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• Lorena Ochoa shot an even par 73 in the 1st round of US Women's Open (June 26, 2008)

Lorena Ochoa did not play like the best female golfer in the world in the first round at the United States Women's Open, but a late comeback saved her day and perhaps the tournament.

Unlike Michelle Wie, who in one horrendous hole threw away any chance of contending, Ochoa dug herself out of a perilous predicament to keep alive her hopes.

"I'm really happy with my even par," the Mexican said after finishing strongly to post a 73 that left her six strokes behind leader Ji Young Oh at Interlachen Country Club.

"We all know that anything around even par for the US Open is always good. I'm a little disappointed I didn't take some advantage of the great conditions, but at the same time I'm still in it and that's what's important."

But Ochoa was in danger of not staying in it as she fell to three over after 12 holes.

A couple more bogeys and she would have been in deep trouble, but she turned it around like the champion she is with three birdies in the final five holes.

"Sometimes you get tired of waiting and waiting (for birdies)," she said, admitting her patience had started to wane.

"It was playing fairly easy in the morning. It was important to come back and finish even par."

• Lorena Ochoa shoots even par 72 in the first round of Wegmans LPGA (June 19, 2008)

The best female golfer in the world summed up her first round of the Wegmans LPGA with one word Thursday:

"Frustrated," Lorena Ochoa said. "It was a tough day for sure."

Ochoa finished with an even-par 72 at Locust Hill Country Club after birdies on the 17th and 18th holes. It was an inconsistent round for the defending champion, who also won here in 2005.

Ochoa birdied the fourth hole, then bogeyed the fifth, making the turn at even par.

On the back nine, she had a double-bogey at the par-4 13th, immediately birdied the next hole, then bogeyed the par-4 16th. Her birdie-birdie finish saved the day. She hit a 6-iron out of the right rough on 18, sticking the ball within two feet of the hole for an easy birdie.

"I feel a little better now," she said. "But I'm glad it's over. Even par is still within reach (of the lead)."

Ochoa teed off at 8:32 a.m. in a group that included popular Paula Creamer and Suzann Pettersen of Norway. Like Creamer, her problems came on the soft greens.

"I had trouble with my putting," the Mexico native said. "I had a bad day on the greens and missed a few short putts."

Ochoa is, quite simply, the hottest player in golf. She leads the LPGA with six tournament victories this year — including four in a row — and already has won $1.9 million.

In 10 starts, she has eight top-10 finishes.

Last year, she pocketed $4.4 million while racking up eight victories.

She has been named LPGA Player of the Year and Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in the past two seasons and has been ranked No. 1 in the world in that span. Although she is only in her sixth year on tour, she is third in career earnings with more than $10.4 million in the bank.

Only Annika Sorenstam ($20.8 million) and Karrie Webb ($13.4 million) have earned more.

But even the best have off days, if you can call even par an off day.

"I'm frustrated because it was a beautiful day, free of rain," Ochoa said. "I would have liked to make more birdies, but tomorrow is another day."

Ochoa remains a fan of Locust Hill, where she has raised the winner's trophy in two of the past three tournaments.

"I like this course," she said. "It's a great golf course."

She has no master plan for returning to sub-par rounds when she tees off today at 12:10 from the 10th tee.

"I'll just try to make the right club selection and make birdies," she said. "I'll be ready."

That could be bad news for everyone else on the golf course.

• Lorena Ochoa finishes tied for 3rd at McDonald's LPGA Championship (June 7, 2008)

In her rookie year on the LPGA Tour, playing in only her third major championship, 19-year-old Yani Tseng felt lucky to become the youngest winner of the LPGA Championship on Sunday.

After the day she had at Bulle Rock, that was hardly the case.

First, she went 18 holes with Lorena Ochoa and closed with a 4-under 68 in searing heat, denying the No. 1 player in women's golf a chance to win a third straight major. Then came a sudden-death playoff with Maria Hjorth that lasted four holes.

Tseng finished it off by choking down on a 6-iron out of the first cut of rough and hitting the perfect shot, the ball stopping 5 feet behind the hole for a birdie that made her the first rookie to win an LPGA major in 10 years.

"I can't believe I just won a major," Tseng said. "Everything is coming so fast."

