Lorena Ochoa made LPGA history over the weekend when she became the first female pro in 45 years to win four tournaments in four straight weeks.
Ochoa shot a three-under-par 69 in the final round to win the Ginn Open by three strokes from rookie Yani Tseng. It was four straight for the Mexican magician and her fifth in six starts this season.
She hit three straight birdies on the eighth, ninth and 10th to take the lead, finishing 19 under 269 for the tournament.
The last LPGA pro who won four weeks in a row was Mickey Wright, who achieved the feat in 1962 and 1963. Kathy Whitworth won four starts in a row in 1969 and Annika Sorenstam did it in 2001 but their victories were not in consecutive weeks. Both had taken a week off during their winning streaks.
The 26-year-old Ochoa appears to be in dreamland these days, winning almost everything she enters. But the world number one knows that the good times won’t last forever, as she told AP:
“I’m very grateful. It’s been a blessing, you know. But I know that bad times will come. It’s just the way life is. I’m just trying to enjoy my moment, and I would like to enjoy it for a long time. So even if it’s going to be an up-and-down ride, hopefully I can stay there.â€
Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez hold the record for most wins in a row at five, though, again, they were not in consecutive weeks.
Ochoa has a chance to match that in two weeks time when she competes in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She will skip next week’s Stanford Invitation Pro-Am in South Florida.
From four in four weeks, we go to two in two years, with Boo Weekley taking victory at the Verizon Heritage tournament at Hilton Head Island.
Weekley closed with an even-par 71 for a three-stroke victory over Anthony Kim and Aaron Baddeley to successfully defend his title. He was 15 under for the tournament at
269. Jim Furyk was four on 11 under while Cliff Kresge took fifth place a further one stroke behind.
This year’s victory was much less tense than his one-stroke victory over Ernie Els in 2007, when he had to chip in on the final two holes to claim the title.
He protected his three-stroke overnight lead by trying to stay conservative while his challengers faded away. Kim’s hopes blew up on the par-four ninth where he took a double-bogey. Weekley said:
“I chipped it in back to back last year, and I didn’t get to stand there and turn to the crowd and do the fist pump. I wanted to do the moonwalk, the belly-roll. It was a lot easier than last year, wasn’t it?â€
On the European Tour, Irishman Damien McGrane won his first title with a commanding nine-stroke victory at the China Open at the Beijing CBD International Golf Club.
Playing in stormy conditions, McGrane managed to finish with a 73 for a total of 10-under-par 278. That was nine better than Simon Griffiths and Oliver Wilson, of England, and Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera.
