Lorena Ochoa, a Mexican golfer, was one of the leading players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. Ochoa’s success has made her a national sports hero in Mexico.
© Lisa Blumenfeld, Getty Images

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Lorena Ochoa, a Mexican golfer, became one of the leading players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour (now the KPMG Women’s PGA). Ochoa was named the Player of the Year in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. She was the first person other than Annika Sorenstam of Sweden and Karrie Webb of Australia to win the Player of the Year award since 1996. Ochoa’s success made her a sports hero in Mexico.

During 2006, Ochoa led the LPGA tour with six tournament victories. She also finished second six times. In 2006, 2007, and 2008, Ochoa earned more prize money than any other woman on the tour and also won the Vare Trophy awarded to the golfer with the lowest scoring average. In 2007, Ochoa won the Women’s British Open, becoming the first Mexican-born player to win a major championship on the LPGA tour. She won her second major championship, the Kraft Nabisco (now ANA Inspiration) title, in 2008.

Ochoa was born on Nov. 15, 1981, in Guadalajara, Mexico. She began playing golf at the age of 5. Ochoa was a star player at the University of Arizona in 2001 and 2002. She won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Player of the Year award in both years. Ochoa won the 2003 Nancy Lopez Award, given to the best female amateur golfer from the previous year. Ochoa turned professional in 2002 and was named the Rookie of the Year on the LPGA tour in 2003. In 2004, she became the first Mexican-born player to win a tournament on the LPGA tour. In 2010, Ochoa announced she was retiring from competitive golf. She ended her career with 27 LPGA tournament victories.

February 5, 2015

Charlie Sifford, the African American who broke professional golf’s color barrier in 1961, playing a tournament in 1963. (Credit: AP Photo)

Charlie Sifford, the African American golfer who broke the color barrier in the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) died on February 3 at age 92. Sifford, who was denied the opportunity to play in high-level tournaments while was in his prime as an athlete, became the first black American to play in the PGA in 1961, when he was 38 years old. He was often referred to as “the Jackie Robinson of golf.”

Sifford caddied at a whites-only golf course in his home town of Charlotte, North Carolina, where he learned to play the game. When Sifford returned from his army service in Okinawa during World War II (1939-1945), he played on the golf tour for African Americans (the United Golf Association tour), but the prizes awarded for winning those tournaments were much lower than those awarded on the PGA tour.

In 1947, Sifford met Jackie Robinson, who in that year had become the first African American to play baseball in the modern major leagues. Robinson strongly encouraged Sifford to pursue his dream of becoming a professional golfer, cautioning him, however, that he would face anger and hostility both on and off the golf course. In fact, Sifford did face hateful speech and acts—he received death threats, was barred from staying at hotels, and was sometimes barred from eating in the restaurant of the golf club hosting the tournament he was playing in. Nevertheless, Sifford won several PGA tournaments and joined the Senior Tour (now the Champions Tour), for golfers age 50 and older, in 1980.

In 2004, Sifford was the first African American to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2014, when U.S. President Barack Obama awarded Sifford with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he stated “We give thanks to the trailblazers who built the arc of freedom towards justice.”

Other World Book articles:

•  Civil rights
• Golf
• Golf (1974-a Back in time article)
• Jackie Robinson