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**truebluefan** · 01-21-2008, 10:40 AM

Meaghan Francella won in 2007. $180,000 -3 205.

**truebluefan** · 03-07-2008, 01:13 AM

2007 Champion
Meaghan Francella

Winning Scores
68-68-69=205 (-11)

Victory Margin
defeated Annika Sorenstam in a four-hole, sudden-death playoff

**truebluefan** · 03-14-2008, 08:49 PM

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you all very much for coming. Meaghan, can you talk about your memories for the month of March? It has been a magical month March for you in the past few years? You won on March 12, 2006, and March 12, 2007, and now you're back here today.
MEAGHAN FRANCELLA: This week has been special just to get back, and I'm really excited to be back here. When I walked the course on Monday, all of the feelings I had last year when I left came back. Bosque Real and Mexico City are both really special, and it's just really great to be back.

Q. Are you ready to face the challenge of defending your title with a target on your back this year?
MEAGHAN FRANCELLA: Yeah, I hope so. Last year, after I won, I expected to go about the next tournament the same way. Nobody knew who I was until I won here. I don't feel any pressure, but I think I'm just excited to get the week started. I've never defended before, because when I won in 2006, it was on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, and then I was on the LPGA Tour the next year. So this is my first time defending a title. It's just more of an excitement rather than a pressure.

complete interview

**truebluefan** · 03-14-2008, 08:50 PM

MODERATOR: Welcome.
LORENA OCHOA: Thank you everybody. I am very happy, playing in Mexico is always a present for me, a very special tournament. I arrived on Tuesday and, as in all tournaments, I did my practice round on Tuesday and played the pro-am yesterday. I am very sure of my strategy, I have made my decision on what clubs to hit on the tee, also practiced a lot of long putts on the green to feel comfortable with the speed. Today I had a good practice. We are done for today and I will take the afternoon off. I got here in the morning, did my routine, and am very ready to start the game tomorrow. A three-day tournament always makes the week a bit longer, but finally tomorrow is competition day. I feel very good and, as usual, very eager.

Complete interview

**truebluefan** · 03-14-2008, 08:51 PM

Q. How does it feel to be playing in Mexico this week?
VIOLETA RETAMOZA: I'm very happy. I'm very excited to be here, and it's always good to come home, and to be with your people and family and friends. I really have no words to explain how happy I am and to have the opportunity to have those people here and to give them a little bit back after all they have given me.

Complete interview

**truebluefan** · 03-15-2008, 08:30 PM

HUIXQUILUCAN, Mexico – Meaghan Francella returns to the steep terrain and height elevation of BosqueReal Country Club to defend her title this week at the MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel March 14-16. A successful title defense would result in a pay raise to $195,000, a tournament-high check due to a purse increase to $1.3 million in 2008.

Francella outlasted multiple weather delays—which forced play into Monday—and 2006 defending champion Annika Sorenstam, on her path to becoming the season's first of seven Rolex First-Time Winners in 2007. With play starting on Friday, Francella only played nine holes, followed by 27 on Saturday. She was unable to start the final round on Sunday and played 18 holes on Monday, ending tied with Sorenstam at 11-under-par 205. After four holes of a sudden-death playoff, Francella, who was playing in just her sixth career LPGA Tour event, emerged the winner.

As the defending champion, Francella will lead the field of 132, challenged by eight of the top-11 finishers from 2007, including the trio who tied for third: Angela Stanford, Kyeong Bae and Stacy Prammanasudh. Prammanasudh and Stanford are ranked seventh and ninth, respectively, on the 2008 LPGA Official Money List.

Among 2007's top-11 is also the Rolex Rankings' number-one player Lorena Ochoa. A national personality recognized as much for what she does off the course as inside the ropes, Ochoa had a tournament-best finish last year with her tie for sixth. She convincingly posted an 11-stroke victory two weeks ago at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore over Sorenstam and Paula Creamer, who had each won the season's first two events in Hawaii—the SBS Open at Turtle Bay and Fields Open in Hawaii, respectively.

