Lorena Ochoa: Golf geek

Top LPGA golfer Lorena Ochoa and Scott Birnbaum, vice president of LCD products at Samsung, pose with children at a promotional event for the Samsung World Championship tournament.

(Credit: Dan Farber/CNET News)

Lorena Ochoa is the No. 1 ranked female golfer in the world. She is also a mountain climber, triathlete, and soccer and basketball player. Gladiator is one of her favorite movies. The 26-year-old was at Union Square in downtown San Francisco Monday to promote the Samsung World Championship tournament to be held in Half Moon Bay, Calif., at the beginning of October.

I got a few minutes to talk with her as she was autographing posters and golf balls during the promotional event. I asked her about her technology preferences, especially as a person who has grown up in the Digital Age. She responded, "Ping." She didn't mean packets pinging across the Internet, but her golf equipment manufacturer. Of course, she has a laptop and listens to her iPod during her daily two-hour workouts, but like most golfing pros, she is a golf geek.

Technology for Ochoa is fine-tuning her clubs, adjusting the weight, balance, angles, grips, and other dimensions with great precision. The iPod and other electronics devices are accessories for her mission to win every golf tournament she enters. Clearly, her Ping technology seems to be working. For this year, she has 6 wins in 16 tournaments, 14 top-10 finishes, and earnings of more than $2.3 million.