Lorena Ochoa Honored As LPGA Player Of The Year
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and Rolex celebrated the 2008 LPGA Tour season’s top accomplishments last night at a Rolex Reception, held at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, and after the second round of this week’s ADT Championship.
Lorena Ochoa was honored with the Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy Awards and joined by the season’s Rolex First-Time Winners at Mar-A-Lago last night, while Yani Tseng and Na Yeon Choi were both recognized as the top-two rookies. Presenting the awards were Peter Nicholson, Rolex Watch U.S.A. vice president, director of communications and LPGA Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens.
Headlining the night was Ochoa as she received her third Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy Award titles. The Rolex Player of the Year Award is the pinnacle of excellence on the LPGA Tour, rewarding players for their consistent top finishes. Ochoa, the Rolex Rankings’ number one since April 2007, won seven times this season and recorded 10 additional top-10 finishes in 21 starts on the LPGA Tour. She also earned a 68.5802 scoring average to capture the Vare Trophy, which honors the player on Tour with the lowest scoring average through at least 70 rounds. Ochoa was the only player in 2008 to maintain a sub-70 scoring average, which is one-tenth of a stroke lower than 2007.
“Lorena has had yet another incredible season,” LPGA Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens said. “Her work off the course has been equally impressive. Once only a national hero, Lorena is now a global hero. The world is grateful to have her, and we are more than proud to call her our own.”
Named in honor of one of the LPGA’s 13 Founders, the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award is a once-in-a-career award. Honoring the top rookie of the season, the 2008 race is a viable indicator of the top-level competition among this year’s 30-member rookie class. Points are accumulated throughout the season, ending – and being doubled in value – at this week’s ADT Championship. Only after the second round of the ADT Championship was it determined that Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, a Rolex First-Time Winner at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, clinched the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award over Na Yeon Choi, who has recorded nine top-10 finishes this season, including two runner-up finishes at the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite and Evian Masters.
“The 2008 rookie race has been as exciting and unpredictable as ever,” Bivens said. “Yani and Na Yeon stretched this out to the very last moment and it was hard fought, but we congratulate Yani on this achievement.
In addition to recognizing both Tseng and Choi, Nicholson also surprised Suggs with a Rolex timepiece for her contributions and support of Rolex and the development of golf.
“Louise Suggs is a treasure. Her service to the game and her competitive record are legendary,” Nicholson said. We’re delighted to present Louise with a Rolex on the 60th anniversary of her first win as a professional.”
Suggs was present at both the Rolex Reception and at the ADT Championship to present Tseng with the award.
This year also was marked with eight Rolex First-Time Winners. Six of those winners are competing in this week’s ADT Championship and were present for their awards. This season’s Rolex First-Time Winners were: Louise Friberg (MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel); Leta Lindley (LPGA Corning Classic); Tseng; Eun-Hee Ji (Wegmans LPGA); Inbee Park (U.S. Women’s Open); Ji Young Oh (LPGA State Farm Classic); Katherine Hull (CN Canadian Women’s Open); In-Kyung Kim (Longs Drugs Challenge).
Since 1980, Rolex, the official timepiece of the LPGA, has been a partner of the LPGA and annually honors the LPGA Tour’s top player and rookie, based on a points system, as well as members who are first-time winners on Tour. In addition, Rolex sponsors the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) membership’s Ellen Griffin Rolex Award and is a supporting sponsor of the LPGA T&CP Championship. Rolex also provides the official time at selected LPGA Tour events and is represented by many LPGA Tour players. In 2006, Rolex became the title sponsor of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, the first-ever world rankings system for women’s golf.
