Castrale upsets Ochoa at Ginn Tribute

BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2007 Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika | Round Four | 04 Jun 2007

Nicole Castrale defeated Lorena Ochoa at the first extra hole of a playoff at the Ginn Tribute in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina to win her first LPGA Tour event after she had overcome a three shot deficit on the world number one over the closing round.

For Castrale, whose previous best finish had been a third at the Honda LPGA event in Thailand late last year, it was a significant moment in her career especially given that she ran down the game’s leading player to do so.

“I think – I don’t quite know how to feel. I think it will start to set in here in a couple of hours when I start talking to family and friends. You know, it’s definitely a dream of mine and I’m just going to enjoy it.”

When asked how she felt about this victory being over such a great player she responded, “You know, I think my first victory in itself was very fulfilling. To beat Lorena, yeah,—the odds weren’t on my side for sure. Lorena is a great player and there’s a reason why she’s the No. 1 player in the world.”

Castrale has been a talented player for many years but she has been plagued by an injury in her early professional career.

“I was in a car accident my senior year in college and so that would have been March of ‘01 and I tore my right rotator cuff. I waited to have it operated on until late in ‘02; because I waited so long, I ended up having two operations on my right shoulder. And, you know, just a lot of rehab and then later in ‘04, I ended up having my left shoulder scoped as well, and pretty much the last surgery. I rehabbed pretty hard that next off-season.”

Ochoa appeared to have the tournament in her grasp with three holes to play but dropped shots at the 16th and 17th holes put her chances in jeopardy, especially after Castrale had birdied the 17th. At the first playoff hole, Castrale found the green with her approach and a par was good enough for the win after the Mexican had driven it in the hazard.

Despite her loss Ochoa was philosophical about the day.

“I feel really good. I played solid. I never lost control. I was feeling really comfortable. Obviously I made a big mistake on 16 making that bogey. That was the hole I lost the tournament. So nothing I can really say. Nicole made a great birdie on 17, so you know, she deserves it. She played very solid with the wind and she was always very patient and it was a great win for her.”

The pair finished three shots ahead of the nearest pursuer, Cristie Kerr.

Much of the talk during the week had been about the return of Annika Sorenstam who finish 36th and the cloud over the first round withdrawal of Michelle Wie.

Wie was 14 over par when approached by her manager on the course as she neared the completion of her round. A few moments later Wie withdrew. Any player who is not an LPGA Tour member who shoots 88 or worse risks a ban from playing LPGA Tour events for a 12 month period. Soon after her withdrawal, Wie was talking to the media about working hard on her game in order to play the following week at the McDonalds LPGA Championship indicating that while sufficiently troublesome to force her withdrawal, it was likely to heal quickly.

The best of the Australians were Rachel Hetherington and Wendy Doolan who finished 22nd, Karrie Webb was 30th, Katherine Hull 61st, Lindsey Wright 66th and Michelle Ellis 76th.

The LPGA Tour now play their LPGA Championship at the Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace, Maryland.