Posted at 10:37 a.m., Monday, April 23, 2007
Ochoa overtakes Sorenstam as No. 1 women's golfer
Bloomberg News Service
Lorena Ochoa, who won six LPGA Tour events last season to earn Player of the Year honors, replaced Annika Sorenstam as the world's top-ranked women's golfer.Since the women's ratings were created in February 2006, Sorenstam, a 36-year-old Swede, had held the top spot.
Ochoa, a 25-year-old from Mexico, has five top-five finishes this year, while Sorenstam has two top-10s in three events.
Sorenstam, the winner of 10 major titles and 84 events around the world, withdrew from the Ginn Open two weeks ago and will be sidelined for at least a month with a back injury.
Players' rankings are based on their performances over a rolling period of 104 weeks. The current ranking period dates back to the 2005 season, when Sorenstam won 10 times.
Over that period, Ochoa has earned 642.19 points in 50 events, an average of 12.84. Sorenstam has 546.22 points in 43 events, an average of 12.70.
Ochoa could have overtaken Sorenstam earlier this season with a win at either the Kraft Nabisco Championship or the Ginn Open. She tied for 10th at the Kraft Nabisco, the LPGA's first major tournament of the year, and lost by one stroke at the Ginn Open after making two double-bogeys and two bogeys over her final six holes.
Karrie Webb, Morgan Pressel and Cristie Kerr round out the top five on the list.
