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SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC

May 31, 2006

Lorena Ochoa

ABSECON, NEW JERSEY

DANA GROSS RHODE: Lorena, thank you for coming in. As we all know Lorena is only one of two multiple winners on Tour this year, and she's back at ShopRite. Talk about coming back to ShopRite and playing again this week.

LORENA OCHOA: Yes, well, I've had a good season. I'm very excited. I worked really hard in the off season just to be able to have good results, and I just want to enjoy it, just be having fun on the golf course and putting together some low rounds. It's been great. I'm very pleased. I'm very happy. Obviously my goal is to be No. 1, so just right now, I think I'm very fortunate to be in that position at the end of the season in November. Right now I'm trying to enjoy the moment and take it one tournament at a time and not get distracted.

I'm doing good. I started this year just like a new year. This is my fourth year on Tour, and I learned a lot the first three years about my golfing, and I got a new caddie in January. So I'm happy and I made the right decision and things are going right and I'm going to try to keep going.

Q. What did you do during your week off, and were you almost superstitious or afraid that you would, you know, lose it, taking a week off?

LORENA OCHOA: No. I want to take a week off any time I can, just to be able to go home and spend time with my family.

I was busy. Thursday and Friday I had to go to Mexico City to do things with my sponsors. We had the expos in Mexico City, so I helped them and did a clinic with kids and parents. We played four tournaments in a row, and then I just had a week off. It was too short for me, but it was nice to spend time with my family, as I said, just to recharge the batteries and be ready to start playing some golf now.

Q. If you pointed to one thing that you've done well over this stretch, what has it been? What in your mind is the one thing that's kind of put you up there this year?

LORENA OCHOA: Well, I think you know with the time you learn to just pace yourself out there, just to be more smart. Before I was five strokes behind the leaders. Right now I am probably one or two, and sometimes I have a chance of winning tournaments and sometimes I win tournaments. So just, you know, to be able to go that, just not make as many mistakes as I used to, and I think I'm more mature and I'm able to understand more what's going on and just feel better with my game, especially under pressure. And all of those things together just, you know, put some better rounds of golf and give me a chance to win tournaments.

Q. I've heard a lot of stories but you encapturing Mexican fans on the golf course. Is there one story that was your favorite, whether it be construction workers or something that happened to you on a certain round of golf that you remembered?

LORENA OCHOA: Yes, well, I feel very fortunate. A lot of things happen, and it's always great to see Mexicans on the golf course, especially the ones that work on the golf course. They give me just a little more extra just to be able to be able to enjoy and have a good time. I'm very proud to be Mexican, and, I don't know, so many things happened.

I think one of the best ones was in Las Vegas. I was playing on Saturday's round on hole No. 12 on the left side, and there were maybe like 50 Mexicans just hanging with boards saying, "Lorena, you can do it, we support you, Mexico can win, you are the best" kind of thing. It was very nice. It was a very good feeling and I went and walked over to them and said hi and thank you for the support. I feel very proud to be Mexican and just to represent them. It was very, very special.

Q. It's an interesting time to be a public athlete. What do you think when you hear about sentencing along the border and things like that; do you follow the news?

LORENA OCHOA: Well, yes, I'm very close. I'm a not a very political person but obviously I care very much for the Mexicans. I see the people out there that are working very hard for their families, and just good people. They do the best they can, and very loyal. I keep track of the news and I just hope that they are all going to be legal and they are working on it, and I think that's really good for them, and hopefully the decisions won't affect them very much because they are great people. With me being Mexican, I'm trying to do my best, kind of like give them a good example and hopefully give them something to follow.

Q. Annika has been No. 1 for so long and just seems like she's held that position for so long. The person who followed her or follows her at the end of the year will have a lot of pressure to sustain that position. Do you feel the pressure yet, or if you're No. 1 at the end of the year, will you feel it more?

LORENA OCHOA: I don't feel the pressure. Just like I said, I don't want to put more pressure than is already on in a tournament, you know. It's like I don't think about that. I don't even think where she is right now. There are so many good players, Karrie is right now No. 2 and she's really close. She's a great player. She's got so much more experience than I do.

So I'm just trying not to see the numbers and look for the points or things like that, just take it one tournament at a time, do the same things that I always do. I'm not going to be close, I'm not going to be far. I'm just happy to be part of that race. I think we should all enjoy that, and, you know, if that number is going to change, hopefully it will be good for some Mexicans, and I'm ready for that.

Q. Given the number of younger players coming up and a lot of question about the rookies this year, do you consider yourself sort of the leader of the new guard or the middle guard, as opposed to the older guard?

LORENA OCHOA: I don't know where I am right now. There are so many young players out there, just like I said, you know, I'm happy to be part of the ones that are doing good and that are young and trying to get into the game to the next level. The LPGA is growing so much and getting so much more popular, I'm just happy to be part of that. I'm proud to be a player here on the Tour. I'm grateful for all of the facilities and the good things we get here, and I'm going to help in any way I can just to do things in the right way.

Q. On Monday, Michelle Wie is going to try to qualify for the men's U.S. Open here in Jersey. What's your take on that? Is that a good thing for women's golf?

