After opening 73 in U.S. Women's Open, why does Lorena Ochoa get Grand Slam talk free pass while Tiger Woods got ripped?

EDINA, Minn. (June 26, 2008) - Two golfers talked openly of their plans to win the Grand Slam this season. Neither Tiger Woods or Lorena Ochoa are going to come close.

But while Tiger got ripped for being supposedly arrogantly presumptuous by plenty of clueless louts - including WorldGolf.com’s own Tim McDonald - after finishing second at the Masters, Ochoa received a free pass after she never really challenged on Sunday at the LPGA Championship. Now, it’s the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open and Ochoa shots an even par 73, putting her six shots out of the lead on a course that doesn’t resemble a men’s U.S. Open course in any comparable way. And still nobody’s knocking Ochoa for her own Grand Slam talk at year’s start.

In truth, it’s a lot more arrogant and presumptuous for a player with two career major titles like Ochoa to talk about winning the Grand Slam than it is for a player who had 13 career major championships already on his resume like Tiger had at the time.

Yet, no one calls Ochoa on it because … well, mostly because she’s just so nice. It’s hard to get mad at Ochoa for anything, so golf writers are notoriously easy on her.

Ochoa is one of the classiest figures in sports, a noble figure who suffered for dominating while Mexican for years as she couldn’t even get a club deal. You cannot help but root for her in many ways.

But this shouldn’t extend to how she’s covered. The No. 1 player in women’s golf deserves to be treated like any other superstar. She needs to be called on things - like talking Grand Slam and not coming close to delivering.

Recognizing Ochoa’s potential greatness requires criticism when it’s appropriate too.