For the second year in a row and third time since 2001, No. 1-ranked Lorena Ochoa received the National Sports Award in her native Mexico for her work in promoting golf, but also charity work through the Lorena Ochoa Foundation. The award is presented annually by the president of Mexico and Ochoa was the first golfer to receive the award in 2001.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa attended the final round of the 2007 Corona Championship to honor Ochoa shortly after she was named the No. 1 player in the world on the Rolex Rankings.
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: LPGA Tour veteran Nanci Bowen has been named the Director of Athletics at Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga. Bowen, who won the 1995 Nabisco Dinah Shore, previously served on the LPGA Board of Directors, and was elected to the Executive Committee in 1999, serving as vice president in 2001. She also continues to serve on the Dolores Hope LPGA Financial Assistance Initiative Committee.
COOL CANADIAN: Alena Sharp became the first Canadian to finish higher than veteran Lorie Kane on the LPGA Tour's money list since 1996. "My goal is to be the best in the world, not just the best in Canada," said Sharp, 26, who finished at No. 57 on the money list.
AYE-AYE CAPTAIN: LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Famer Nancy Lopez will use the experience she gained captaining the 2005 U.S. Solheim Cup Team to a victory when she takes the helm as the 2009 Ping Junior Solheim Cup U.S. Team captain.
She was selected by Ping and the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) to lead the 12 best female junior golfers (ages 12-18) from the United States against the top 12 junior girls from Europe. The event will be hosted at Aurora Country Club in Aurora, Ill., preceding The Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., Aug. 17-23.
LPGA AWARDS: One of the classiest evenings of the year is the Rolex Awards on the LPGA Tour, held at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The highlight belonged to Angela Park, the rookie of the year.
Halfway through a humble and gracious speech in which she thanked her family and supporters, she paid tribute to her parents and her heritage by speaking in three languages -- Korean, Portuguese and English. Park's family is from South Korea, she was born in Brazil and grew up in California.
Her mother wiped tears from her eyes during the speech, and later took pictures, including one of the Donald.
STAT OF THE WEEK: With her $4,364,994, Lorena Ochoa would have finished No. 7 on the PGA TOUR money list.
FINAL WORD: "I wish like hell I could have played for this kind of money. But if not for me, they wouldn't be playing for it, either." -- Louise Suggs, 84, one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour.
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