Ochoa set for swansong tournament on home soil

MORELIA (Mexico) (AFP) Lorena Ochoa, who is leaving the sport on her own terms, will say goodbye to golf by finishing her brilliant career on her home soil at the LPGAs Tres Marias Championship. The 28-year-old Ochoa leaves the LPGA tour with two major titles and almost 15 million dollars in earnings. The world number one has 27 wins heading into this weeks 1.3 million dollar tournament where she will be paired with Japans Ai Miyazato and American Natalie Gulbis. Ochoa shocked the golfing community by announcing last week she was leaving the game to concentrate on starting a family and continue her charity work. Im not going away because I am not playing good golf, Ochoa said, Im going away because this is the right time for me. Ive achieved my goals, Im happy and I want to leave as No. 1. The event features six of the top 10 players in the world battling for 195,000 dollars in first-place prize money. Ochoa is gunning for her fourth Tres Marias Championship in six years and a victory would be a nice finishing touch to a career that already includes a Hall of Fame induction. Organizers say they are expecting record crowds of Ochoas countrymen trying to get a final glimpse of her. Despite golfs low profile, Ochoa is ranked among Mexicos five most prominent athletes, joining baseball pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, boxer Julio Cesar Chavez, 400-metre runner Ana Guevara and soccer player Hugo Sanchez. Ochoa faces a strong field of 132 golfers and is expected to be challenged this week by players such as world number four Suzann Pettersen who finished second to her at last years tournament. Pettersen is also fresh off a runner-up finish at the LPGAs first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Michelle Wie, world number seven Anna Nordqvist and Angela Stanford are also in the field. Kraft Nabisco winner Tseng Yani and the worlds number two Shin Jiyai are skipping this weeks tournament. Ochoa will tee off in the first two rounds with Gulbis and Miyazato. Ochoa specifically requested they be in her group. Gulbis and Ochoa advanced through junior golf together. Miyazato is a rising star on the tour. I think shes the nicest girl on tour, Ochoa said of Miyazato. Ochoa is extremely popular among her golfing peers. Lorena is a better person than a golfer, said tour player Reilley Rankin. I think we all knew it was coming within a couple of years, but to be honest with you I dont think Lorena knew it was coming this soon. She has just always been so real and very well-balanced, and as soon as that balance in her life was a little off she was aware of it. Ochoa recently married airline executive Andres Conesa and is now a stepmother of three. The loss of the Mexican is a major blow to the LPGA, already struggling with fewer tournaments and lost sponsors because of economic setbacks. The LPGA was hit in 2008 with the retirement of long-time world number one Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, but Sorenstam was 37 when she said farewell to start a family. Last season, Ochoa edged South Korea Shin Jiyai to claim her fourth consecutive LPGA Player of the Year award. She won three times in 2009 after collecting seven titles in 2008, eight in 2007 and six in 2006. Ochoa won her first major title in 2007 at the Womens British Open and added another at the 2008 Kraft Nabisco. She doesnt plan to disappear completely, saying she would like to play each year in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November in Guadalajara. I feel light. I feel happier, she said. Its been easier the last couple of weeks.