Female Mexican golfers going to school in the U.S.
Lorena Ochoa is a role model for young girls in her country
Reporting from Mexico City -- Karla Diaz first picked up a golf club when she was 13 and has spent much of her time since then dreaming of a spot on the LPGA Tour.
But no matter how much she plays or how hard she tries, the Mexico City teenager is resigned to the fact that she can't get there from here.
But no matter how much she plays or how hard she tries, the Mexico City teenager is resigned to the fact that she can't get there from here.
"If you're thinking about the big leagues, you have to look toward the United States," Diaz says after her regular Saturday morning practice session at the Club Campestre, Mexico's oldest golf course.
"That's the trampoline to the professional ranks, where you can improve your technique and, above all, participate in international tournaments and play against other people at higher levels."
She's not the only one who feels that way. With college golf nonexistent and even club competition limited by the fact there are just more than 200 golf courses in a country of 110 million people, Mexico's best female players are now scrambling across the border to U.S. schools, a route many see as the only path to the pros.
When LPGA Futures Tour veteran Marcela Leon of Monterrey accepted an invitation to San Jose State a decade ago, she said she was one of only three Mexican women playing college golf in the U.S. This spring, there were six times as many, playing at such schools as Arizona and Arizona State, Boise State, Michigan State, Kentucky's Murray State and schools all over North Carolina."That's the trampoline to the professional ranks, where you can improve your technique and, above all, participate in international tournaments and play against other people at higher levels."
She's not the only one who feels that way. With college golf nonexistent and even club competition limited by the fact there are just more than 200 golf courses in a country of 110 million people, Mexico's best female players are now scrambling across the border to U.S. schools, a route many see as the only path to the pros.
"They know that the opportunity is here. That really the best players are coming to the United States to play collegiate golf, to get the experience of just playing with the best players from all over the world," says Andrea Gaston, coach of defending NCAA champion USC.
In that way college golf simply mirrors the LPGA Tour, which comes to Rancho Mirage for this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship with a tour roster that features 122 international players, including 47 from South Korea, 14 from Sweden and 10 from Australia.
But defending champion Lorena Ochoa, a three-time LPGA player of the year who starred at Arizona, is one of only two Mexicans on the tour. Given her country's growing impact on the college level, however, that's a number many expect will grow shortly.
"We're all following her," says Guadalajara's Sophia Sheridan, who won an NCAA regional championship while at California and is the only Mexican besides Ochoa with an LPGA Tour card. "If she hadn't opened the door for me at least -- she was the one that recommended my name and she was the one that convinced me to go -- I wouldn't have gone."
Arizona State sophomore Liisa Kelo from Mexico City agrees.
"Lorena is an inspiration to all of us. She's a great player to follow," Kelo says. "Mexican players coming to the United States, it was happening before Lorena's time. But not as much, not in that big a quantity. Lorena's success has skyrocketed that."
So much so that when Arizona teammates Alejandra Llaneza and Margarita Ramos, both of Mexico City, competed in the Mexican women's amateur earlier this year, Ramos said, "It pretty much looked like a college tournament."
But it took more than the success of a single golfer -- even one as dominant as Ochoa -- to make that happen. Other contributing factors, say college coaches and players, include Mexico's proximity to the U.S., the complicated college education system in Mexico, the decline of women's junior golf in the U.S. and NCAA regulations that allow women's teams to award six full scholarships, 1 1/2 more than men's programs are allowed.
"Golf is an international sport. And our jobs as coaches are to find the best junior golfers in the world, not just the best junior golfers in the States," says Arizona Coach Shelly Haywood, who moved last February's Wildcat Invitational from Tucson to Sonora, Mexico, where her players staged clinics for local golfers. (The LPGA is also helping sell the game in Mexico, having staged three tour events there in 2008.)
"I get a lot of calls and e-mails and letters from Mexican players," Haywood says. "Every week, practically."
But even though a fifth of her roster, not to mention her school's most famous alumna, came from Mexico, Haywood insists the players get far more from the relationship than the university does.
"Obviously, we get the exposure with the kids from Mexico. But it's more about them. It's what they're receiving from us," she says. "They get a great education. They get an opportunity to play college golf at the highest level."
