Ochoa heads the Ladies world rankings

Following a busy March and April schedule Loren Ochoa has taken a firm grip at the top of the Women’s world rankings.

Ochoa grabbed the Sybase Classic title at the end of May to move her out in front of Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam. This followed on from impressive performances at the Ginn Open and the Corona Championship - both second place finishes in April.

The SemGroup Championship in early May saw her grab another top ten finish, fifth, before she slipped to twentieth at the Michelob Ultra Open later the same month – 11 shots behind winner Suzann Pettersen.

She bounced back from this to record four sub-70 rounds at the Sybase event; eventually finishing three shots clear of nearest challenger Sarah Lee.

She will hold onto the top spot on the LPGA money-list going into June as long as she finishes ahead of second place Suzann Pettersen at the Ginn Tribute this coming weekend (May 31- June 3). Pettersen’s victory at the Michelob Ultra Open gave saw her move into the position as main challenger to Ochoa.

Sorenstam, who hosts this weekend’s event, has maintained a second place position on the world rankings despite not challenging on either of the continental rankings.

In Europe the main mover over the last two months was Germany’s Bettina Hauert. She took the honours at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open on May 20 and finished runner up a week later at the BMW Ladies Italian Open. Hauert, who turned professional in November 2003, has just four top 10 finished on the European Tour (including the two in the last few weeks).

England’s Trish Johnson has also been moving up the rankings. First place in the Ladies Italian Open saw her move into second place in the European rankings and grab a €60,000 winner’s cheque while second place in the Tenerife Ladies Open also aided her climb up the ladder.

It was a disappointing month for Ireland’s Claire Coughlan. Despite taking her first prize money of the season, €715.00 for winning the Open de Espana Femenino, she failed to register among the challengers at the month’s main events, ending up 113th and 114th at the Ladies Swiss Open and the Ladies Italian Open respectively.

Meanwhile Rebecca Coakley has been gathering pace during the last two months. She moved in to 20th position on the European rankings following right hectic weeks. She began with an impressive 30th place at the Tenerife Ladies Open. She managed to improve the following week, moving up to a 22nd place finish before breaking into the top 20 at the Ladies Swiss Open (finishing 16th) on May 17th.

Her 7th place finish at the Ladies Italian Open the following week was her best finish since the 2006 Tenerife Ladies Open and saw her bring her earnings for 2007 to €23,925.81.

Martin Gillen played her first two tournaments of the year at the start of May, finishing 59th and 87th in the Tenerife Ladies Open and the Open de Espana Femenino respectively.

The current Solheim Cup standings sees Gwladys Nocera of France leading the field, followed by the English pair Laura Davies and Trish Johnson. Germany’s Bettina Hauert and Annika Sorenstam of Sweden occupy the remaining two positions but Rebecca Hudson of England is hot on their heels in sixth position.

An Irish challenge for a Solheim Cup position is unlikely to materialise at this stage. Rebecca Coakley is the only representative currently in the standings and she lies in 39th place after 24 events played during the current season.