us is that she keep improving, always moving forward. Let us wait and see how the season unfolds.
2008-04-03 @ 21:36
Comment from: Brandon Tucker [Member]
· http://www.worldgolf.com/blogs/brandon.tucker
I think Lorena wins 2 majors this year.....and I don't think she has ever tried to compare herself to Woods...but fans & media will always compare the top LPGA and PGA players in some way.
2008-04-04 @ 02:50
Comment from: smudge [Visitor]
Any particular reason you are so bitter about the women's tour? Are you a closet Wie warrier bitter at her being out of the lime light. It is her that billed herself (or if you want to give her the benefit of the doubt her camp has billed her as) the femal Tiger Woods. Lorena is a model of modesty and grace and I don't think would ever say that she believes she is the next Tiger Woods. I do say she may do more for women's golf than Tiger has done for men's. I think (and I'm a huge Annika fan) she is better than Annika and will prove you very wrong in terms of her ability to close out future tournaments, including majors. She has a way better chance of slamming than Tiger if you ask me.
2008-04-04 @ 17:09
Comment from: Brandon Tucker [Member]
· http://www.worldgolf.com/blogs/brandon.tucker
"I do say she may do more for women's golf than Tiger has done for men's"
This is a VERY debatable point!!!
2008-04-05 @ 18:04
Comment from: Chris Baldwin [Member]
From Sports Illustrated's March 4 issue in the Golf Plus section:
The beat down wasn't that surprising — Ochoa has been the best player in the women's game for a while — but when that performance brought up the inevitable Tiger Woods comparisons, the humble, soft-spoken star was anything but demure. "When (Tiger) won the (Buick Invitational) by 10 (he won be eight), I had that in mind," Ochoa said. "You know, it can be done, and why not go and win my first tournament by 10." Wow! And was this win a message to the rest of the LPGA? she was asked. "Yes. I think yes," she said. I'd say that is Ochoa comparing herself to Woods, BTuck. Try to remember that this isn't a RonMon blog. If I state something that's not just a silly point, it's based on researched fact. Ochoa compared herself to Woods in Sports Illustrated. As for the Smudge comment: "I do say she may do more for women's golf than Tiger has done for men's." That's not very debatable. It's completely ludicrous and laughable. And yes, Smudge. I am a closet Wie Warrior. You completely pegged me. The late major-winning Annika is the best point that's been made in these comments - by far. Sorenstam pulled off what almost never happens - she went from being a choker to a closer. And there's no doubt she did gag early in her career. In big tournaments and small. I once witnessed her break down in a parking lot in Lansing, Michigan after blowing a big lead early in her career. It's a testament to Sorenstam that she was able to make this transformation. But it's a very, very rare one in any level of golf. I don't see Ochoa repeating it.
2008-04-06 @ 01:01
Comment from: joe cool [Visitor]
Michelle Wie is the greatest golfer that has ever walk the earth. She will win 30 majors before she turns 30 years old. She completely steals the show at her press conferences and is one of the most demure and intelligent woman on planet.
Michelle, was that okay, did I say the right things?
2008-04-06 @ 17:11
Comment from: Armando Covarrubias [Visitor]
What is triggering Baldwin's attacks on Lorena.? That's hard to tell, but she sure exposed him as an idiotic bigot with her commanding win in the Kraft-Nabisco 2008.
2008-04-06 @ 18:31
Comment from: Brandon Tucker [Member]
· http://www.worldgolf.com/blogs/brandon.tucker
First off, Ochoa has been on the scene three years and Tiger has been since he was in diapers, so you can't compare the two as equals yet. It's like comparing Lebron to Kobe.
The reason I think their influence could be debatable is because the LPGA has so much more upside and she seems determined to spread the game everywhere she can. The PGA wasn't exactly struggling when Woods came onto the scene. He just took a franchise and supersized it. I'd be curious to see what LPGA purses will be like a decade from now. The women's game has tons of potential they just haven't tapped it the right way yet. As far as the SI article. I wouldn't call her quote a comparison to Tiger but more of an aspiration. I think the writer is reading between the lines a little. I check out SI for the pretty pictures not necessarily the sports writing.
2008-04-06 @ 19:30
Comment from: Irma [Visitor]
mmm. One question:
Who won the Kraft Nabisco today by 5 shots?
2008-04-06 @ 19:56
Comment from: Oliver Sudden [Visitor]
Lorena appears to have put any gagging problems behind her and it's full speed ahead. The only problem I see with the LPGA is the lack of U.S. players. I didn't see any on the leaderboard today.
2008-04-06 @ 20:28
Comment from: Shanks [Member]
· http://www.travelgolf.com/blogs/shanks
Nice call.
2008-04-07 @ 11:09
Comment from: pieintheface [Visitor]
Care to reconsider your view Chris?
2008-04-07 @ 12:28
Comment from: ronmon [Visitor]
· http://mon
Word from Costa Rica is that Baldwin is a burro in any language. Nice to be back stateside. I'll resurface in the next few days with something to humiliate the follicle-challenged one.
2008-04-09 @ 23:07
Comment from: joe cool [Visitor]
After the Lorena debacle by "Baldy" Sears has offered him a job as a "tire mechanic."
2008-04-12 @ 20:22 Leave a comment: |
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