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LONGS DRUGS CHALLENGEOctober 3, 2007Lorena OchoaDANVILLE, CALIFORNIA ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Lorena, thanks for joining us today. You're a six-time winner on the LPGA Tour this season, and you took over the Rolex Rankings No. 1 position earlier this year. Talk about your season so far and the successes you've on and off the course. LORENA OCHOA: Hello, everybody. Yes. I mean, this year has been a great year in many different ways, inside and outside the golf course. You know, I set some high goals after what happened in the 2006 season, and it was tough to improve them, but it's been good so far and I'm getting there. I already won those six tournaments and the good thing is we have five more tournaments to go. So hopefully I can get a few more and just break that record. For me, it's been just fun. I really enjoy the time when I'm playing, and also being No. 1 really teach me a lot. I know that that's where I want to be and I want to make sure I keep practicing and doing things right, not get away from that position. I'm going to do that. I'm going to make sure I finish the year strong and just go home and get a lot of rest and be ready for 2008. ASHLEY CUSHMAN: You touched on the records you set, and you also just set a new one last week after playing at Navistar in Alabama. You became the first player in LPGA history to surpass the $3 million mark in a single season. What do these records mean to you? LORENA OCHOA: Well, I think it's all about the breaking records and making history, and I guess that's just -- I don't really pay too much attention to the money. I have no control over that. I just make sure I do my process and I just practice and whatever is in my control. Get in my routine and getting a good feel of the golf course and having a strategy to play the tournament. All those things. The money is just a plus and it counts and I'm very thankful. I think it's been a blessing this 2007 season, and, you know, a lot of those things just happen. I'm very excited. Like I said, I'm enjoying myself very much and hopefully will keep improving. Q. What's been the biggest key to your consistency? LORENA OCHOA: It's a good weapon. No, you know, I just play every week to win. I'm a player that if I have a bad day I make sure I do something just to get through it, to maybe get back to the tournament. To me it's very important to finish in the top 10 every week. It doesn't matter if I have a bad start or if I'm not feeling good or I'm not swinging good. I have no excuses not to do it. I believe in myself. I have a lot of faith, and I think it's something that I'm able to do it and that's just my thinking. I'm very much into details. The things where I have room to improve, like with the putting and the chipping, driving accuracy, different things, I always try to see where were my misses. For example, last week the things I need to improve this week: Spending more time on the greens in long putts and making sure I get down and feel comfortable with the speed of the greens. I think if you stick to the plan and you motivate yourself every week it's very important. That's something key that really helps you to get good results. You know, it's a formula that's been working and I'm going to keep doing the same. I have no reason to change. Q. From the time you came on the Tour until about this time last year Annika was the No. 1. She was the gold standard. Now you're there. Was that a strange transition for you? LORENA OCHOA: No. I mean, it's hard to talk about it because it didn't happen in one or two weeks or a couple months, three tournaments. It's something that it takes a long time. It's a process. And, you know, I'm here because I'm ready to be here. I knew when I first turned professional it would take me four or five years to get to the top, and this is my fifth year on tour. I think I'm prepared to be here. I knew because of the results that it was coming. It was happening. I was just trying to be patient and just wait for the right time, and here I am and I like to be there. Like I said, I'm just going to enjoy the time. I know there are so many good players behind me trying to catch me, not only Annika. That's what I want to try to stay one step ahead and work hard, and I feel like I'm going to stay there for a few years. Q. We, of course, in the press rooms talk about all of your accomplishments on the golf course and how great they've been particularly over the past year. If we could touch on your accomplishments off the golf course. It's been written about you that in your home country of Mexico you've become the newest role model for women in your country. Do you feel the same way about that, and how do you feel about that being written about you in the press? LORENA OCHOA: Well, I think it's a big responsibility, and I love the opportunity. I'm going to make sure I do things right and I give good example. It's nice to see, every time I go back home, how many girls and boys are trying to play the game and become professional or dream of being here in the future. I love that. When I grew up it was probably only me and maybe two other girls, and right now there are so many little girls and boys, and I love that. You know, I'm going to make sure -- I always do it every time I go home. I try to spend time with the kids. We either go to the golf academy or give a motivational speech or give them a couple tips and tell them my experiences here on Tour, because they can learn a lot from that. Hopefully we have more Mexicans here in the future. Q. Can you talk about making history? Is that sort of a goal, and how much does that drive you? I mean, you're having a kind of year that Tiger had, for instance on the men's tour, and he's motivated as much by history as his competitors today. Does that sort drive drawing you beyond winning this tournament to put your name in that realm? LORENA OCHOA: Well, I think that's the No. 1 rule: Always have some high goals and just remind yourself every day where it is you want to go and how far you want to go. That's my personality. I like to improve and get