Ochoa Named LPGA Player of the Year

If there’s any player that can be called the female Tiger Woods, it has to be Lorena Ochoa.  Well, as long as Annika Sorenstam stays retired that is.  Otherwise, that unofficial title belongs to Ochoa, who just won her fourth consecutive LPGA Player of the Year, despite finishing second in the LPGA Tour Championship, which was won by Anna Nordqvist.  But a runner-up finish, and the fact that her main competitor for the title, Jiyai Shin, finished five strokes behind her, sealed the deal for Ochoa.

Lorena Ochoa (Image: Zuma Press)

As well as being named the player of the year, Ochoa also captured her fourth straight Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average.  Shin, meanwhile, was vying to become only the second rookie to win both the rookie of the year and player of the year trophies in the same season.  The legendary Nancy Lopez, in 1978, remains the only player to achieve that remarkable feat.