Gabe and Margy pointed out in the comments of this week's Epilogue that Lorena Ochoa had just found out before the Mike Ritz interview that her grandfather had passed away the night before. Confirmation, from Karen Crouse of the International Herald & Tribune:
After making a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to intensify her frustration about what might have been, Ochoa walked toward the scoring trailer to sign her card. She was intercepted at the steps of the trailer by her older brother, Javier. His eyes were misty as he delivered the news he later said he had been keeping from her all day.
Their grandfather had passed away overnight in Mexico after a short illness. A week and a half earlier, one of Ochoa's uncles had died, prompting her to withdraw from the final tuneup for this event, in South Carolina.
Ochoa appeared shaken as she disappeared into the trailer. When she emerged, she gathered her emotions and allowed herself to be led to a grassy area behind the scoring trailer where three camera crews were waiting to interview her. As she waited for a reporter from The Golf Channel to begin his questions, tears pooled in her eyes. Ochoa never mentioned her grandfather's death, but she talked about having "a lot of emotions." She added: "It was a tough day. It wasn't meant to be for me."
I'll stand by my reading of her body language over the last few holes but I'm banging my head against the wall for misreading her eyes, words and solemn manner during the interview, not that I had any way of knowing its true cause. Apologies to Lorena and my most sincere condolences (again) to the entire Ochoa family.
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