A True Champion

Thu Apr 29 23:50:00 EDT 2010 | by Debbie Haliday

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 The other morning I opened my daily newspaper as I do most mornings, glanced at the front page headlines and then pulled out the sports section.  One article in particular caught my eye: "Retiring women's golfer Ochoa should be playing for the kids."  Columnist Jill Painter (Daily News, Los Angeles) was writing a follow up to the announcement by Lorena Ochoa that she would be retiring from professional golf after the upcoming LPGA tournament in Mexico.  Ms. Painter says, "Lorena Ochoa's retirement from golf isn't sending the right message. Female athletes can still have babies and play golf, basketball or tennis or do whatever they want to do."

I will confess that I don't know that much about Lorena Ochoa.  I know she wins...a lot (27 tour wins in six years to be exact).  The comparisons to Tiger are out there.  She is an amazing champion who has won millions of dollars in a very short amount of time. Now she has decided that at age 28, at the top of her game having been the number one player in women's golf for three years, she wants to stop playing and devote herself full time to her husband, starting a family, and growing her Charity Foundation.  And this columnist feels she is sending the wrong message. 

It seems to me the exact opposite is true.  Ochoa sends strong messages everywhere she goes, including into retirement.  One of her favorite things to do is to sponsor a luncheon for the grounds crews of the golf courses before tournaments begin. "Lorena is an even better person than she is a golfer," says tour player Reilley Rankin. The message with her retirement is, it seems to me, that her job is not as important as her family. As strongly as I feel about women in sports and equal opportunities, her message is one we need to applaud,not criticize.

Ochoa felt in two tournaments earlier this year that she was having a hard time concentrating and wanting to be home with her husband and family.  So she came to the conclusion that it was time to retire and focus on the things that were more important to her. 

She opened play at the Tres Marias Championship in Morelia, Mexico.  On her first hole she shot an eagle...a very Lorena Ochoa type of start!  After an up and down round though, she will enter day two in third place.  It will surely be an emotional tournament for her and many of her friends on the LPGA tour. I know what I'll be doing this weekend, cheering on Lorena to finish her career with another win.  Either way, she is a champion in my book.