Hot on the heels of the furore over Ian Poulter's comments about challenging Tiger Woods, the world number one has a new name to watch out for: Lorena Ochoa.

The Mexican is fast becoming as dominant in the women’s game as Woods is in the men’s and has now underlined her ambition by setting her sights on emulating the world’s best golfer.

Speaking after the HSBC Champions tournament in Singapore, in March, which she won by an incredible 11 strokes from secondplaced Annika Sorenstam, the 26-year-old said: “It’s an honour to be compared with Tiger Woods and I’m going to try to go after him.

“I took my game to a new level. We worked so hard and it’s just good to see that it’s working. I’m going to keep trying to repeat  myself.”

While the diminutive Ochoa won't be able to match Woods in a head-to-head game, there is no doubt her own tournament record stands up to scrutiny with eight wins in 2007, compared with Woods’ seven. Her 11-stroke victory matched the previous record winning margin on the LPGA Tour in the last decade and saw her finish 20 shots or more ahead of 65 of the 78 players competing.

But despite her success in 2007, which saw her amass $4 million in prize money, and a winning start to 2008 after a three-month lay off, Ochoa insists she hasn’t set herself any targets for major wins this year. She added: “I don’t really have a number of majors in mind. I’m going to take it one at a time and when I’m teeing off for that first major, I’m going to be ready to win.” But Sorenstam, who dominated the sport for 10 years before she was knocked off top spot by Ochoa last April, insists the Mexican is now too far ahead to be caught. She said: “She’s playing well but it’s nothing that’s not achievable by any means.