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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 31, 2012Lorena OchoaRANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Welch to the 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship. We have two very special guests with us today. On the far left, your right, Mr.Jason Taylor. He's the executive director and CEO of the Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation, and I think the person to my immediate left needs no introduction; former Rolex Ranking No. 1 player, 27‑time winner on the LPGA Tour with two majors including this tournament several years ago, stepped away from the game in 2010 and has now taken her interests away from the golf course and has a family and many other things going on in her life. So first of all, welcome to both of you. Thanks for being here. LORENA OCHOA: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Lorena, we'll start with you. What brings you to Palm Springs today? I know you have a very special charity event going on after play today called the Lorena Ochoa's Unforgettable Role. Tell us about that. LORENA OCHOA: Hello, everybody. It's very nice to be here. When I found out that the tournament was happening here in Palm Springs, the Nabisco, I got so excited. First, it's great to go again over there and see the course and all my friends, get into the clubhouse and have a chocolate milk shake that I'm going to have later today. And the other reason that is making me really happy and excited is I'm here because of the Ochoa Golf Foundation. I always said that when I finished playing in the LPGA, I always said that I still wanted to be active and wanted to be involved with this. Fortunately the foundation is my No. 1 priority, and what we do with the Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation is try to reach out to the minorities, and especially families for little girls, little boys, for them to be able to play golf, to get that first golf club in their hands, to play some balls, to feel comfortable. We are very worried about the health issue. We are very focused on that, that we teach them the whole environment, how healthy it is to go outside, to have some fun with the family, to play golf and be healthy. And what's happening right now on the 18 green, the putting, it's just a fun game, it's something really exciting that's been happening for the last few months, and to be able to be here and talk a little about the foundation and share with all of you what we're doing it's a great opportunity. And we will talk to you and share more with all your questions, but it's great to be here. It's good to see all of you. THE MODERATOR: And for Jason, if you would, just tell us about the Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation. It's primarily focused here in the United States, here in Southern California. What are some of your goals right now? LORENA OCHOA: The mission of the Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation is to provide opportunities for family through health, education and inclusion programs all delivered through family golf activities, so in a nutshell golf is our vehicle for introducing healthier lifestyles to entire families. It's a USA‑based foundation. We've been spending the last year and a half piloting our programs in Southern California and we're in the roll‑out stage right now, so we're really excited. And within the next year or two we hope to start expanding throughout the United States. We've already got some plans to move into Texas and Florida as early as 2013. THE MODERATOR: Lorena, back to you, if you would. There's a lot of people in this room who haven't seen you since you retired, so can you give us a quick update on what's new with you outside of the foundation with your life? LORENA OCHOA: Well, for sure, I had a baby. I guess I should start with that. His name is Pedro. He's three months old. He's here with me; now with my father, his grandpa. Hopefully he's doing good. It's been amazing, just for sure my life changed after having Pedro. And you know what, I say one more time I think I made the right decision stepping away from the competition and just being able to have more time for my life and more personal quality time. And I live in Mexico City. I've been there for the last couple years, and I said that I would stop playing on the LPGA, but I will still play, and that's what I'm doing. I started practicing. I stopped playing for almost six months, but now I'm starting to practice again. I have a few tournaments coming up for the foundation. The next one will be in Las Cabos, and the 26th, 27th and 28th of April I'm going to play in Las Cabos. And actually I play tournaments for my sponsors, for the foundation, for my school named Guadalajara La Barranca. I'm going to play a couple of tournaments during the summer in Europe. So you know, here I am and I only left for a few months, but I promise to be back in a way that you're going to see me, you're going to see my face, and it's fun now to be on this side of the lines and enjoy what I'm doing. