SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Former Wildcat golfer Lorena Ochoa smiles after being presented an award during halftime of the UA-Oregon State basketball game Thursday.

Ochoa looking to duplicate success of former UA great and LPGA star Annika Sorenstam

Lorena Ochoa has never had a problem with challenges. With only seven golf courses in all of Guadalajara, Mexico, getting a tee time wasn't exactly easy for Ochoa. But after joining a country club at the age of five, she played every chance she got.

After she became a local prodigy, Ochoa decided to start playing golf at UA, and it didn't take long for people to start learning who the 5-foot-6 powerhouse was. It took even less time for her to make her first mark on college golf. After a ninth-place finish in her first-ever event as a Wildcat, Ochoa won the Comcast/Dick McGuire Invitational and never looked back.

So would Lorena consider following in former UA golfer Annika Sorenstam's footsteps and become the second women golfer to play in a PGA tour event since 1945?

"I would play in a PGA tour event in a second," Ochoa said. "I was asked to play in a (men's) tournament in Mexico. I couldn't because of conflicting dates, but I would love to do it sometime."

Ochoa said she has only respect for Sorenstam, also a former Wildcat, while praising her decision to break the gender barriers and play in this year's MasterCard Colonial tournament.

"Annika's move is surprising, but it's something great for her," Ochoa said. "She has nothing to prove to anyone, and in my opinion I think (her decision) is great."

Saying Ochoa's collegiate record was good would be like calling Lebron James a mediocre high school basketball player.

Ochoa lit up the college circuit like Vegas on a fight night, and filed one of the most impressive college careers in the history of NCAA golf in just two seasons. Ochoa won NCAA Player of the Year both years she played at Arizona, tallying 12 collegiate victories ÷ eight of which came in just 10 events during her final season at UA.

While worrying about class and her other teammates, Ochoa also finished in a tie for seventh at the Welch's/Circle K Championship, the LPGA event in Tucson, as an amateur. A year later, with the Welch's/Fry's Championship beginning Thursday, this Wildcat just keeps on keeping on.

After finishing the year on the Future's Tour at the top of the money list ÷ after three victories in the JWA/Michelob Light Futures Charity Golf Classic ÷ the Anne Arbor Futures Classic and the Betty Puskar Futures Golf Classic, Ochoa has a full exemption onto the LPGA tour this year and plans to take full advantage of it.

"It would be great to win a tournament in my first year," said Ochoa, who was honored at halftime on Thursday at the Oregon State game. "I think that if I start out strong, I can win rookie of the year and finish in the Top-10 on the money list. Those are both goals I have been concentrating on."

With the tournament in Tucson this week, Ochoa has a chance to start the year with an impressive showing in what could be considered her hometown event.

"It would be a dream to win this week," Ochoa said. "This (tournament) is something very special to me because I've played this tournament two years before, and people will support me very much because this is like my home."

Even her college coach thinks his former star golfer has a shot to win against players who are not only older but more experienced. "I think she has a good chance to win," head coach Greg Allen said. "Being it's her first LPGA tournament, there will be a lot of pressure. But (Lorena) loves pressure and with all the talent and skill she possesses, success just comes easy to her."

The pressure shouldn't be anything Lorena can't handle. This past fall, Ochoa competed in a best ball tournament that included Sorenstam, British Open champion David Duval and someone most golfers like to call the greatest of all time: Jack Nicklaus.

"Duval and I played together and ended up winning 1-up against those two," Ochoa said.

And playing with the pros didn't even faze her.

"I played the best out of the four," Ochoa said. "I shot 6-under, with seven birdies and one bogey."

With the experience shown by this young gun and the talent she carries, expectations this week will weigh a lot more than any bag this hopeful has ever carried.