"Dreamed it hundreds of times": Golf legend Lorena Ochoa reveals ultimate key to handling high pressure

Golf legend Lorena Ochoa was one of the local celebrity guests at the PGA Tour's 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. The LPGA Hall of Famer held several activities, including a golf clinic for amateur players.

Ochoa spoke to PGA Tour Live (Spanish) reporters covering the event and expressed her satisfaction with it being held in Puerto Vallarta. The former Mexican star highlighted how much these types of events can do for the growth of golf in the country.

Lorena Ochoa was famous for her dominance of the women's professional circuits at the end of the 2000s. The reporter took the opportunity to ask her about her formula for dealing with moments of pressure such as those she experienced during her prime years.

"You have to live those moments," Ochoa said. "You have to know your body, you have to know how you feel under so much pressure, with so much adrenaline. It is normal that everybody is a little bit anxious, anxious to be in a situation to win a tournament on Saturday or Sunday and to be there on Sunday to make the last putt."

She added:

"But the important thing is to have lived it in your mind, to have dreamed it hundreds of times, to have visualized it, to have created these scenarios before, so that when you get to that moment, which is already the real one, you can execute it in the perfect way."

Lorena Ochoa also talked a bit about her current life, which is not as golf-related as it is for most former champions. She has a career as a writer and also runs a foundation that manages 30 schools in the country to help low-income children gain access to education.

Lorena Ochoa's career at a glance

Lorena Ochoa, 2004 (Image via Imagn).

Lorena Ochoa is one of the world's leading golf stars of the last 25 years. One of the hallmarks of her career is how much she accomplished in a relatively short time, winning 27 LPGA Tour events in just eight years, including two major championships.

Ochoa began her professional career in 2002 at the age of 21. She earned her LPGA Tour card a year later and won her first event in 2004.

These are Lorena Ochoa's victories on the world's top tour:

• 2004 Franklin American Mortgage Championship
• 2004 Wachovia LPGA Classic
• 2005 Wegmans Rochester LPGA
• 2006 LPGA Takefuji Classic
• 2006 Sybase Classic
• 2006 Wendy's Championship for Children
• 2006 Corona Morelia Championship
• 2006 Samsung World Championship
• 2006 The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions
• 2007 Safeway International
• 2007 Sybase Classic
• 2007 Wegmans LPGA
• 2007 Ricoh Women's British Open
• 2007 CN Canadian Women's Open
• 2007 Safeway Classic
• 2007 Samsung World Championship
• 2007 ADT Championship
• 2008 HSBC Women's Champions
• 2008 Safeway International
• 2008 Kraft Nabisco Championship
• 2008 Corona Championship
• 2008 Ginn Open
• 2008 Sybase Classic
• 2008 Navistar LPGA Classic
• 2009 Honda LPGA Thailand
• 2009 Corona Championship
• 2009 Navistar LPGA Classic.

Despite winning three tournaments in 2009 and being only 28 years old, Ochoa announced her retirement from professional golf in 2010. Since then, she has made sporadic tournament appearances and devoted herself to other professional pursuits, including running her foundation and sports management company, among others.