Mon Mar 31 16:47:53 2008

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Ochoa's lead grows in women's rankings

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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Lorena Ochoa won for the second time in three starts this season and extended her lead in the latest world rankings for women's golf.

Ochoa's lead over No. 2 Annika Sorenstam moved from 7.72 average points to 8.58 average points. Her lead is nearly equal to Sorenstam's average points of 8.69.

Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer, Karrie Webb, Cristie Kerr, Ji-Yai Shin and Jeong Jang remained in the third through eighth positions.

Jee Young Lee finished second to Ochoa at the Safeway International and that helped her jump six spots to No. 9 in this week's ranking.

Mi Hyun Kim dropped one to 10th and was followed by Juli Inkster, who was up a spot. Morgan Pressel, who defends her title at the Kraft Nabisco Championship this week, dipped one to 12th.

Momoko Ueda tumbled three places to 13, while Se Ri Pak and Stacy Prammanasudh were each down one. Yuri Fudoh and Sakura Yokomine exchanged places, with Fudoh moving up to 16th.

Brittany Lincicome held steady in 18th, Maria Hjorth jumped eight to 19th, and Ai Miyazato fell one to close out the top 20. Natalie Gulbis was 20th last week, but fell three to 23rd this week.