The buzz is interesting and inevitable. Should Lorena Ochoa, winner in five of the six LPGA events she has entered this year and a champion four weeks in a row, get in a men's PGA Tour event?
People on the Golf Channel have been talking about this during Lorena's week off at home in Mexico, following that four-for-four run (talk about hitting for the cycle, this is much greater than the effort by unrelated Mets outfielder Alex Ochoa, who once hit for the cycle). It's logical because Annika Sorenstam played in the Colonial when she was as dominant as Lorena is now, and Michelle Wie played in several PGA Tour events in an effort to make a name for herself.
My take on it is that Lorena can play if she'd like. She is entitled to do whatever she wants. But I don't think she needs it one bit. Sorenstam did it to challenge herself and sharpen her edge for her women's major championships. It worked. WIe also did it to improve her game, and to burnish a multi-million dollar image. Check on the latter, a big minus on the former. Her game has fallen off the cliff.
Ochoa is just fine the way she is. She is a great player, having nearly qualified already for the LPGA Hall of Fame (except for the requirement to play at least 10 years on tour). She not only wins, but she wins by an average of eight shots.
More important, she seems incredibly comfortable with the person that she is. We know that because she was that way when she was losing big tournaments down the stretch. She is a tough competitor with a gentle soul. When she secured her first major win, she extracted a promise from her caddie to get the caddie's baby baptized.
Ochoa smiles. She makes eye contact with fans, proving that there is more than one way to be a dominant No. 1 (Tiger Woods prefers to remain steely focused). She doesn't have anything to prove by teeing it up against the men.
Kudos to Brian Hewitt of the Golf Channel for pointing out the one factor that would appeal to her: She possibly could earn more money, which would give her more money to distribute to needy people.
Still, I don't know how much she would enjoy the circus. She enjoys being Ochoa, the greatest female golfer in the world and, at the moment, the hottest golfer on any tour, any course.