Lorena Ochoa shoots 70 but still 11 shots back

Lorena Ochoa began an uphill climb from a hilltop tee, overlooking a lush course, scrubby valley and jumbles of concrete cottages in the smoggy distance.

Fighting to recover Saturday from a rough first round in the MasterCard Classic, the year’s first tournament in her home country, Ochoa shot a 2-under 70 that left the top-ranked Mexican star 11 strokes behind leader Ji-Young Oh.

“The important thing is to identify where I’ve made mistakes, and simply be more intelligent,” said Ochoa, who opened Friday with a 76, her highest score in nearly a year, on the hilly Bosque Real course.

“I’m not putting the desire to win the tournament out of my head—you never know what will happen,” she said after birdieing four holes and bogeying two on Saturday. “Tomorrow, we hope to put on a really good show.”

Oh, a 19-year-old from South Korea in her second season on the LPGA Tour, had five birdies in a bogey-free 67 to top the leaderboard at 9-under 135.

“I like this course. Mexico’s elevation is high, so when you hit the ball it goes really far,” said Oh, whose only top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour was a sixth at the Safeway Classic last year. “I just feel good. Tomorrow I just think I should enjoy it. Either I win, or come in second, I don’t know.”

Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, a 19-year-old rookie, was 7 under after a 69. Sweden’s Eva Dahllof (70) was 5 under, and first-round leader Jill McGill (73) and South Korean rookie Na-Yeon Choi (66) were 6 under. Choi’s 66 matched the best round of the day.

Ochoa, a budding national hero more popular in Mexico than the sport that she plays, packed in the crowds at Bosque Real outside Mexico City, as hundreds of fans snaked down the fairways, erupting in pounding applause and cheers of “Lo-re, muy bien!”

“She is a really dignified, admirable person. Her strength, her wins and her humility have raised Mexico to new heights across the world,” said Marcela Livas, 70, who traveled 400 miles from Monterrey to watch Ochoa on Saturday.

The crowds cheered for every golfer—but little girls dashed from hole to hole in baseball caps and bows after Ochoa, while neighbors stole out into their backyards, straining over bushes alongside their uniformed maids to catch a glimpse as the two-time Rolex player of the year passed by.

“It’s exciting,” said Emiliano Camarena, 13, an aspiring golfer who sat cross-legged with 10-year-old brother Alonso in the thick ryegrass as Ochoa worked her way down the 10th hole. “She’s the first Mexican to be No. 1 in the world, and that makes you feel like you can do anything.”

In a country that has fewer than 300 golf courses but 108 million people— and where green fees often cost five times the average daily wage—the fact that anyone could make golf so inspiring is remarkable.

Even so, Ochoa, who opened her season two weeks ago in Singapore with an 11-stroke victory in the HSBC Women’s Champions, has struggled to seal the deal in Mexico, with one victory in six previous LPGA Tour starts in the country.

“I always want more,” the 18-time tour winner said. “I’d love to be in first place right now, but we have to think about accepting our errors and our bad moments, too. Yesterday wasn’t good, today was better, and we hope that tomorrow will be even better still.”

U.S. rookie Hwanhee Lee had a hole-in-one, the first on the LPGA Tour this year, on the 189-yard seventh hole. Lee, who used a 5-iron, finished with a 78 to miss the cut.

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