Ochoa is not half bad
She leads LPGA by stroke after 65
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. - Never is it a good walk spoiled, not when the stage is a course susceptible to scoring and players offer a fascinating contrast of power and precision. When those ingredients are provided by golfers in the same group, it makes for an engaging walk, even in sultry conditions.
All of which is a way to introduce the participants in yesterday morning's 8:43 group in the second round of the LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock Golf Course. Karrie Webb provided the power, Morgan Pressel the precision, and the incomparable Lorena Ochoa combined the two to produce a scintillating round that thrust her into the halfway lead as she bids to keep alive her Grand Slam hopes.
"It was very easy. Stress-free," said Ochoa, who extended her bogey-free streak to 32 holes in a near-flawless 7-under-par 65 that pushed her to 10-under 134, the leader by one over Aussie Lindsey Wright (68) and by two over Canadian Lorie Kane (70). Given that she has won six of her nine starts this season and would be halfway to the Slam with a victory here, one could assume Ochoa knows a thing or two about easy days at the office, but even by her lofty standards this was silly good.
"My best round in the season," said the 26-year-old Mexican dynamo.
After she hit 13 fairways and 17 greens, who would argue? But the depth of Ochoa's brilliance was best measured against the performances of her playing competitors - Pressel, who channeled her feistiness, and Webb, who battled an inner fury, shot 69 and 71, respectively, to get halfway home at 2-under 142. The trio offered an intriguing study in how the game can be played in various styles.
"The way she played today was very impressive," said Ochoa, in reference to Pressel, the 20-year-old who is already in her third year on tour. Though she's already won a major championship, the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship, the signature to Pressel's game is her ability to hang in there despite giving away distance. Give credit to her ability to hit those fairway woods?
"Well, I've got plenty of 'em," said Pressel, who in addition to a driver carries a 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood, and hybrid, but no iron longer than a 6. It's a lot of firepower, but on a course that is stretched to roughly 6,600 yards, Pressel needs every bit of it, and she shrugs off the lack of roll because of heavy rain by pointing to the flip side: "You can fire right at the pins - even with a 3-wood."
Pressel laughed, for there was nothing else to do after a day in which she was constantly in a different area code than Ochoa after their tee balls. The numbers were staggering - Ochoa, the tour's longest hitter, averaged 272 off the tee, while Pressel went for 215.5 - and while the game's best player seemingly didn't break a sweat, Pressel had to grind on every shot.
"On [the par-4 10th], for the third time I had 121 [yards] to the pin," said Ochoa, who told that fact to Pressel. "She's like, 'Shut up, five times I've had 195 yards.' I was like, 'I'm sorry. I'll shut up.' "
Ah, but Pressel needn't apologize, not with an overflow of grit and precision. She shook off bogeys at the par-5 11th and par-4 13th with a birdie at the 14th. While her playing competitors slammed shots onto the green to set up easy birdies at the par-5 15th, Pressel had to rely on her guile, only it let her down when she was long with a 9-iron on her third shot. It led to another bogey, dropped her to even par, but with a relentless spirit Pressel birdied the par-4 16th and par-3 17th.
"Just very aggressive," said an approving Ochoa, who matched Pressel's output of birdies with seven.
True enough, but it's not like Webb didn't show flashes of aggression - though most of them were directed at herself. Quite capable of delivering power similar to Ochoa's, the Aussie, unlike the flawless Mexican, appeared at odds with her inner emotions. Last Sunday, Webb hiccuped over a 2-foot putt that cost her on the first hole of a playoff, and as if that nightmare was still gnawing at her, you could have had lunch in the time it took her to convert putts inside of 3 feet.
Still, with an array of short irons setting up three outward birdies, Webb was 4 under when for the second straight day she hit her tee shot well right and into a large pond at the par-3 12th en route to a double bogey. She slammed her putter into the bag there, then did likewise to a wedge when a poor pitch from light, greenside rough led to a bogey at the par-4 16th. Her mood hardly improved at the par-4 18th, where from a sidehill lie in gnarly rough she pulled an approach into the water for a closing bogey that sent her spiraling eight shots behind.
It was all Webb could do to sign her scorecard, a function Ochoa handled with ease, not to mention a smile.
"It's great to watch her play," said Pressel, who didn't seem ruffled by the 50 yards or so she concedes to Ochoa at most tee boxes. But the power is an aspect to Ochoa's game that fascinates, given that she stands just 5 feet 6 inches and weighs perhaps 135 pounds. She said it has always been part of her game, that the great extension and ferocious follow-through that features tremendous whip at impact comes naturally.
"Probably because I was an athlete," she said. "I used to play sports, basketball and swimming, and that helps a lot."
It also helps to maintain control of focus and inner emotions, something Webb battled all day. Like the golf itself these days, that doesn't seem to be a problem for Ochoa. Not even when she missed that short birdie try at the par-4 ninth.
"I wasn't mad. I was happy," she said. "I said, 'OK, we have the back nine and I'm feeling good.' I'm very level."
Commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced that the LPGA Tour has assumed ownership of this major championship. In 1994, the tournament evolved into the
Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.
