Ochoa finally polishes off first major

Lorena Ochoa, leader of the Women's British Open at St Andrews since Thursday, did yesterday what Sergio Garcia failed to do at Carnoustie two weeks ago and followed three days of superiority with a final day of nerveless, front-running golf to secure an easy victory.

It was the 25-year-old Mexican's first major championship and confirmed - not that there was any doubt for those who journeyed to the home of golf for what was an historic event - that she is the best female player in the world by a considerable distance.

"It was the most special round of golf I have ever played," she said after beating the field by four shots. "Hopefully, now that I have won one major I can go on and win many more."

If it was easy to share in Ochoa's evident joy - she is, after all, probably the most approachable top-class performer in professional golf - it was also easy to understand her evident relief.

She has a history of failing to convert winning opportunities in majors, most famously at the 2005 US Open when she took an eight on the final hole after hooking two tee-shots into the water.

There was a momentary shudder when she knocked her second shot on the par-five 17th under the lip of a fairway bunker, but if her supporters were suddenly twitchy, she was not. Sensibly, she took her punishment, chipping out sideways, then took three more shots for a bogey six. It was not exactly a champion's effort at the most famous hole in golf, but it did not detract from what had gone before.

Six shots ahead of Sweden's Linda Wessberg overnight, the world number one stretched her lead to seven with an outward nine of 34, three under par. Her inward nine was not quite as distinguished. but then it did not need to be, not least because Wessberg double-bogeyed the 14th, and the possible challengers, the likes of Se Ri Pak and Annika Sorenstam, made little impact.

Ochoa's final-round 74 left her with a 72-hole score of 287, five under par, four shots ahead of Lee Jee-young of South Korea and Sweden's Maria Hjorth, the only others to finish under par.

Guardian Service