better. I'm a perfectionist, and I just look for ways to improve. Of course, it's all about making history. I think I have a good chance to making 2007 very special, and I'm going to try really hard to do that. We still have some more tournaments, and I'm really just trying to be 100% in every tournament one tournament at a time. We're here this week and this is a very big tournament, and move on and keep going. Q. You mentioned earlier that each week you try to improve on what you think it is with regard to long putting this week, et cetera. Earlier you used to have sometimes a pole hook off the tee with your driver. That seems to have dissipated. Have you done anything specific to remove that shot out of your game? LORENA OCHOA: Yes, a lot things. Yes, it was like everything else, I think it was something that, you know, it hurt me a lot and I lost a few tournaments and was in bad situations because of that. So I learned, just like you learn from a mistake, the experience. I always try to improve, like I said. Talking about my golf swing, my hands get really quick when I'm under pressure and I tend to have my hands behind me and really just -- kind of activate them and be really quick on my downswing. That caused that hook from the tee. I'm really happy I haven't seen that in a long time, and it's probably going to happen again and it's okay. But I think right now I'm in a position where I feel comfortable with my swing and I understand my movement and I know how to react when I'm under pressure. I'm going to know how much adrenaline and just how do I feel and just take it easy and take a little bit longer on my routine and start slow the backswing. I have a couple of things that I know would work if I do them. Just a lot of practice. Just trying to change my swing a little bit and make sure I swing more in front of the ball and have more space instead of being trapped. It's been a process to eliminate those shots. The last few tournaments, four tournaments, on Sunday and especially in the back 9, I'm hitting a lot fairways, very straight driver, so I'm happy to see that. Q. To have won three in a row and be leading going into the final round, if you had done that obviously you would come here with a chance to tie the all-time record. Were you aware of that? How much did you want to do that? And was Sunday in some ways disappointing to not have that chace? LORENA OCHOA: I really wanted to do that. But it's almost too good to be true. But it's golf, and sometimes you feel good and sometimes things happen. It's fine. I'm just going to keep trying. Hopefully we can start another streak this week, and I'm going to keep giving myself these chances to do it. Because it was my head it was an important thing to do, but hopefully happen next time. Q. You're No. 5 on the driving distance list. I'm wondering where that power comes from. I'm not going to ask you how much you weigh, but where does the power comes from? You're not that big. LORENA OCHOA: I weigh 130 pounds. I have good speed coming down through the impact. I'm able to generate good speed and I move quick my hips. I work on my speed when I go home. I don't know, it's just something natural. I have strong legs and I like to exercise and be in good shape, and all of that helps. Carrying good equipment and all of those other things. Q. One player earlier this week mentioned she thought you were sort of mystical in some ways. Do you see that yourself? Have you heard that, and what do you think of that? LORENA OCHOA: What exactly does that mean? Q. Well, just a bit of an aura about yourself. Things about you that people maybe don't know or that they're not sure as far as being -- yeah. LORENA OCHOA: I don't understand, I'm sorry. Thank you. It's a good thing, right? No, no. I think I know what you mean, but I don't know. I'm just, you know, very lucky and very fortunate to grow up and my education and my parents just really believing in myself. I know where I want to go, and that's very clear to me. Also I'm very good at just leaving things behind. I think that's very important just in the mental side. A lot of players, you know, just in different ways they regret too much or get upset or angry or waste maybe one or two days or one or two weeks being down. In a ways, I'm easy with me. I do get really mad and disappointed but I just kind of move on and leave things behind and put them in the trash and I keep going. I think that's something that really helps me. Sometimes you feel really, really bad, and I think, Okay. It happened and I'm okay. I think that helps to just enjoy and be able to play good. Q. You mentioned hoping that you get more players from Mexico in the future, and obviously you've got Australia has a great golfing history and Korea has a lot of players and Sweden. Where are sort of next frontiers? Where do you see the next wave of the golfers coming in the next 10, 15 years? LORENA OCHOA: All over the place. I don't think we really have a country that really -- you know, Korea obviously. I think it's been good. There's been an impact all over the world. I do see more Spanish-speaking players from South America, and I'm really happy to see that. Paraguay and Chile and Colombia. We have probably between ten or fifteen players playing college golf that could be here in the next ten or fifteen years. I like that. Spanish speaking and we can have a good time on tour. Q. Have you developed more of a killer instinct in the last year or so? LORENA OCHOA: I'm the same. You know, this is the way I am. I think I'm very natural the way I'm the same inside and outside of the golf course. Of course, I like to win. I love competition. I think what helps is that your name means something. You know, once you're out there and you're playing and see your name on the leaderboard, that's important. I am conscious about that, but at the same time I like to just -- I mean, I'm an aggressive player and I like to make a lot birdies and I'm not afraid to go for it and hit a really low round. I would more describe myself as an aggressive player when it comes to playing. End of FastScripts |
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