Lorena Ochoa Reyes (born 15 November 1981) is a
Mexican professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based
LPGA Tour from
2003 to
2010, and was the
top-ranked female golfer in the world for over three years, from April 2007 to her retirement in May 2010. As the first Mexican golfer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world, she is considered the best Mexican golfer of all time.
Childhood and amateur career
Born and raised in
Guadalajara, Ochoa was the third of four children of a real estate developer and an artist. She took up golf at the age of five, won her first state event at the age of six, and her first national event at seven.
An 11-year-old Ochoa approached the professional
Rafael Alarcon, 1979 winner of the
Canadian Amateur Championship, as he worked on his game at Guadalajara Country Club, where her family lived near the 10th tee. She asked him if he would help her with her game. Alarcon asked her what her goal was, "She said she wanted to be the best player in the world."
As a junior, she captured 22 state events in Guadalajara and 44 national events in Mexico. She won five consecutive titles at the
Junior World Golf Championships<ref...
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