Lorena Ochoa

Lorena Ochoa went from firing at flags to grinding over every shot yesterday afternoon as winds swirled under hazy clouds in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and made the Kraft Nabisco Championship feel more like a major. All that mattered was keeping her lead, and a 1-under-par 71 was enough to do that. "It's amazing how easy things were yesterday, and today I worked really hard for my 1-under," said Ochoa, who is 11-under 133. Coming off a 62 in the first round, which tied the lowest score ever in a major, Ochoa twice scrambled for par and pieced together enough birdies to maintain her four-shot lead over 16-year-old Michelle Wie. Wie caught the brunt of the cool, gusty conditions and did well to shoot a 71. In other tournaments: At Duluth, Ga., Phil Mickelson continued his blistering pace, shooting a 7-under 65 at the BellSouth Classic to set a course record of 16-under 128 after two rounds.

Lorena Ochoa, became the first LPGA Tour player in 45 years to win four tournaments in consecutive weeks. The world's No. 1 player shot a 3-under 69 yesterday in the final round of the Ginn Open in Reunion, Fla., and beat rookie Yani Tseng by three strokes for her fifth victory in six starts this year. "I'm very grateful. It's been a blessing, you know," Ochoa said. "But I know that bad times will come. It's just the way life is. I'm just trying to enjoy my moment, and I would like to enjoy it for a long time.

This time, Ernie Els could enjoy someone else's final-round misfortune. Ending nearly a 4-year drought between PGA Tour victories, Els shot a 3-under 67 yesterday to win The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He finished at 6 under, one shot better than Luke Donald (71) and two ahead of Nathan Green (67). "It's been a long time coming," said Els, of South Africa. Els and Mark Calcavecchia were tied for the lead as the sun began setting on PGA National. But Calcavecchia hit into a greenside bunker at the par-3 15th, and his shot from the sand looked fine when it hit the green.

The best part of Patrick Sheehan's day was playing with Ian Leggatt and Chris Riley through the tall pines, thin air and steep hills of the Rocky Mountains - before the rains came. "When you got two guys that you really like . . . it was a good group for me because everybody talks to each other and you're telling jokes," Sheehan said. Sheehan piggybacked on Leggatt's incredible second round yesterday to take the lead at the halfway mark of the International at Castle Pines (Colo.

Trailing by five strokes with seven holes to go, Lorena Ochoa looked to have lost yet another chance to win an LPGA tournament this year. And then the birdies started to drop - one after another after another. She birdied six of the last seven holes yesterday to rally past Paula Creamer and win the Rochester LPGA by four strokes. Ochoa, a two-time winner last year, shot a 7-under 65 in the final round to finish at 15-under 273. Creamer, an 18-year-old rookie seeking her second victory in a month, faded with three bogeys on the back nine to end at 11 under.

Sergio Garcia retooled his swing so it would hold up under the intense pressure of the final round. Yesterday, he only had to let the other guys fall apart at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. Garcia made enough clutch pars to get into a playoff, then won for the first time in 2 years on the PGA Tour, his fourth title overall, by tapping in for par on the first extra hole as Dudley Hart and Robert Damron self-destructed. "Winning is always great," Garcia said.

It's been a whirlwind year for Candace Parker. She led Tennessee to a second straight national championship in women's basketball, was the first pick in the WNBA draft, took the league's MVP and rookie of the year awards, and helped the U.S. win a fourth-straight Olympic gold medal. Now Parker has been selected female athlete of the year by members of the Associated Press. "Wow, that's amazing," the 22-year-old Parker said. "It's been a great year from so many standpoints.

Annika Sorenstam's long reign at the top of women's golf is over for the moment and maybe forever. In the latest Rolex Rankings - the women's version of the World Golf Rankings, released yesterday - Sorenstam has been replaced as No. 1 by Lorena Ochoa. "Today is one of the most special days in my life," Ochoa said. "It is something that I have dreamed about since I was little. " Ochoa, 25, from Mexico, a 10-time winner on the LPGA Tour, is only the second player to claim the top spot since the Rolex Rankings were started in February 2006.

Rory Sabbatini is taking all bets that par golf on the weekend at Firestone will pay him $1.35 million. Sabbatini continued to make a difficult golf course look like a breeze yesterday, running off three straight birdies toward the end of his round for another 3-under 67 and a two-shot lead over Masters champion Zach Johnson in the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. What appeared to be a tuneup for the final major of the season next week at the PGA Championship is starting to look like it might be an even tougher test.

Lorena Ochoa clinched her second straight LPGA player of the year award with a runaway victory yesterday in the Samsung World Championship in Palm Desert, Calif. Successfully defending her title in the elite event, Ochoa crafted a closing 6-under 66 for her seventh victory of the year and 16th overall. She finished at 18-under 270 - four shots ahead of Mi Hyun Kim - and earned $250,000 to push her record total to $3,318,421. "After what happened in 2006, I thought it would be hard to improve, but here I am," said the smiling Ochoa, who won six times last year.