Violeta Retamoza, a 2008 LPGA Tour rookie, joins Ochoa as the LPGA's only two members from Mexico. Retamoza earned her Tour card by finishing fourth on the Duramed FUTURES Tour season-ending money list in 2007. One year ago, Retamoza played as a sponsor exemption in this event and finished tied for 63rd.

**truebluefan** · 03-16-2008, 11:25 PM

MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- Lorena Ochoa fought to recover Saturday from a rough first round in the MasterCard Classic, shooting a 2-under 70 that left the top-ranked Mexican star 11 strokes behind leader Ji-Young Oh.

Ochoa was coming off an opening 76, her highest score in nearly a year.

“I’m happy with my round. It was a good day,” said Ochoa, who had four birdies and two bogeys Saturday on the hilly Bosque Real course. “I wasn’t able to get a lot of birdies, but I still really want to tomorrow. I’m not putting the desire to win the tournament out of my head. You never know what will happen.”

Oh, a 19-year-old from South Korea in her second season on the LPGA Tour, had five birdies in a bogey-free 67 to top the leaderboard at 9-under 135.

“I like this course. Mexico’s elevation is high, so when you hit the ball it goes really far,” said Oh, whose only top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour was a sixth at the Safeway Classic last year. “I just feel good. Tomorrow I just think I should enjoy it. Either I win, or come in second, I don’t know.”

Complete article

**truebluefan** · 03-16-2008, 11:26 PM

Sweden’s Louise Friberg won her first LPGA Tour title in her fourth career start, closing with a 7-under 65 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Taiwan’s Yani Tseng in the MasterCard Classic.

Friberg, 10 strokes behind Ji-Young Oh at the start of play Sunday after opening rounds of 72 and 73, had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey in the 65— the best score by three strokes in the final round.

“I wasn’t expecting to win at 6 under since last year the winner was at 11 under,” Friberg said. “I didn’t think 6 would make it. I thought my last putt on 18 would make me finish second. So, I was waiting around, didn’t really know what to do in the meantime. A lot of things went through my mind, but to be honest, I don’t remember what. I don’t know if I was hungry, thirsty, what. I was just waiting.”

The 2003 University of Washington graduate finished at 6-under 210 on the hilly Bosque Real course and made $195,000. She was making her third start since earning her tour card in early December with a ninth-place tie in the qualifying tournament.

“I didn’t think it would take me just three times to win,” Friberg said. “I’m going to stick with my game plan and keep going, but I don’t think this has all sunk in yet.”

Tseng finished with a 74.

“I just feel a little disappointed,” Tseng said. “I learned a lot from this experience and today. On the first couple of holes, I played too fast. I know, in the future, I’ll take my time and be patient.”

Jane Park (70) and Jill McGill tied for third at 4 under, and Pat Hurst (72), Na Yeon Choi (73) and Eva Dahllof (74) followed at 3 under. Oh closed with a 79 to match top-ranked Mexican star Lorena Ochoa (68) at 2 under.

“It was a great day. I was due,” said Ochoa, who opened with rounds of 76 and 70. “I played really good, a solid day, and making birdies here in Mexico feels really great, just to hear the gallery and giving myself a chance to improve my position.”

Friberg, a winner in 2005 on the Swedish tour, birdied Nos. 3, 5 and 9 to make the turn at 2 under for the tournament. She also birdied the par-3 11th, eagled the par-5 12th and reached 7 under with birdies on Nos. 14-15 before bogeying the 16th.

On the 12th, she hit a 5-wood to 215 yards and made a 20-foot putt. She made 9- and 5-foot putts on Nos. 14-15, and three-putted from 18 feet for a bogey on 16.

“I guess Sunday’s are my day,” Friberg said. “A lot of times I’ve played good in the last round and I did today, but I’m just happy to get through because I’ve been really sick the past two days.”