Which is why, even in smoggy, overcrowded Mexico City, all golf-cart paths continue to head north.
"If you want to be a professional in the class of Lorena Ochoa or Tiger [Woods], you have to go to the United States," 14-year-old Claudia Esparza, who travels an hour and a half each way from her home to Club Campestre, says with resignation. "As far I know, that kind of help doesn't exist here."
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
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Drama surrounds Wie in Phoenix
PHOENIX – It was only a matter of time before Michelle Wie found herself entangled in some type of drama in her rookie season. She might not know that players, caddies and media members were questioning her practice schedule here in Phoenix. But there was plenty of talk.This time, however, Wie got the rule right. Now the LPGA has to hurry up and change it.
Wie told the media in her pre-tournament news conference at the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International that she “got here Saturday afternoon, so I just played nine holes.”
Immediately, players saw red flags. Members aren’t allowed to advance practice from Monday until Sunday at 5 p.m. when skipping a tournament for which they are eligible. In this case, Wie didn’t play last week in Mexico.
The rank-and-file wondered whether she might be DQ’d or at least fined. (For the record, the penalty is a fine.)
Media members asked rules officials for clarification and learned the rule had been changed at the start of this year to Friday at 5 p.m.
Except, it really wasn’t changed. It wasn’t until a player director called senior vice president of competitions Jane Geddes earlier this week that the tour realized the typo.
“It’s a huge error, and I feel terrible that it happened,” Geddes said.
First, a little background: The rule is in place to protect tournaments. The LPGA doesn’t want players blatantly skipping a tournament (such as Mexico) to get a head start on the next. It’s especially tempting on a week like this, when the tour is at a new course.
“It’s really about respect,” Geddes said.
Average golf fans probably hadn’t even heard of the advance-practice rule until the 2007 McDonald’s LPGA Championship. Wie withdrew from Annika Sorenstam’s event, the Ginn Tribute, with a sore wrist and showed up at Bulle Rock over the weekend hitting balls.
Wie didn’t violate any rules then, either, because she wasn’t a member. Non-members could advance practice all week leading up to a tournament.
LPGA players and officials didn’t like that non-members (Wie) who showed up at tournament sites early got a distinct advantage and sometimes more media attention than that week’s tournament. So last year, they changed the rule so that no one could advance practice until Sunday at 5 p.m.
Then sponsors complained. Tournaments often give out exemptions to local players and sometimes even members of the host course. They didn’t like telling their invitees they couldn’t play until Sunday afternoon.
So the LPGA settled on a compromise for 2009: Non-members can advance practice beginning on Friday at 5 p.m. Members can start at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Somewhere in the cut-and-paste process, however, it didn’t come out as planned, and as Geddes said, “Michelle happened to read the rules.”
The tour plans to correct the mistake next week. Let’s hope Wie gets the memo.
• You’re hired: Morgan Pressel has stepped onto the caddie carousel. Her longtime caddie, Jon Yarbrough, told her in the offseason that he took a job on the PGA Tour. Pressel found a replacement in Dylan Vallequette, who then quit after Singapore to head for the European Tour.
So who’s the big guy on Pressel’s bag this week? Donald Trump’s caddie, Barry Cesarz. Pressel often practices at Trump International and asked Cesarz, nicknamed “The Rock,” whether he might be interested in carrying her bag for two weeks.
Cesarz agreed, even though it meant ducking out of the club championship. Trump gets a bye in the first two rounds, putting him straight into the semifinals.
“Ownership has its privileges,” Cesarz said. “I got a better offer. He understands.”
• Singing her praises: Don’t think for a second that third-round leader Jiyai Shin won’t come out firing on all cylinders. She’s eerily calm playing in the last group, thus the nickname “Final-round Queen.” If Shin wins, maybe she’ll give us a sampling of the single she cut in Korea earlier this year on the 18th green. Way more entertaining than a pat victory speech in broken English.
• On a lighter Wie note: Several Stanford students were in the gallery this week to support their standout sophomore and take in a few Major League Baseball spring training games. Two of Wie’s closest friends made T-shirts with her nickname “M Dubs.”
“I have a lot of nicknames, actually,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve heard Wieminator, Wiesel. You can do a lot with the name Wie.”
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