Todd Kelly | SportsWeek
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — The LPGA has returned to Mexico for the first time since 2017 and the people probably most excited for it are the eight Mexican golfers in the 136-player field. Well, except for maybe one person.
That would be the greatest Mexican golfer of all time, Lorena Ochoa.
“Amazing. This morning, I woke up, and I was just trying to think you know, how especially how important it is and maybe not as many people realize as much I do,” she told Golfweek shortly after hitting a ceremonial tee shot on the 18th hole on Wednesday to officially kick off the 2025 Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba. “I know how hard it is to have an event here and get the sponsors. … this is a beautiful place.
“To see what is a real LPGA event, to have it back, I’m really excited.”
Born in Guadalajara and currently residing in Mexico City, Ochoa is visiting the El Camaleon Golf Course in Playa del Carmen this week to welcome the tour back to her home country as well as to catch up with the current generation of LPGA golfers.Need a break?
That includes Maria Fassi, proud to be playing in her home country for the first time as a professional.
“It’s everything we always dreamt of as kids. We would come out and watch Lorena play,” Fassi said Tuesday. “And then to kind of have that taken away for I think it’s seven years since the last one, and then now us be the ones that people are watching and coming out to support, it’s just amazing. It’s an honor to represent Mexico everywhere we go.”
Fassi said she first met Ochoa when she was “10 or 11” and said if not for Ochoa, she would’ve never considered playing golf, much less at the professional level.
“So, yeah, it’s pretty cool that she’s now kind of coming to watch us and support us. To me, she gets to see what she did, and I think it’s very special, I know for all of us, but I hope that she knows that she’s the reason why the eight of us are here.”
Isabella Fierro knows the golf course well. She grew up in Playa del Carmen and has played El Camaleon dozens of times and is thrilled the LPGA is back in Mexico.
“I’ve known this course since I was probably 12 years old. I play local tournaments here, international events, so I have a deep love for this golf course,” Fierro said. “Just the environment, everything about it is just awesome, and seeing the LPGA out here is just, that’s how far Mexican women’s golf has grown.”
Ochoa was the spark that started it all. A four-time player of the year and winner of 27 LPGA events, including two majors, Ochoa retired suddenly at age 28 in 2010, shocking the golf world. She was short of the then-required 10-year playing career for LPGA Hall of Fame induction, but that rule was later changed and she got in the Hall in 2022.
Ochoa’s legacy is being felt all over the tournament this week and that includes the record number of Mexicans competing in the same LPGA event: Maria Balcazar, Maria Fassi, Isabella Fierro, Fernanda Lira, Gaby Lopez, Andrea Ostos, Carolina Rotzinger and Clarisa Temelo. Five of those eight are in the field on sponsor exemptions, including Temelo, an amateur.
“I can tell you I speak to some of the presidents from the different courses, the different clubs in Mexico and when they tell me, ‘You know, Lorena, we don’t know what to do, we have so many kids,’ and I laugh,” Ochoa said. “It’s a good problem to have, so I just want to say that it makes me really proud, honor, happy, because it’s all about the growth of the game and we see that the numbers are going up, new golf courses, it’s more accessible. I’m working with the Mexican Federation about having a public facility. We’re holding our golf academy on Sundays. We give it for free, for the kids.”
Another competitor this week, Albane Valenzuela, is Swiss but she was born in the U.S. to a Mexican father and French mother.
“Oh, my gosh, Lorena is the GOAT,” raved Valenzuela. “She’s the coolest player. She’s probably one of the reasons I started even playing golf. My dad won with Lorena back in the day, the Spirit, like a form of world championship, if you want to call it, and he always said how incredible of a human being she was. Me growing up and as a teenager, she always took time to talk to me, brought me golf balls, brought me her polos, and I just always had very fond memories of her. I think she’s the most gracious, humble champion that golf has ever produced. Really one of a kind, and the fact that she’s here this week supporting is super special.”
Ochoa’s legacy spreads far and wide, even to South Korea. That’s where Sei Young Kim, a 12-time winner on the LPGA, grew up. One of those wins was the last LPGA event held in Mexico in 2017.
“She’s a legend. When I grew up, I watched her play and I, when I played her tournament [2017 Lorena Ochoa Match Play], I saw her. I met her,” Kim said. “I was like so nervous. I feel like I meet the superstar.”