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lorena and Jason? Q. Lorena, I feel like I should ask you about your birdies and bogeys today seeing you in this format. When you walk on to this property, maybe specifically this property as opposed to any other tournament, does it all float back to you about your record round here, your win here in '08? Does it all float back to you? LORENA OCHOA: Yes. Not literally right now or today when I walk in, but for the last few weeks, I knew I was coming here to the Nabisco, my family and my friends all of them keep telling me, come on. Just see the 18 green you want to get back to the game, you want to play again on the LPGA tournament. And for sure, you know, they asked me, do you miss playing, do you miss winning, and I say yes. But for sure, you know, I don't miss all the things, you know, with all the traveling and all the practice. So I can tell you, you know, I'm just happy and it's great to see things from the outside. I've done it, and I had my chance and I had my time and right now it's great to be back in a different way. I think I would love to play this tournament again, you know, just for fun. Hopefully I can make that call in two years. But right now it's great memories. It's nice to be here. Q. So you get that question not just from the media, but from your friends and your family too? LORENA OCHOA: Yes. All the time. They ‑‑ you know, in a way they know. You know, when I say that I will stop playing competitive golf and attend tournaments on the LPGA, you know, right away, come on, when are you getting back, when are you getting back, when are you getting back. And I'm not going to get back. It's something that I don't see myself going in. I will play maybe one tournament a year, U. S. Open, maybe one British Open, you know, just to get back and have fun, but I don't see myself playing full time again. Q. How has motherhood changed you, and what have you enjoyed the most about this new chapter? LORENA OCHOA: Well, I think I'm the same. I'm doing the best I can. I'm ‑‑ like they say, you think with all the traveling and all the pressure of playing tournaments and being all over the place that you will be fine once the baby comes because we're used to being responsible in that way, but it is impossible to describe. I mean you get so (indiscernible) with the baby. And he's just the best joy. It's hard to describe. And I gotta really ‑‑ I heard because I can't compare, but I heard that my baby is good. He really doesn't cry very much. He sleeps all night. I've been lucky in that way. So he's been really easy. He loves to travel. I already took him to maybe six different states in Mexico and he's already been in the States here. And he's only three months old. So he's used to being in a suitcase. He better get used to that. So it's been good. Q. And I know you didn't watch a whole lot of golf on TV when you were playing. I don't know if you've been able to catch much of the LPGA action this year and just kind of some thoughts on what Yani is doing and the history that she's making out here? LORENA OCHOA: Well, for sure, I don't see every day or every weekend, but I am always trying to look either on the Internet or watch who won the tournaments. And we all know that Yani is dominating and she feels so confident. You can tell that she's at that level where she feels good and things are easy for her. She makes lots of birdies, and I guess what I can say or what I can tell her is just to enjoy the moment because it doesn't stay that way forever and she needs to be careful and just keep practicing and keep focused. And I think she's going to win a lot of tournaments this year and the next couple years. So I wish her the best, and it seems like, you know, everybody needs to work hard to catch up, but that's the way golf is. It's up and down, up and down, and right now it's her time, and it's great to see also new faces and a few of the American players are doing good. I promise to keep in touch and follow the LPGA. It's my family and I will always follow them. Q. Lorena, we missed you. Did you miss us? LORENA OCHOA: Yes. Q. On a personal level talking about the charity and talking about your winning and all. What gives you more satisfaction as a person, as a human being, helping minorities or those trophies that you won and being No. 1 in the world? LORENA OCHOA: I think it's nothing better than being able to help ‑‑ I think in a way it's a responsibility, you know, being a professional athlete and having the opportunity to reach out. I always done this from the bottom of my heart. It's a very unique opportunity, and I'm trying to be responsible, you know, and to do it the right way. You can't compare winning tournaments. I think both are great, but right now, what I'm able to do is to work as hard as I can and help as many kids and as many families as I can, and that's my priority, and I'm enjoying that role a lot and I'm going to continue that. Q. Right now in this country at least there's a lot of talk about how we need to improve junior golf and the First Tee program and all this, maybe grow the game that way. How similar or different is the Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation to some of those other programs? JASON TAYLOR: Well, we're not necessarily trying to grow champion golfers. What we're trying to do is provide opportunities for people to go as far as they want. We're trying to put forward the other benefits of playing golf. For us it's very important to create a vehicle and an arena for families to spend time together of all ages; children who are 50 with parents who are 80 or children who are 10 with parents who are 30 or 40. And with that, if they want to go further with Lorena's Links Golf Courses, which is what we call our partner golf courses, there's programs in place that makes it accessible. So we know through this there's going to be champions that wouldn't have had a chance to become a champion because golf wasn't accessible for them. All of our courses have such wonderful programs that cost zero dollars, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars. The whole family can come in and participate. So through that people who get their first opportunity may go on forever and they're going to have professional PGA instruction from LPGA and PGA members. We think there will be some champions, but our goal is to really create that family time and a healthy lifestyle for these people. THE MODERATOR: All right. Jason, thank you so much for joining us. Lorena, always a pleasure to see you. And enjoy your time here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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