WOMEN’S world number one golfer Lorena Ochoa has announced she will retire from the sport after three years at the top of the world rankings.
The 28-year-old said in a statement on her official website she wants to concentrate on her family and charity work.
Ochoa married Andres Conesa, chief executive of Aeromexico airlines, last December and became a stepmother of three children.
“Lorena Ochoa confirms her retirement from the LPGA, as news reports in some media have said today,” the website statement said.
“Reasons and more details on the matter will be given by Lorena personally in a press conference on Friday in Mexico City. Lorena will share this news of a new stage in her life with her sponsors, family members and friends.”
Ochoa, who won 27 events over the past six seasons, had been scheduled to play next week at an LPGA event near Mexico City but her status for that tournament is now uncertain.
Ochoa, who has missed the cut only four times in 172 LPGA events, finished fourth earlier this month in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, this year’s first women’s golf major. She failed to make the top-10 in three other 2010 starts.
Last season Ochoa claimed her fourth consecutive LPGA Player of the Year award. She won three times in 2009 after collecting seven titles in 2008, eight in 2007 and six in 2006.
Ochoa won her first major title in 2007 at the Women’s British Open and added another at the 2008 Kraft Nabisco.