Henderson Returns to Tour
World No.7 Brooke Henderson headlines the 36-player field this week in Mexico at the Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by AeroMexico and Delta. The major champion is coming off a rare week off, having skipped last week’s TOTO JAPAN CLASSIC, just the second event of the entire 2016 season that Henderson opted not to play. The two-time winner in 2016 is coming off a T-63 finish in her last start at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, her worst finish of the season. This week, the Canadian is making her first start in Ochoa’s event. World No.14 Anna Nordqvist is also in the field this week, coming off a T-3 showing in Malaysia. Nordqvist has two top-10s in Mexico including a share of runner-up in 2011.
Park Continues to Rehab, Won’t Defend Title in Mexico
Four former champions of Ochoa’s event return to the field again this year including 2008 champion Angela Stanford, 2009 winner Michelle Wie, 2010 champion In-Kyung Kim and 2014 champion Christina Kim. Defending champion Inbee Park has battled an ongoing thumb injury throughout the season and hasn’t returned to the Tour since winning the gold medal at the Olympic games in Rio. Park will not defend her title this week and released the following statement:
I’m very disappointed to announce that I won't be able to attend this year’s Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Aeromexico and Delta at Mexico City. Since I have unforgettable memories at last year’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational, this has been an incredibly hard decision for me to make.
For the past couple months after the 2016 Rio Olympics, I’ve been focusing on recovering from my left thumb injury. I had to put on a cast for about 4 weeks which was during the Evian Championship. So far, I’m seeing some positive improvements on my rehab and I’ve started to hit some balls. However, my injury is still not fully recovered. I’m very cautious regarding my injury and if possible would like to take extra precautionary measures since the injury can negatively recur.
Lorena Ochoa Invitational means so much to me and I really wanted to see the beautiful course of Club de Golf Mexico once again and compete to defend my title. Unfortunately, my left thumb injury still needs more rehab then I wished for. Therefore, I will be unable to commit this year’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational and I will focus on getting fully recovered from the injury and put all efforts to be back on the golf course as soon as possible.
Winning Recipe
Four winners on Tour in 2016 will tee it up this week in Mexico in search of adding another title as the season comes to a close. Ciganda broke through for her first win on Tour in October at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship and nearly won this event last season where she finished second behind Park. In-Kyung Kim captured this event in 2010 and has played some great golf in the second half of the season, winning on both the LET and LPGA Tour in September after years without winning on either Tour. Caroline Masson is also in the field this week, having broken through in September at the Manulife LPGA Classic for her first win on Tour. She finished T-6 in this event last season. Brooke Henderson is also in the field in search of her third win of the season after an incredible summer in which she captured her first major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and successfully defended her title at the Cambia Portland classic.
Paying It Forward
In an effort to continue to grow the game in her home country of Mexico, Ochoa has extended a sponsor invite to fellow Mexicans Alejandra Llaneza, Regina Plasencia and amateurs Maria Fassi and Isabella Fierro. Rookie Gaby Lopez will also compete this week again on her home course at Club de Golf Mexico where she competed the past two years and will look to crack the top-20 this year. Lopez graduated from the University of Arkansas earlier this season where fellow Fassi and Plasencia are now competing.