Oct 1, 2008 - 8:32 AM
0 shoutsHALF MOON BAY, California (Ticker) -- A different setting is not expected to slow down Lorena Ochoa this week at the Samsung World Championship.
The two-time reigning champion of this event, Ochoa will be defending her title on a new track when play begins Thursday.
After four years at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, this $1 million event has moved north 500 miles north to the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links. The way the world No. 1 has been playing, the change in venue will likely have little influence on her game.
Ochoa has posted seven victories this season, the latest at the Navistar Classic last week, when she won in a playoff. The popular Mexican is looking to become the first player to win the Samsung in three consecutive years.
Annika Sorenstam (1995-96, 2002, 2004-05), Juli Inkster (1997-98, 2000) and Beth Daniel (1980-81, 1994) are the only players who have won this event at least three times.
Last year, Ochoa shot four rounds in the 60s and finished at 18-under-par 270, four strokes better than Mi Hyun Kim.
Also in the 20-player field - vying for the $250,000 first prize - are Sorenstam, Inkster, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Song-Hee Kim, Suzann Pettersen, Yani Tseng and Karrie Webb.
