World No.1 Completes Sybase Hat-Trick.
Lorena Ochoa completed a hat-trick of wins at the LPGA Tour's Sybase Classic yesterday.
The world No. 1 had struggled at her previous two events, by her own very high standards, finishing fifth at the SemGroup Championship and tied for 12th at last weekend's Michelob Ultra Open. But Ochoa rebounded at the rain-shortened tournament, finishing one shot ahead of five players with an overall score of 10-under 206.
"It feels so good to have defended my title," said our Lorena, who captured her sixth title this season. “It was getting tight at the end, and I knew a lot of players were making birdies. But it was great to hang on."
Ochoa had to grind this one out rather than running away with it like her first five wins this year. Lorena won those events by a combined 37 strokes, with the closest margin being three shots.
"I think that was what was important. It doesn't matter how you do it sometimes; you play really good, other players struggle, sometimes you just keep yourself in a good position. Today it was different; it was a different win, but I enjoyed it a lot," said the girl from Guadalajara.
"Tht's three on the bounce, can I keep this one?"
Morgan Pressel went berserk and shot a final round 6 under 66 to zoom into contention and got within a shot after Ochoa bogeyed the ninth and she birdied 12 for her fifth birdie in seven holes.
"I think I had two holes where I didn't have birdie opportunities, and one of them I chipped in," said the 19-year-old Pressel who finished one shot off the lead with South Korea's Na Yeon Choi, Britain's Catriona Matthew, Sweden's Sophie Gustafson and Americans Brittany Lang.
The victory was Ochoa's 23rd overall and 20th since April 2006. The £153,217 prize pushed her career earnings past the £6 million mark, making her the fastest player on the LPGA Tour to reach that plateau.
The diminutive millionaire accomplished it in just over five years, more than four years faster than the old mark set by outgoing golfing legend Annika Sorenstam.
5/19/2008 11:34:09 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00) 
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