Great as she is, Ochoa’s biggest challenge will be to bury those memories.

“I already erased them,” she insisted. “I only feel good things about this course, and good vibes and good memories. Of course, you’re going to make mistakes and have a few bad holes, like what happened on 17 last year. I struggled on holes 13, 14 and 15. They were holes that I played over par, and I’m going to work on those this year and make sure I play that stretch in a positive way.

“And I think that will really help get a good result on Sunday.”

What might help this year is no longer having to answer questions about winning a major. Even after she replaced Annika Sorenstam at No. 1 in the world at the end of the 2006 season, Ochoa had a reputation of being unable to win the big one.

There was the U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills in 2005, when she duck-hooked a tee shot into the water on No. 18 and made 8. The two failures at Mission Hills. Last year at Pine Needles, she again was poised to win the U.S. Women’s Open until she couldn’t find a fairway over the final five holes.

But she has been a different player since capturing her first major in the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews, an historic afternoon in so many ways. That was the start of a stretch in which Ochoa has won seven times in 12 starts, a winning percentage that rivals Woods.

Comparing men’s and women’s golf is about as practical as comparing generations, but there are similarities worth noting.

Woods can finish a brilliant season and spend the next few months figuring out a way to get better. Ochoa worked harder than ever during her long offseason, especially on her putting. And she is much longer off the tee, even reaching the 310-yard 14th hole Sunday at the Safeway International, which she won by seven shots.

“You’re never there,” Woods often says.

And when Ochoa was asked where she could improve, she mentioned everything from learning to rest to communicating with her caddie. She finished at 22-under par last week at Superstition Mountain and was irritated by three or four “dumb bogeys.”

But she was stumped when asked what Woods had that she wanted, besides power off the tee and a $100 million annual income.

“I think we all want to know what he has inside his head,” she said. “It would be hard to find. But I’m happy for what I have.”

What she could use are a few more majors.

Particularly this one.

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