Golf in Puerto Vallarta

Lorena Ochoa, Inspiring Mexico

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Lorena Ochoa has been hailed as one of the greatest athletic talents in the world, and has single handedly put Mexico on the golfing map. Born and raised in the state of Jalisco, in Guadalajara, she played on the US based LPGA Tour between 2003 and 2010. When Ochoa became the first Mexican woman golfer to hold the number one spot, she was also the first Mexican national to hold that spot! Her achievements have earned her recognition at the World Golf Hall of Fame, too. Here’s what all the fuss is about;

An Early Start

Ochoa grew up a mere stone’s throw from Guadalajara Country Club, and it was there that she first took up golf at the age of 5. She was clearly a natural, and at 6 she won her first state championship. By the age of 7 she had won a national title, and then the top spot in the World Junior Golf Championship at the age of 8. By the time she was 13 Ochoa had broken a world record by winning the Junior World International Championship and World Junior Golf Championship five years in a row.

A Blossoming Career

In 2000 Lorena enrolled in the University of Arizona’s Sports Psychology program where she immediately joined the golf team and launched her career in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). She quickly became one to watch by adding 12 collegiate tournament titles to her growing pile! By 2002 she was beginning her professional golfing career with the Futures Tour during which she won 3 tournaments. This brought her a spot on the LPGA, and just 5 years later in 2007 she ranked number one in the world, and held that place for an unprecedented 158 weeks until she retired in 2010. This is a record that has not yet been broken; her extraordinary skills have drawn comparisons to golfing legends like Nancy Lopez and Tiger Woods.

Life Beyond the Golf Circuit

While her undeniable professional achievements have gained Lorena Ochoa endless praise as well as huge number of mind-boggling prizes and titles Ochoa is so much more. Since retiring Ochoa has focused on a number of other things. Each year she proudly hosts the Lorena Ochoa Invitational at her home course, the Guadalajara Country Club. Golf course design, too, has become somewhat of a passion for Ochoa; she even designed potential courses for the Olympic games! In fact, she’s even done work to raise the profile of golf in Mexico overall by hosting a program on CNN, en Español, which highlights golf in Latin America. This, amongst other endeavours, has allowed her to share her inspiring story with others, but the thing nearest to her heart is, without a doubt, the Lorena Ochoa Foundation. The foundation oversees a primary school, La Barranca, in Guadalajara which caters to 250 underprivileged children. The foundation has even launched a small high school to further these effects.

It’s not all that hard to see why so many people are inspired by Lorena Ochoa. Why not visit the bronze sculpture that was erected in her honor on Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon during your stay at Hotel Mousai?

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