LORENA OCHOA: I think it's already, you know, too far ahead, you just kind of like it's hard to see that. I wish her the best, and hopefully she makes it. She's an amazing player. I had the chance to play with her a couple of times, and her level is really, really good. She's a very nice girl. So I guess all that she's going doing, it helps the LPGA, it helps for image. We have so much more fans because of her and here in the United States, and it helps everything, it helps the tournaments, just getting bigger. I guess, you know, her life is pretty tough, she's very young, but hopefully she's making the right decision on doing this and I wish her the best.

Q. What kind of reaction did you get back home last week when you went to Mexico City, from fans and the media in Mexico on your recent win?

LORENA OCHOA: Well, it was very good to be able to see when I went to the expos and see so many little kids, girls and boys running and around and going "Lorena, Lorena, we're going to be like you, we follow you." Sometimes it's hard to see the impact. You know, golf is getting so much more popular right now in Mexico, and when I used to play, it was only me when I play golf. Right now when I go back home, there are so many good kids playing. It gives me so much joy. I want always want to be part of going back and helping them with that. It's one of my No. 1 goals my country, just get golf to be more popular, bigger and bigger and bigger and it's working.

So if I just keep doing my thing and playing some good golf so they can have something to look out for, and I love to see that.

Q. I played a round in Cancun and I could barely afford it; is it affordable? Is it within reach for a lot of kids to play golf down there, or is it still a prohibitive as far as expenses for kids to play?

LORENA OCHOA: There's no public golf courses in Mexico. All of them are resorts and are very expensive. So that's what I really want to do is to have a public golf course, to have a cheap just play there; you can go and give it a try. You have to be a member of a club, you have to like it, your parents want to like you to play and you have to play some tournaments. It's still very, very little, so it's kind of sad. Not everybody can just give it a try to see if they can like it and learn more about the game. So that's what I want to do just to make sure that we give kids the opportunity to many different people to go and try to learn the sport, and it needs to be a public golf course so they can go on and try it for less money.

Q. Are a lot of the Mexican fans we talked about earlier, are they hesitant to approach you, or are they really do they find you very easy talk to and say hello to?

LORENA OCHOA: I guess I can answer that question, but I'm very open, you know, every time I see someone, I just want to say hi to them and thank you for them, especially here in the States. I feels great to see Mexicans around and talking Spanish and carrying the Mexican flag. I always want to say hi to them, where are you from and thank you for coming. Yes, I try to do that.

Q. There was a time a few years ago on the Men's Tour when Tiger was in a bit of a slump, and the players said it's easier to think about winning when he's not in contention or he's not in the lead. Not that Annika is in a slump, but she's not been as dominant as she has been. Has it become easier to win because you're not thinking about her, you're just thinking about your own game?

LORENA OCHOA: No, you know, I haven't heard that scenario before. There's so many good players out here. You know, every week there are 20, 25 players, 30 players that can win. Just all depends who has a good week; a few good rounds and you are on the top. So I never just think about Annika. I think if you have her there in your head, it's a bit hard to play. So I'm usually just focused on my game and my own thing and try not to see her. I know I trust myself and I know I can be better than her and I know I can be No. 1. So I have that trust in me and I'm just trying to do it little by little.

Q. I was at a Tour event last year in Arizona, when that happened the last day, that wasn't because of Annika, that was because your own game was not as sharp as it should have been?

LORENA OCHOA: Well, what happened before, you know, when I finished the tournament, 15, 16, 17 and 18, I was very young and I didn't know how my body would react and I didn't know, under pressure; I was moving so quick, anything can happen. That happened to me already a couple of times and it's not going to happen again. I guess if you want to lose, you want to lose against the No. 1 player, and that happened. At least being in that position, I had a chance to win the tournament, so that means something.

I learned a lot and I always tried not to take it too hard on myself because it's a learning experience, and I take the positive things and move on. We play so many weeks that you can keep yourself thinking, oh my God, you know what, these two weeks are off. It's done and I'm using a lot on that, using my mental toughness, and I feel much more comfortable right now under pressure. I'm ready for her, for all the players.

Q. The success that you've had and the streak that you're on brings a lot of outside demands, press conferences and stuff like that. How are you dealing with the sort of non golf stuff that your success the past couple of weeks has brought?

LORENA OCHOA: Yes, well, I'm doing okay. In Mexico, I have always had the attention because whether I do good or bad, I'm always in the newspapers and most of my sponsors are from Mexico. So every time I go home, I need to do things with them, go to a meeting, go to a dinner, go to a press conference or one event or play some golf.

My life is changing right now particularly here in the States because I didn't get the attention, and I'm doing okay. I'm conscious of that, so that's one of the things that I always talk to my coach and my manager, just to make sure that your practice time is No. 1, your rest time is No. 1. Those are my priorities, to make sure I rest and I practice, and the time I have, give it with the media, you know, with joy, because it's something that you have to do. It's part of the Tour and something that you have to learn to manage. I'm learning and I'm learning and I'm doing okay. Thank you.

DANA GROSS RHODE: Thank you all very much for coming in.

End of FastScripts.

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