Lorena Ochoa head and shoulders above the rest at the HSBC Women's Champions

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog posing the question: with Annika back, is everyone else playing for number two?

Now it appears that the question has been answered, but not for the reasons I thought–everyone’s playing for number two, all right, but it’s because of Lorena Ochoa.

In this first head-to-head matchup of the season between Ochoa and Sorenstam, a no-cut invitation-only tournament featuring winners and top money listers, Ochoa took her game to a new level with near-perfect play. She didn’t just kind of win the HSBC Women’s Champions, she killed it.

With a final score of 20-under-par in a tournament in which she had just three bogeys, she expanded her lead from eight to eleven in the final round to finish a Woodsian eleven strokes ahead of the pack.

Sorenstam found herself in the position of playing for second against last week’s winner Paula Creamer. They had a nice battle going until the back nine of the final round, where Sorenstam made a couple of birdies to pull away, and Creamer had to settle for third.

“I’m glad it’s over now, just because I’m worn out. It’s been tough,” Sorenstam said. “Sometimes you play for second place. I can’t remember the last time I had to do that, but it was just the way it happened to be this week.” If Ochoa keeps playing the way she did this weekend, it might be something you’ll have to get used to, Annika.

“It was her golf course,” said Creamer. “We have no idea what course she was playing out here, but she played great, and it’s hands down.”

This brings Ochoa up to 18 career wins. She’s got a ways to go to catch up to Annika’s 70, but she’s doing all the right things to get there.

Top three on the leaderboard were the LPGA’s three winners of the season: Looks like we’ve got ourselves a rivalry, folks!