That’s why Lorena Ochoa’s announcement that she’s retiring from pro golf seems like the real deal. She is the rock, the sound investment compared to the folly of boxers and their like. When she speaks — for her, on Friday, April 23 — people listen.
Ochoa, from Mexico, is just the latest non-U.S. player to dominate the LPGA. That probably doesn’t have anything to do with the LPGA’s shrinking fan and tournament event base, but it didn’t help, either.
The organization that had a regular stop at Beavercreek’s CCN is down to 14 U.S. events. And now it’ll lose its top draw, or, if that’s not measurable, its No. 1 player. I challenge anyone reading this to name the second- or third-ranked LPGA regular.
The LPGA is dominated by foreign players. That silly thing about brushing up on speaking English didn’t quite work out. Then Annika Sorenstam quit, and now Ochoa.
If Michelle Wie ever is to live up to her incredible hype, now is the time. She is the great U.S. hope who has never equaled her billing. She’s the Freddy Adu of women’s golf.
Cristie Kerr is a fine player. But she doesn’t emit the star wattage that Wie already consistently generates. Now, like so many golfers before her, all Wie needs to do is win. And more the better.
Perhaps the best we could hope for is both Sorenstam and Ochoa to return some day.
Contact this writer at (937) 225-2381 or mpendleton@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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