Ochoa Makes Triumphant Return

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA | Angela Stanford stood beneath the overhang and waited, watching behind her anxiously and checking her phone. “I hope she’s on time,” the major champion said. “My pro-am is supposed to be at 10:05 but I don’t want to miss her.”
The “her” Stanford was waiting to see like a kid looking for an autograph was Lorena Ochoa, who was scheduled to be on site at the Chevron Championship at 10 a.m. for her first press conference at an LPGA Tour event in years and her first visit to Mission Hills Country Club since she retired in early 2010.
A couple of minutes later, Betsy King pulled up on a scooter. King broke her femur at her brother’s home a year ago and is scheduled for another round of surgery to remove scar tissue and revamp a knee on April 20. Even so, nothing was going to stop her from seeing her dear friend.
They weren’t the only ones. Lizette Salas made it a point to stop practicing and wander over to the tent where Ochoa would be. And Stacy Lewis kept a sharp eye out to see when the woman of the hour would ...