Ochoa rolls at Match Play

New Rochelle, NY (Sports Network) - Women's World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa rolled to a 6 & 5 win over Ashleigh Simon in Thursday's opening round of the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship at Wykagyl Country Club.
Ochoa, who beat Paula Creamer to take third in this event last year, already has racked up three wins in the 2007 season.
As Ochoa advanced, several big names went down. Second-seeded Karrie Webb watched as 63rd-seeded Charlotte Mayorkas birdied the 18th for a 1-up win.
Amy Hung dropped the first, but won three of the next four holes en route to romping over U.S. Women's Open champion and fourth-seed Cristie Kerr, 5 & 4.
Kraft Nabisco winner Morgan Pressel bogeyed the last to lose 2-down to 59th seed and former U.S. Women's Open winner Birdie Kim. It was Kim who holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker in 2005 to beat then amateurs Pressel and Brittany Lincicome.
Also falling on Thursday were Juli Inkster, Ji-Yai Shin and Lincicome, the 2006 champion.
Inkster, the ninth seed, lost 4 & 3 to Hye Jung Choi, while the 11th-seeded Shin lost 1-down in 19 holes to Janice Moodie.
Four-time European Solheim Cupper Carin Koch won four of five holes from the 10th to take down Lincicome, 4 & 3.
The first two years of this event has produced winners who were ranked 60th, Marisa Baena in 2005, and 39th, Lincicome last year at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in New Jersey.
Ochoa birdied the second and fourth, then won the fifth with a par to grab a quick 3-up lead on Simon. The Mexican won four straight holes from the eighth to go 7-up.
Simon birdied the 12th to push the match to No. 13, but that was all she could do. Ochoa and Simon parred the par-three 13th giving Ochoa the big win. Ochoa moves on to play 33rd-see Meaghan Francella, who was a 2 & 1 winner of Meena Lee, the 32nd seed.
"I think it's always important in match play to get off to a good start," Ochoa stated. "I made a good putt on the second hole, from probably 25 feet, and I started 1-up. It gave me good momentum."
Webb was 2-up after five, but lost the next two holes. Mayorkas squared the match with a birdie on the par-four 12th and then claimed the 1-up win with a birdie on 18.
Sorenstam also was 2-up after two, but Hull rallied to take the lead winning three of the next four holes. Sorenstam birdied the eighth to even the match. After Sorenstam took the 12th, Hull won back-to-back holes from the 13th.
The Swede took 16 and 17 with birdies, but Hull birdied the 18th to force extra holes. However, Hull faltered to a double-bogey at the 20th hole to lose the match. Sorenstam will now battle 35th-seeded Lindsey Wright, who bested 30th-seed Brittany Lang 4 & 3.
"It was a thriller. There was a lot of drama out there," admitted Sorenstam. "I thought we played some good golf, especially the back nine. It was birdies back and forth. It was a fun match I thought. I missed a few shots, but overall I think I played really well, putted well and hung in there."
Among the other winners in round one were Stacy Prammanasudh, Ai Miyazato, Paula Creamer, McDonald's LPGA winner Suzann Pettersen and Se Ri Pak, who fended off Pressel to win last week's Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
With Webb, Kerr and Pressel, other prominent players who lost in the opening round were Shi Hyun Ahn, Natalie Gulbis, Young Kim and Laura Diaz.