The Artful Golfer: The Artful Lorena Ochoa

Friday, October 26, 2007

The Artful Lorena Ochoa

I ran across an article about Lorena Ochoa in the San Francisco Chronicle by Scott Ostler that suggests there is something at least semi-mystical about the world's most dominant female golfer. The mystical issue was initially raised recently by Christina Kim, who told a writer, "I've known Lorena for almost a decade and there was always something sort of mystical about her. There was something different about her that a lot of people can't even grasp."

Lorena Ochoa by pgamexico at flickr.com

Ostler shares, "Ochoa is not large (5-foot-6 and 130 pounds), she's soft-spoken, she has delicate features and no bulging muscles, yet in the last year, she has reached a mystical place in athletics that is familiar only to people such as Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and, not so long ago, Annika Sorenstam."

Lorena's response to this so-called mystical aura was, "I'm very good at just leaving things behind. I think that's very important, just in the mental side. A lot of players, you know, just in different ways, they regret too much or get upset or angry or waste maybe one or two days or weeks being down. In a way, I'm easy with me. I do get really mad and disappointed, but I just kind of move on and leave things behind and put them in the trash can, and I keep going."

"Here I am," Ochoa said of her No. 1 spot, "and I like to be here."

Labels: Articles, Golfers, Lorena Ochoa

3 Comments:

Jon Pappas said...

That reminds of the story about the two monks and the woman wanting the cross the river. "Are you still carrying her?"

Andy Brown said...

There maybe a lot of mystical things about her but one thing is for sure she is all set to consolidate her position as the worlds top golfer. This year has been the big year for her winning her first major but apart from that she has been going from strength to strength over the past two years, winning six tournaments in 2006 and seven this year and there are no signs of her slowing down. The first couple of years she was not getting enough wins under her belt but she soon changed that and now has as many as 16 wins on the LPGA Tour.

She was just the second golfer from Mexico to find a place on the LPGA Tour and now within five years of getting there she is already the top golfer. There is something about these stars in various fields, be it Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar and their ilk. They are the antithesis of the modern day athlete, not big, bulky or muscular but display magic in their respective fields to keep the world in awe. So is the case with Ochoa, she might be timid in her looks but her growing stature is beginning to overshadow her competition.

The Artful Golfer said...

Thanks for stopping by Andy. I'm enjoying your website! In comparison with Tiger, I like how unassuming Lorena is. No fist pumps, just goes about her business, quietly and confidently.