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Associated Press
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Lorena Ochoa holds her follow through on the fifth tee during the final round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship last Sunday in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Ochoa returns to the Wildcats today in the PING/ASU Invitational in Tempe.
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By Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday Apr. 5, 2002
The Arizona women's golf team will tee it up for the final time in the regular season at the PING/ASU Invitational today in Tempe at 8 a.m.
The tournament will mark the return of sophomore Lorena Ochoa, who was busy with a three-week stint on the LPGA tour.
Head coach Greg Allen said Ochoa's return will be a boost for the team on the course and off.
"What she did out there on the tour is priceless," Allen said. "She is playing so well."
In Ochoa's absence, her team finished ninth in the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational two weeks ago.
The Wildcats were also suffering injuries, which complicated things even more without Ochoa.
Allen said with Ochoa's return, the team's chances to win the tournament obviously increase, but other injuries might make things more interesting come tee time.
An injury to Mar Garcia - the younger sister of PGA Tour star Sergio Garcia - slowed her at the tournament in Texas but should not affect her to the same degree in Tempe.
"We are still not going to be at full strength," Allen said. "But I feel good about our lineup. Whenever Lorena is in there, we have a chance to win it."
Winning is something that Ochoa personally has become accustomed to this season. Individually, she is riding a six-tournament win streak, dating back to before her tournaments on the professional circuit. Ochoa's LPGA stint was highlighted by an eighth-place and fifth-place finish in two of the three tournaments she played in.
"Lorena has been playing well," Allen said. "Finishing eighth at a major as an amateur is remarkable."
Fifth place is definitely not a position Ochoa will be expected to finish in this weekend.
"She is so much more talented than most everyone in the college game," Allen said. "Her bad days are good enough to win most tournaments."
The PING/ASU Invitation begins today and runs through Sunday.
