24 Facts About Lorena Ochoa

Lorena Ochoa Reyes is a Mexican former professional golfer who played on the US -based LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2010.

Lorena Ochoa was the top-ranked female golfer in the world for 158 consecutive and total weeks, from 23 April 2007 to her retirement on 2 May 2010, at the age of 28 years old.

Lorena Ochoa took up golf at the age of five, won her first state event at the age of six, and her first national event at seven.

An 11-year-old Lorena Ochoa approached the professional Rafael Alarcon, 1979 winner of the Canadian Amateur Championship, as he worked on his game at Guadalajara Country Club, where her family lived near the 10th tee.

Lorena Ochoa won five consecutive titles at the Junior World Golf Championships and in 2000 she enrolled at the University of Arizona in the US on a golf scholarship, where she was a teammate of fellow freshman Natalie Gulbis.

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Lorena Ochoa was very successful in women's collegiate golf in the next two years, winning the NCAA Player of the Year Awards for 2001 and 2002, finishing runner-up at both the 2001 and 2002 NCAA National Championship and being named to the National Golf Coaches Association 2001 All-America First team.

In November 2001, Lorena Ochoa was presented with Mexico's National Sports Award by Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Lorena Ochoa was the youngest person and first golfer to receive Mexico's highest sporting accolade.

Lorena Ochoa was the recipient of the 2003 Nancy Lopez Award, which is presented annually to the world's most outstanding female amateur golfer.

Lorena Ochoa left college after her second year to turn professional, then won three of ten events played on the 2002 Futures Tour, and topped its money list to earn membership on the LPGA Tour for the 2003 season.

Lorena Ochoa won the LPGA Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour.

Lorena Ochoa's achievements were recognized outside the sport of golf when Ochoa won the 2006 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award and received the National Sports Prize for the second time.

Lorena Ochoa won the next two LPGA events, the CN Canadian Women's Open and the Safeway Classic, the first to win three consecutive events since Sorenstam in 2005.

Also in 2007, Lorena Ochoa became the first woman ever to earn more than $4,000,000 in a single season, surpassing Sorenstam's previous record of $2,863,904.

Lorena Ochoa celebrated this victory in the traditional fashion for the Kraft Nabisco by jumping into the pond on the 18th green.

On 20 April 2010, Lorena Ochoa released a statement indicating her intent to retire from professional golf.

At a press conference held in Mexico City on 23 April 2010, Lorena Ochoa said her last tournament would be the 2010 Tres Marias Championship to be played from 29 April through 2 May She said that her career plan had always been to play for "around ten years" and to be the number 1 ranked player in the world.

Lorena Ochoa made a limited return to competitive golf in 2012, having been invited by her sponsor, Lacoste, to compete in the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, an event on the Ladies European Tour.

Lorena Ochoa finished the event in T22,13 shots behind the winner Stacey Keating.

In November 2008, she became the host of a new annual LPGA event, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, held at her original home course, Guadalajara Country Club.

Lorena Ochoa is represented by the Ochoa Sports Management, along with Alarcon and Sophia Sheridan, a Mexican golfer who plays on the LPGA's developmental tour.

Lorena Ochoa Foundation operates La Barranca, a primary school in Guadalajara with 250 underprivileged students and an innovative curriculum.

Lorena Ochoa became engaged to her boyfriend Andres Conesa Labastida, CEO of Aeromexico, and they married in December 2009.

Lorena Ochoa was not included in the final 2010 scoring average rankings; her final event was in early May.