TALKING GOLF WITH GARY #80

 OCHOA SAYS GOODBYE
Last Friday, Lorena Ochoa fought back tears as she said goodbye to golf. She will step away as an active player after the Tres Marias Championship next week in Morelia, Mexico. She left the door open to play a few more
tournaments, including her own Lorena Ochoa Invitational each November in her hometown of Guadalajara.
   Ochoa wants to raise a family—she was married in December to Aeromexico chief executive Andres Conesa—and run her charity foundation.so a return to full time tour player seems remote.
   “I realized maybe I didn’t have the necessary motivation and that I wanted to start a new life and come to Mexico and do different things with the foundation,” she said. “I have achieved all I needed to achieve in sports. Now is time to change, I’m going to keep working very hard, but at home.”
   “Today begins a new stage,” she said, her voice choking, her eyes misting. “Today is the most special day of my career. Every career has a beginning and an end. Ours has come.”   Ochoa, who joined the LPGA Tour in 2003 after two seasons at Arizona, falls short of the 10-year playing requirement to be eligible for the Hall of Fame, though she does meet the point requirement.


BOHN WINS ZURICH CLASSIC
Jason Bohn took home the Zurich Classic with a two stroke victory over Jeff Overton. With it Bohn captured his second PGA Tour career victory.
  Bohn, who also won the 2005 B.C. Open, had it going early, shooting an opening 65 and leading after each round.
  He locked up the victory with birdies on three of the final four holes at TPC Louisiana for a 5-under 67 and a two-stroke victory.
  Jeff Overton mounted a persistent challenge, twice tying Bohn on his way to a 66.
Overton birdied the 18th—after missing a long eagle putt—but Bohn, who made birdie putts of 5 1/2 feet on No. 15 and 22 feet on No. 16, had to only tap in on 18 for his fifth birdie of the round.
  Twenty-four year old rookie Troy Merritt was third at 14 under. He was 7 under during a seven-hole stretch that ended at No. 13, making five birdies and an eagle.
  The tournament was plagued early on with bad weather and the players had to go long extra holes to complete the tournament on schedule.

Next up is the Quail Hollow Championship. Sean O'Hair is the defending champion.



O'MEARA WINS FIRST CHAMPIONS TOUR TITLE IN TEAM EVENT
  Mark O'Meara and Nick Price defeated Joey Sindelar and John Cook on the second playoff hole Sunday to win the better-ball Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.
  Both teams bogeyed the first playoff hole and returned to play No. 18, where Price won it with a par putt from about 7 feet. The victory gave O'Meara his first Champions Tour Victory. O'Meara has been on the Senior Tour for 4 years.
  John Cook missed a four foot putt that would have given his team the win in regulation.
  Playing in  terrible weather, both teams bogeyed the first playoff hole and returned to play the 457-yard 18th again, where Price won it with a 7-foot par putt.
Ken Green, making his first Champions Tour start since having his lower right leg amputated after an auto accident in June that killed his brother and girlfriend, teamed with Mike Reid tied for 26th at 12 under.

Next week is the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic, a brand new event.



PORTER WINS NATIONWIDE TOUR EVENT
(AP)—Australia’s Ewan Porterwon the South Georgia Classic for his second Nationwide Tour title, parring the last four holes in fading light Sunday to hold off Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas by a stroke. Porter shot a 2-under 70 to finish at 11 under at Kinderlou Forest. Also the tour’s 2008 Moonah Classic winner in Australia, Porter earned $112,500 after missing the cuts in his first four Nationwide starts of the year.

 The Nationwide Tour's next event is the Stadions Athens Classic at UGA. Patrick Sheehan defends.



FRASER TAKES HOME A BALLANTINE
(AP)—Australia’s Marcus Fraser broke a seven-year title drought Sunday, shooting a 3-under 69 to complete a wire-to-wire win with a four-stroke victory in the weather-shortened Ballantine’s Championships.   Fraser had just one bogey going into final round and added only one more, on the 18th hole. He finished at 12-under 204 at Pinx Golf Club in South Korea, where the tournament was shortened to 54-holes after fog delayed the first day of play for nearly seven hours.

The European Tour moves to Spain for the Open de Espana.  Thomas Levet is the 2009 winner.



IN OTHER NEWS
  A boycott by South Korean golfers unhappy with new qualification rules instituted by the OneAsia circuit will not stop organizers from holding upcoming tournaments, the Korean Golf Association said on Monday.

  The OneAsia Tour was launched last year as a joint venture between the Australian PGA and governing bodies in Asia, including China and South Korea. The tour scheduled 11 events for this year across the Asia-Pacific region.
  However, OneAsia has met opposition from the more established Asian Tour as well as from South Korean players unhappy that the international circuit is absorbing locals-only tournaments such as the Maekyung Open.


Phil and Tiger are both playing in this week's Quail Hollow Championship. This will be an excellent tounament with quite a few big name players appearing.


And speaking of Tiger, his schedule has become breaking news whenever he opts to play in a tournament.  The latest is that Tiger has committed to play in the Players Championship and the AT&T National.
 Woods' schedule is starting to look like it has in years past. The only missing piece so far is the Memorial Tournament, June 3-6, in Ohio. It is unlikely Woods would go from the Players Championship to the U.S. Open without another warmup in between, which would be the Memorial. 


And that's it for this week.

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Have a great week.