Lee Westwood of England became Europe's No. 1 golfer yesterday after winning the Dubai World Championship in the United Arab Emirates, by six strokes. Westwood shot a course-record 8-under 64 in the final round at the Earth Course to finish at 23-under 265. He earned $1.25 million with the 31st victory of his career to overtake Rory McIlroy on the season-long money list and win the European Tour's first Race to Dubai since it changed from the European Order of Merit. Ross McGowan of England was second after a 68, and McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, shot a 67 to finish third on 273. The 36-year-old Westwood's $1.5 million bonus for finishing atop the money list took his total European Tour earnings to $6,376,984.

Paula Creamer fought throughout the front nine yesterday to keep her golf game together while the wind strengthened and the conditions at Saucon Valley Country Club got tougher during Round 3 of the U.S. Women's Open. Then she arrived at the par-4 10th hole, where U.S. Golf Association officials had moved up the tee to 253 yards to entice players to go for the green. One triple-bogey 7 later, Creamer had all but waved goodbye to her hopes of winning her first career major championship.

While those who have enjoyed success on the 2009 LPGA Tour grabbed much of the attention yesterday in the first round of the U.S. Women's Open, there was still room for an unfamiliar name with major dreams. Meet Jean Reynolds, a petite 24-year-old Georgian who is the leading money-winner thus far on the Duramed Futures Tour, the LPGA's developmental circuit. Reynolds fired a 2-under-par 69 yesterday in ideal weather at Saucon Valley Country Club to tie Lorena Ochoa, the world's No. 1-ranked player, and Cristie Kerr, the top American on the LPGA money list, for second place, 1 stroke behind 18-hole leader Na Yeon Choi.

The tenure of embattled LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens will end next week, with the board of directors having reached an agreement to settle the final 18 months of her contract, Golf World reported yesterday. Quoting sources, the magazine said on its Web site that the only remaining questions concern when Bivens, who took over as commissioner in September 2005, will step down and how the departure will be framed. Any exit is likely to happen next week out of respect to the U.S. Golf Association, which is conducting this week's U.S. Women's Open, although the daily drama involving Bivens has stolen some luster from the championship.

With all the rumors and reports about the job security of LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens swirling around Saucon Valley Country Club, players are doing their best to keep their focus on today's start of the U.S. Women's Open. Lorena Ochoa is one of them. But unlike many of her colleagues, the world's No. 1-ranked player did not mind offering her thoughts about Bivens when she addressed reporters yesterday. "Everybody's been talking about it," said Ochoa, whose name reportedly is one of 15 on a letter delivered to the LPGA board of directors calling for Bivens' resignation.

This is usually the week the LPGA stands on the sideline while the U.S. Golf Association conducts the U.S. Women's Open, setting up the golf course to its demanding specifications and offering a purse of $3,250,000, matching the highest in women's golf. But the LPGA found itself thrust front and center yesterday by reports that a group of 15 players, including world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and top American stars Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, and Morgan Pressel, signed a letter demanding the resignation of commissioner Carolyn Bivens.

It's been a whirlwind year for Candace Parker. She led Tennessee to a second straight national championship in women's basketball, was the first pick in the WNBA draft, took the league's MVP and rookie of the year awards, and helped the U.S. win a fourth-straight Olympic gold medal. Now Parker has been selected female athlete of the year by members of the Associated Press. "Wow, that's amazing," the 22-year-old Parker said. "It's been a great year from so many standpoints.

Carl Pettersson, a Swedish native who went to nearby Greensfield (N.C.) High School and also attended North Carolina State, shot a tournament-record 61 to take the lead after two rounds of the Wyndham Championship in Sedgefield Country Club. The local favorite, who serves on the tournament's board of directors, matched the PGA Tour's 36-hole mark at 15-under 125. He had a three-stroke lead over Garrett Willis (64). In matching the lowest single-round score on the PGA Tour this year, Pettersson shot a 30 through his opening nine holes.

Four days after nearly making history at the British Open, Greg Norman labored to a 4-over 75 yesterday in the opening round of the Seniors British Open, to finish seven shots behind co-leaders Bruce Vaughan and Eduardo Romero. In sunny conditions at Troon, Scotland, Norman bogeyed six of the first 10 holes and was 6 over before he finally birdied the par-4 13th. He birdied the final hole with a pitch to 3 feet. "Things just weren't going my way early on," Norman said. "I just had to hang in there and gut it out the best I could.

With any luck, yesterday's final round of the McDonald's LPGA Championship would have come down to a battle between Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam. It did not. Faced with an opportunity to demonstrate why they are the No. 1 and No. 2 players in women's golf, neither Ochoa nor Sorenstam could do better than a 1-under 71, leaving them both at 11 under, tied for third, and frustrated on a steamy-hot Sunday at Bulle Rock. Victory in the season's second major of the year went to a 19-year-old rookie from Taiwan, Yani Tseng, who sank a five-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole against Maria Hjorth of Sweden.