Capelle On Golf

Lorena Ochoa steamrollered her way to a five shot win and her second major at the Kraft Nabisco, and it was no accident. She led the field in GIR at 79.1% while Annika Sorenstam hit 65.3%, adding further evidence that the changing of the guard in women’s golf is complete. After a disastrous injury plagued 2007, Sorenstam appears to rounding back into form. The only difference is that she is now the new number two.

Women’s golf could be in the same place men’s golf found itself after the 1977 Masters, the parallels eerily similar. At that point, 27-year-old Tom Watson had just won his second major. Jack Nicklaus, who finished second at age 37, had won 14 majors. Now we have Ochoa, at 26, winning her second. Sorenstam, at 37, remains on 10 majors after also finishing second (as Nicklaus did in ‘77).

If Ochoa and the eleven years older Sorenstam follow the pattern set by Watson and Nicklaus, then Ochoa’s reign as the new number one will have begun, but not without a fight from Sorenstam. In the next six years following the ’77 Masters, Watson captured six majors while Nicklaus added three more. All told, Nicklaus finished second four times to Watson. As they duked it out for golf’s top spot, they forged what is likely the game’s greatest on-course rivalry. Let’s hope that Ochoa-Sorenstam becomes a similar slice of history.