For Ochoa, Virginia May Be Historic

One of the LPGA Tour's most lucrative tournaments, the $2.2 million Michelob Ultra Classic at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, could match its historic surroundings this year.

Lorena Ochoa, the 26-year-old Mexico native and top-ranked woman in the world, has won four straight events. She's taking this week off, then returns next week at the SemGroup Championship in Tulsa, where she will attempt to tie the LPGA record of five in a row shared by Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. If Ochoa wins in Oklahoma, she can set the record with a sixth straight victory May 8-11 in Williamsburg.

Ochoa has been the dominant player on the LPGA circuit for each of the past three seasons. She has won five of her six starts in 2008, including the season's first major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif. That was her second straight major title after winning her breakthrough last summer in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews.

She also has won 19 of her last 51 starts, a 37 percent clip that rivals some of the best stretches in history. From 2001 to 2005, Sorenstam won 43 of 104 (41 percent), and from 1961 to '64, Mickey Wright won 44 of 107 (41 percent). At her current pace, Ochoa could even challenge Wright's record of 13 wins in a season set in 1963.

Just as significantly, while Tiger Woods is now out of Grand Slam contention after finishing second at the Masters, Ochoa is very much alive for such a possibility. When she's asked whether she believes if she can do it, she always says "yes."

Four weeks after the Williamsburg event, Ochoa will be playing in Maryland at the second major of the year, the LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock near Havre de Grace. In 2006, she tied for ninth at Bulle Rock, and last year tied for sixth.

Nationwide Tour Redux

The Nationwide Tour returns to the Washington area for a second straight season May 22-25 with the Melwood Prince George's County Open at the Country Club of Woodmore in Mitchellville.

The event attracted about 30,000 spectators last year, and tournament director Teo Sodeman said this week he expects attendance to improve significantly. A number of veteran players are in the field, and Sodeman pointed out that 22 of the 25 Nationwide players who qualified for the PGA Tour this year played at Woodmore last year.

Among the more familiar names expected to play next month are Grant Waite, who won the Kemper Open at Avenel in 1993; Steve Pate, a former Ryder Cup player; Ricky Barnes, a former NCAA champion; and Casey Wittenberg, who tied for 13th in the 2004 Masters, the best finish by an amateur since 1962.

Sodeman also has invited Bobby Clampett, now a CBS golf analyst and once one of the finest junior players in the world, to play on a sponsor's exemption. Clampett, 48, is starting to play more tournament golf to prepare to qualify for the Champions Tour when he turns 50.

Sodeman also has arranged for more than 20 nonprofit organizations, including the American Red Cross, Special Olympics and the First Tee, to sell tickets for the tournament and keep all the proceeds, the better to attract bigger crowds.

"The players cited Woodmore as one of their favorite courses on the tour last year," Sodeman said. "And they voted Melwood the charity of the year. We think the event has a great future, and people will see some real quality golf when they come out."

A Tough Track

Woods said this week that all those high scores at the Masters came about because "the golf course was set up too hard. They moved the tees up [Sunday], which is the only thing they could have done to at least give us a chance. . . . I think they might have just made the golf course a little bit more difficult. But I heard they're making some changes for next year."

Woods, runner-up to Trevor Immelman by three shots, made his comments on a Fox Sports radio show Tuesday hosted by Washington broadcaster Steve Czaban. Asked about his left knee surgery two days after the Masters, Woods said, "It's a little sore right now, but it should be good in about a month." Woods, 32, also said his doctor told him, "You're getting older, bud."