Woods and Ochoa set the gold standard
Updated: 2007-12-17 10:54
LOS ANGELES - Title-hungry Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa were predictably the game's dominant figures in 2007 although the majors produced more than their fair share of surprise winners.
 U.S. golfer Tiger Woods (L) sits with his family after winning the Target World Challenge golf tournament in Thousand Oaks, California December 16, 2007. Woods' mother, Kultida, is carrying his daughter Sam Alexis as wife Elin (R) looks on. [Agencies] |
Woods and Mexican Ochoa, the respective world number ones, landed the final grand slam events of the year after the previous six had remarkably all been claimed by first-timers.
Zach Johnson clinched the first major of the men's season, defying all the odds when he held off a late challenge by fellow American Woods to triumph by two shots at the Masters in April.
Cigarette-puffing Angel Cabrera of Argentina followed suit in June when he became the second South American to win at the highest level with a highly popular U.S. Open success at daunting Oakmont.
The following month, Irishman Padraig Harrington ended an eight-year major drought by Europeans with a playoff victory over Spaniard Sergio Garcia in the British Open at Carnoustie.
Eighteen-year-old American Morgan Pressel birdied the final hole to become the youngest winner of a women's major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April and Norway's Suzann Pettersen broke through with a one-shot victory at the LPGA Championship in June.
Three weeks later, Ochoa was poised for her first major title when tied for the lead with American Cristie Kerr with five holes to play in the U.S. Women's Open at Southern Pines.
Kerr, however, outplayed the Mexican over the closing stretch to triumph by two shots and become yet another first-time winner.
UNDER PRESSURE
Under pressure to enhance their status as golf's leading practitioners, Woods and Ochoa duly delivered with stylish victories in August.
Woods, joint runner-up in the first two majors of the year before tying for 12th at the British Open, secured his 59th PGA Tour title in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.
He took control of the tournament with a blistering 63 in the second round before ending a week of searing temperatures two shots ahead of his closest challenger.
Having become a proud father for the first time in June, Woods was delighted to add a 13th major trophy to his impressive collection. Only Jack Nicklaus, with 18, has more.
"Any time you win a major championship in the year it's always going to be a great year, and this certainly is," Woods said with a trademark flashing smile.
"And it's a feeling I've never had before, having Sam and Elin there," he added, referring to his wife and two-month-old daughter Sam Alexis who were waiting for him in the scorer's hut. "This one feels so much more special than the other majors."
Woods was by no means done for the year, though. He went on to win twice more in his next three starts, ending the 2007 PGA Tour with seven victories and record earnings of $10,867,052.
Hardly surprisingly, he was named PGA Player of the Year for the ninth time in 11 seasons.
ECLIPSED WOODS
Fan favourite Ochoa eclipsed Woods with eight victories on the LPGA Tour where she was a full-time competitor for only the fifth consecutive year.
The Guadalajara native set the tone for an unforgettable 2007 when she dethroned Swede Annika Sorenstam as world number one in April.
Ochoa finally made her major breakthrough with a four-shot victory in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews in August, having led from the opening round.
"It's just unbelievable to win my first major and do it at St. Andrews," she said. "I've been waiting for this day for a while and I have so many family and friends here. It is fantastic."
Ochoa, 26, ended her LPGA campaign with record earnings of $4,364,994 after winning last month's ADT Championship by two strokes.
She had already clinched LPGA player-of-the-year honours for the second season in a row and had become the first woman to break the $3-million barrier.
On the European Tour, Britain's Justin Rose clinched the 2007 order of merit by winning the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama last month and the U.S. retained the women's Solheim Cup in September with a 16-12 victory over Europe at Halmstad in Sweden.
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