12 years after his professional retirement, Lorena Ochoa inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame. The announcement came after the top women’s golf tour will change the requirements to invest their figures, since originally 10 years in active service were needed.
Lorena – only 7 years old – achieved 27 wins, including two major tournamentsin addition to remaining number one in the world for 158 uninterrupted weeks, positioning herself as the best Mexican golfer of all time.
“The news caught me a little by surprise, but I am very happy. Well, I was able to join that select group of friends, players who shone a lot throughout their careers. It is a very different and special feeling, because for me the LPGA is a family. I want to thank everyone who has accompanied me on this path and I am very excited”, he said in an exclusive interview with MILLENNIUM-The Hobby.
How did you receive the news? Who was the first person you spoke to to tell them ‘I’m already immortal’?
(laughs) The LPGA chose Nancy López to break the news to me, so she asked me for a call. It seemed funny to me, kind of weird that she was talking to me. I thought she was going to ask me to go with her to a golf tournament or something for a foundation. I took the call, very normal, talking about how her family was and how things were in the United States, then He told me ‘I’m talking to you to give you some super news. I’m so excited’, and he already told me about the LPGA Hall of Fame decision and it was hilarious. I am very grateful that this super news came from her, it was super nice. For so many years I have admired her a lot and she has been an example, not only for me, but also for many golfers of my generation. Nancy is very special and she will be a beautiful memory, listening to the words, with the calm with which she told me. When I hung up I was in Valle de Bravo and I said ‘now what do I do, how do I scream’. He was very funny. Then I spoke with Andrés, my husband, he already knew that they were going to call me to give me the news.
The fact that you arrived at this stage of your life with your children, your family… was the fruit of a lot of work.
Having my family by my side is super important. The support, the affection, all the sacrifices. What my family did for me, all that work. Now that I am living that stage of being a mom, I understand more about everything that my parents did for me.. I thank you doubly… and as for my children, they still don’t understand much (because they are small), I just talked to them and I think they don’t understand the relevance, but I hope that when they are older they understand a little more. I have to thank my husband who is accompanying me to the event tomorrow in Palm Springs, and to enjoy this moment, for when we can return to Mexico to enjoy with the family.
I remember that you counted the trips and sacrifices you made with your brother, sleeping in the car to get to the tournaments. All that effort is now recognized.
The first thing that came to mind and I talked a little with the others, about ‘remember when we were kids, when we played tournaments and when we started traveling in different parts of the world as the only Mexican’. After all those stories and now being in that position, in the Hall of Fame, gives me a lot of emotion that is very difficult to expressWell, it’s been many years, a lot of effort and work. It takes a lot of work to assimilate all that, but of course I am super happy and content, with great enthusiasm to share it not only with my loved ones, but also with all the Mexicans who have always cheered me on so much.
You say that it is difficult to assimilate the news, does that mean that you still have a hard time believing it?
Of course I still don’t get 20, to begin with I didn’t have it very much in mind… my life is already so different in my activities, between the house, the children, the foundation. I have 12 years of retirement, which is a lot. What is great with all this is to relive those beautiful, special moments, like winning tournaments, breaking records, playing in different places in the United States. Well now this whole stage is very beautiful and I want to share with them (my children) to go to a field and teach them.
You are also the example of this new generation and of the growth golf has today, how do you feel about this?
The most important and most beautiful thing is to see the growth of the sport (of golf) in our country. It was something very rare that he was playing tournaments and then he started to grow a lot. They are very beautiful things that have touched me. It makes me very proud to be part of this growth, it gives me a lot of emotion. I follow the golfers, I greatly admire the professionals who are dedicated to this sport, which is sometimes very small, but now that we have the tournaments, we support the Mexicans and I like to be there very close.
Your work, I suppose, is focused so that another Mexican can enter the Hall of Fame following in your footsteps.
(Laughter) Everyone is different, everyone has their goals and their dreams. I would love to share that space with another Mexican, eventually in the future and I think that for now it is not worth pressing. Everyone has a different level and professional form and for now we are experiencing something incredible with so many Mexican players.
FCM
