DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — South Korea’s Se Ri Pak opened the door for her compatriots with four L.P.G.A. wins and two major championships in 1998, and many wondered if Lorena Ochoa would usher in the talents of other Mexican women the same way.
Scott Halleran
Lorena Ochoa put golf on the sports radar of soccer-crazy Mexico, but after seven seasons, she retired at age 28 in April 2010 and returned home to focus on starting a family.
Ochoa made a splash in her 2003 L.P.G.A. rookie season with eight top-10 finishes and top rookie honors. She went on to collect 27 victories, 63 top-three finishes, 109 top-10 finishes and more than $14.8 million in career earnings while securing player-of-the year honors and posting the tour’s low scoring average for her final four seasons.
Single-handedly, Ochoa put golf on the sports radar of soccer-crazy Mexico, but after seven seasons, she retired at age 28 in April 2010 and returned home to focus on starting a family.
Since Ochoa’s prime, only a handful of Mexican golfers have earned L.P.G.A. membership.
Violeta Retamoza won once and recorded three runner-up finishes on the L.P.G.A’s feeder tour in 2007 to earn full membership in 2008. But Retamoza, a former all-American at Tennessee, said she felt the pressure of following Ochoa’s footsteps and being only the second Mexican woman to earn full L.P.G.A. status.
Retamoza struggled in the spotlight in 2008, making the cut only once in 19 tournaments. It was difficult to handle media scrutiny and comparisons to Ochoa’s success. Retamoza dropped out of competition, returned home and now helps young Mexican women pros deal with such pressure.
Sophia Sheridan, Ochoa’s childhood friend, has earned partial L.P.G.A. status four times since 2007 and is one of three Mexicans competing in this week’s L.P.G.A. qualifying tournament for 2014 membership.
“Lorena was so good on a global scale that everybody back home thinks what she did is normal, so their expectations are huge,” said Alejandra Llaneza, 25, who is also competing in the qualifying tournament. “We obviously want to get there, and Lorena showed us it can happen, but that’s not an easy road for anyone in the world to follow.”
Margarita Ramos’s road brought her to the United States at age 11 to attend the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida. She followed her golf coach to Augusta, Ga., where she lived with her family for one year, before heading to Phoenix, where she played high school golf at Xavier College Preparatory. Ramos later enrolled at the University of Arizona, Ochoa’s alma mater, and graduated last year.
“Lorena won the N.C.A.A. women’s golf championship while she was at Arizona and they have the trophy and pictures of her there,” said Ramos, who played on the Ladies European Tour this year. “It was inspiring.”
Even out of competition, Ochoa has continued to reach out to young Mexican women professionals through a nonprofit organization called Impulsando al Golf Profesional Mexicano. Each year, she appears at a pro-am tournament that raises money to help the Mexican women with tournament entry fees and hotel expenses. The organization also paid the entry fees — $5,000 per player — for the tournament this week.
The organization also has connected with Mexico’s National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport, which has traditionally focused on Olympic sports. But with golf returning to the Olympics in 2016, the young pros hope to represent Mexico at the Games. “That’s a big motivation and we’re all working hard,” Llaneza said.
The players also hope good results will spark renewed interest in golf in Mexico. Since Ochoa’s retirement, media interest has waned and less corporate sponsorship is available for women’s golf.
“Lorena left golf too early to have the same impact that brought the Korean golfers after Se Ri won,” said Sheridan, 29, who played junior golf with Ochoa.
She added: “One of us has to earn full L.P.G.A. status this week for the media to become interested again.”
Sheridan gave birth to a daughter in September 2012 and returned to competition this season, alternating between the L.P.G.A. and the Symetra tours. The L.P.G.A. offers child care for playing mothers, but the Symetra Tour does not.
Without full L.P.G.A. status, Sheridan had to play qualifying tournaments to get into some L.P.G.A. events. Child care is not available during those early-week, 18-hole tournaments.
“If I don’t have full L.P.G.A. status after this Q-school, then I’m done,” said Sheridan, who played in 11 tournaments this year after her maternity leave. “It’s too hard to plan travel with a child when you have to qualify to get into tournaments.”
Nearly a half-dozen Mexicans played on this year’s Symetra Tour, and Ramos noted that several Mexican women play college golf in the United States.
“We all look up to what Lorena did and knowing that it can be done, we try harder,” Ramos said.
But Mexico is still waiting on its next Ochoa, and today’s young pros feel that void more than anyone.
“There are only three of us here this week, but I know there are others behind us on the right track,” Llaneza said. “We want to keep the sport going in Mexico.”
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