Of all the trophies Lorena Ochoa has collected since her magical hands first touched a golf club, one of her favorite mementos is a photograph taken when she was 12, standing beside a teenager who even then looked like a giant in the game.

Her head doesn't quite reach the shoulders of 17-year-old Tiger Woods.

They posed in 1993 after Ochoa won her age division for the fourth straight year at the Junior World Golf Championship. They did not see each other again until 2006 at the Golf Writers Association of America dinner in Augusta, Ga., where Ochoa and Woods were honored as players of the year.

Woods' eyes lit up when he saw the Mexican phenom, and he wrote an extensive message on the photo before signing it.

Now they are linked by more than just a snapshot.

As Woods continues to rule his sport, Ochoa has emerged as a force in women's golf and even raising questions about whether she or Woods is the more dominant player.

"That's something that's out of my hands," Ochoa said. "That's more the fans and the media point of view. But to be able to put my name next to him is always an honor, and I'm happy with that."

Each seemed destined for greatness at an early age.

Woods learned the game before he could walk, mesmerized by his father swinging a golf club as Woods sat in a high chair. Ochoa was climbing trees at Guadalajara Country Club when she was 5 and broke both wrists after falling some 15 feet. She was in a cast from her shoulders to her fingers for three months.

"They said the doctor gave me magical wrists, some magic in my hand," Ochoa once said.

Since setting an NCAA record at Arizona by winning eight straight tournaments as a sophomore, she has hit her stride and is running side-by-side with Woods. Both are No. 1 in the world rankings.

Woods skipped the 2008 PGA Tour's first two events in Hawaii, then began his season with an eight-shot victory at Torrey Pines. Ochoa skipped the LPGA Tour's first two events in Hawaii, then made her 2008 debut in Singapore and won by 11 strokes.

Woods won four straight times to start the season, extending a streak that began in September. Ochoa also won four straight starts, becoming the first woman in 45 years to win four consecutive events on the schedule.

Ochoa has won 21 times since the start of the 2006 season, including two majors. Woods has won 19 times on the PGA TOUR since 2006 with four majors, although he has played two dozen fewer events.

What can stop her?

"I'd like to believe nothing and nobody," Ochoa said.

It was only three years ago that similar comparisons were made between Woods and Sorenstam, who dominated women's golf for five years. Sorenstam won six of her first eight tournaments in 2005, including the first two majors, by wearing down the field with her consistent, precise, robotic play.

Ochoa brings far more sizzle, not to mention power, and it shows in how badly she is crushing her competition. Ochoa twice has won tournaments by 11 shots last year.

"Everything that she's done has been phenomenal," Brittany Lincicome said.

Even more remarkable is a graciousness rarely found in an athlete so ruthless.

Ochoa is proud of her heritage and her people, and often goes to the maintenance barn at golf tournaments to visit with the grounds crew, most of whom are Latino. She spent a half-hour with them at the Kraft Nabisco in Palm Desert, Calif., helping them cook breakfast, talking soccer and thanking them for their work.

When she closed out the 2007 season with a $1 million payday, Ochoa pledged $100,000 for flood victims in Mexico and set aside a large amount to help build schools for needy children in her town.

LPGA officials still rave about last year at the Ginn Tribute, which honored the women who founded the LPGA Tour in 1950. Some of the founders asked for Ochoa's autograph, and only after signing did she go back and ask for theirs. She also had her picture taken with them.

"To keep for memories," Ochoa said.

No doubt, she will treasure it along with the photo with Woods, both in their own way reminding her of an amazing journey.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.