Ochoa breaks major duck to assume role of the female Tiger

Sometimes it is possible to gauge the worth of a champion not by the scale of the joyous cheers but more by the depth of the admiring silence. That was certainly the case at the Old Course yesterday as Lorena Ochoa won the Women's Open in a stroll that was always destined to be a procession.

The Mexican's week was Tiger-like in its execution, its inevitability and, yes, in its history. This, of course, was the first time that St Andrews and the most famous links on the planet had hosted a women's professional tournament and, as ever, the hallowed golfing turf got the victor it deserved. Yet another world No 1 to add to its roll of honour.

The margin was four shots when the 25-year-old eventually crossed the line to collect what was, bafflingly, her first major. There was one little wobble, on the 17th – the infamous Road Hole – when she dunked her second under the lip of a bunker. But Ochoa recovered nervelessly to limit the damage to a bogey and in those instants she lost the cruel tag of "O'Choker" which had plagued her ever since she gave away the 2005 US Women's Open with an eight up the last.

And the tears as Ochoa walked up this final fairway emphasised she knew she had. "I can't tell you how much it means to win this and to win it here," she said, after her 74 gave her a five-under total. "It was the most special round of my life. I was feeling pretty calm when I started and decided to play the way I'd played all week. I hope this is the first of many and that I am the first of many Mexican professionals out here. I always play for my country."

Indeed, what it will mean to Mexican golf is any marketing man's guess, although as the country's president has already showed a penchant for being photographed alongside her and as the football-obsessed newspapers have frequently splashed her all over the back pages, it is difficult to see how this pioneer could become any bigger there.

In the game as a whole however, it is a different story, as after yesterday Ochoa has replaced Annika Sorenstam as the undisputed best female player in the world. With the remarkable haul of nine titles in the previous 18 months, it was only the major that the creaking resumé had been lacking.

Aptly, at the start of the fourth round it was Sorenstam who had appeared the biggest threat to Ochoa's huge six-shot advantage, but although the Swede started brightly with two birdies in the first six holes, her effort fizzled out and a 76 sent her hurtling down to a tie for 16th. It was left to those such as the Korean Jee Young Lee and two other Swedes, Linda Wessberg and Maria Hjorth, to take up the chase , but ultimately it was to be futile as the diminutive shadow in the distance became smaller and smaller.

Three Ochoa birdies in the outward half effectively killed off the resistance, before bogeys at the 11th, 15th and 17th serving only to spare her rivals their blushes. In fairness, the pursuing pack had not been helped by the weather, which was the opposite of the wind-ravaged third round in being drizzly but benign. What Sorenstam & Co were all praying for was Ochoa to be blown away in another carnage similar to that of Saturday, but the Old Course is rarely so obliging.

It certainly did not yield the home winner for which the British women's game had been so desperate but, saying that, there were some encouraging performances. The local girl Catriona Matthew courageously came back from an 80 with a 72 to claim a top-10 position and, in the 19-year-old Melissa Reid and the 16-year-old Sally Watson, there are two young amateurs with giddying potential.

On the eve of the tournament Laura Davies had wondered aloud where were the starlets to knock her and Trish Johnson off their perch.

Well, here they are. Reid won the prize for top amateur and will turn professional after next year's Curtis Cup match. There waiting will be Ochoa. Slight in figure, but now so imposing in stature.