BERKSHIRE, England -- Women’s world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa broke through at St. Andrews last year for her first major championship title when she cruised to a four-shot win at the Women’s British Open.
Ochoa fired a 6-under 67 in the opening round, then played the final three rounds in 1-over par to finish at 5-under 287, four strokes clear of Jee Young Lee and Maria Hjorth. Ochoa went wire-to-wire thanks to that 67.
The Mexican collected her fourth victory of 2007 and 10th in a 16-month span.
Ochoa had several close calls in majors before this one, but was done in by her own hand or others magical shots. Her biggest collapses came at the 2006 Kraft Nabisco and the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open.
However, this time around, Ochoa held steady and managed to hold off the field.
The Women’s British Open has been on the LPGA Tour schedule since 1994, but this will be just the seventh year that it has been designated as a major.
Ochoa also won the first major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. A pair of teenagers won the next two championships. Yani Tseng was a playoff winner over Marie Hjorth at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, while Inbee Park bested Helen Alfredsson to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
TNT will cover two hours of play the first two days, then ABC will run tape- delayed action the final two days.
After a week off, the LPGA finishes its three-week run outside the United States with the Canadian Women’s Open, where Ochoa is again the defending champion.
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