 |
 |
 |
|
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Guess we bet on the wrong thoroughbred.
|
|
| Lorena Ochoa isn't concentrating on pursuing a Grand Slam, but she's not shying away from the idea, either. (AP) |
Earlier this year, when Tiger Woods issued the uncharacteristically bold assessment that winning the Grand Slam was "easily within reason," then continued to insist the concept was conceivable all throughout the spring, everybody went loco. Especially when he won his first three PGA Tour starts.
Last week, of course, the quest quietly ended almost before it began when he finished second at the Masters. Given the caprices of golf, it's clear in retrospect that it was never a plausible notion, really.
Um, until now.
A few miles south of the border, Mexican sensation Lorena Ochoa last weekend was winning by 11 strokes for the second time this season. She has won four times by an average of 8.5 in her five starts and already owns the trophies from the past two women's majors contested.
Contested? There's a word that must be used advisedly. She's not using the words easily or reason in the same sentence, but being halfway home to holding all four Slam titles simultaneously has not escaped her grasp.
"For sure, I am thinking of that," Ochoa said Wednesday at the $2.6 million Ginn Open outside Orlando.
So are we. No disrespect to Woods, but Ochoa is the one looking like a Grand Slam dunk.
True, the absurdity of again crawling this far out on a limb precisely three days after eating crow with regard to Woods' four-runner hopes is self-evident. But at the moment, as transcendent as Woods has been on the men's tour, Ochoa's play has been positively meteoric. The comparisons have been far more frequent as a result.
"I think it's fun; last year how many tournaments we won and how many majors we won, and this year he had a better start than me," Ochoa said. "He won those first three tournaments and I was a little behind. So I was just joking, 'OK, we need to catch up.'"
It's not a wisecrack now.
Whereas Woods' major-championship objective was made more difficult because of the comparatively superior depth in men's golf, Ochoa has likewise ascended to the top so quickly, there's seemingly nothing in her way. She moved into the No. 1 position in the women's world rankings one year ago and last week qualified for induction for the World Golf Hall of Fame, at 26 the second-youngest player ever to do so on career points.
