Lorena Ochoa

Lorena Ochoa was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on November 15, 1981. She is a Mexican golfer and plays on the U.S. based LPGA (Ladie's Professional Gold Association) tour, which is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Lorena is 5 feet 6 inches tall and is ranked the number one female golfer in the world. She is also said to be the best Mexican golfer of all time. Lorena began playing golf at the age of five. She was the winner of a state golfing event at the age of six and won her first national event at age seven.

Her goal in her teens years was to be the best golfer in the world. She attended the University of Arizona for two years before transitioning to professional golfing at the age of twenty-one and in 2002 she won three of ten events in the 2002 Futures Tour.

During the following years she continued to be a star golfer. In 2006 she was recognized by the Associated Press with their Female Athlete of the Year Award. In April, 2007 Ochoa overtook Annika Sorenstam and became the world’s number one ranked golfer. Sorenstam’s decision to leave the LPGA Tour left Lorena Ochoa with mixed emotions but her plans remained the same: breaking records.

In 2007 she earned more than four million dollars. This surpassed Sorenstem’s previous record of just under three million dollars. In April, 2008, Ochoa won her second major championship, the Kraft-Nabisco Championship. After she completes ten seasons on the LPGA Tour she will be eligible to appear in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

In November, 2008, she will host a new LPGA event, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. The Lorena Ochoa Foundation, which is located in Guadalajara, Mexico, provides educational assistance to two hundred and fifty underprivileged students. In 2008 the foundation started a high school with twenty-one freshmen.