It felt like slow motion for Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, both desperate for their own brand of history.

Ochoa, who only two days ago appeared to be sailing toward a third straight major, went 14 holes without a birdie. The drought ended on the 16th hole when a 20-yard pitch for eagle banged off the pin, and a birdie on the final hole only made it look close. She closed with a 71 and wound up one shot behind.

"It wasn't my time," Ochoa said, showing more emotion than she had all week. "I am not ashamed. I'm proud of my finish. Now I move on and try to win the next few tournaments."

With power and poise, and a 6-iron she won't soon forget, Tseng became the second-youngest winner of an LPGA major behind Pressel, who was 18 when she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year.

Tseng became the first rookie to win a major since Se Ri Pak, who won the LPGA Championship 10 years ago at age 20.

Playing the 18th hole for the third time in an hour, Tseng took her hand off the driver when it sailed to the right, taking a good hop out of the deep grass and into the first cut. Then came a 6-iron, drawing toward the flag.

"I wasn't that nervous when I teed off," she said. "I just tell myself, 'Make this putt and win a major.'"

That was something T.C. Chen, her countryman and part-time mentor, failed to do in the 1985 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, where he became infamous for a double-hit on a chip out of deep rough and wound up one shot behind Andy North.

"He always teach me something because I'm a rookie," Tseng said.

Tseng and Hjorth finished at 12-under 276.

Ochoa opened with a 10-foot birdie and didn't make another one until the par-4 16th.

She had eagle chances on consecutive holes, both times to get within one of the lead. But she three-putted for par from 45 feet on the 15th, and her eagle pitch from 20 yards lipped out on the 16th.

"I never lost the hope," she said. "I though something good was going to happen, that miracles exist. But it wasn't my time."

Still, it was her seventh consecutive top 10 in a major.

• Lorena Ochoa stumbles and now 2 shots off the lead after the 3rd round of McDonald's LPGA Championship (June 7, 2008)

Lorena Ochoa chopped into the mangled grass and was stunned to see her ball hop only a few inches, sending her to a double bogey as her hopes for a third straight major championship slipped away from her.

By the time she recovered, she found some perspective in the McDonald's LPGA Championship, along with a familiar name.

Ochoa was only two shots out the lead, trailing two players who have never seriously contended in a major.

And she was tied with Annika Sorenstam, out to make history of her own in her final season on the LPGA Tour.

"I'm just glad I have a chance tomorrow," Ochoa said.

Stifling heat that turned Bulle Rock into an oven cooked up quite a treat on Saturday.

Jee Young Lee played her final four holes in 4-under par and surged into the lead with a 7-under 65, putting her one shot ahead of Maria Hjorth, who also had a 65. They are among the longest hitters in women's golf.

Joining them in the final group will be Sorenstam, trying to join the great Mickey Wright as a four-time winner of this major. Sorenstam has gone 30 holes without a bogey, and she rarely found trouble on her way to a 68 that put her two shots behind.

"The key in majors is not how it's done; you've got to get it done," Sorenstam said. "That's what I've got to do tomorrow."

The only disappointment was that Ochoa and Sorenstam, Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, won't get a chance to play together. LPGA officials, fearful of more fog that delayed the start of the third round, opted for threesomes on Sunday.

Sorenstam will play with Lee, whose 25-foot birdie on the last hole gave her the lead at 12-under 204, and Hjorth, a fellow Swede.

Ochoa birdied two of her last three holes to salvage an even-par 72, tied for third with Sorenstam.

"I would have probably liked to have played with Annika," Ochoa said. "I think it would have been fun for us and for all of you. But it's OK. It's better when they know what I have done. That will be important, to get a good start and to put my name up there. And they can stay with the pressure in the last group."

The toughest part of Saturday was handling the heat.

Temperatures climbed past 100, and most players carried umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. It felt even hotter with no breeze, with the tops of 60-foot oak trees not moving an inch.

Add to that the pressure of a final round at a major, especially with Ochoa and Sorenstam right in the mix.

"Everybody is looking forward to tomorrow and everybody wants it badly," Sorenstam said. "The one that wins is the one that stays cool, stays patient and makes less mistakes. So that's going to be my plan."

Ochoa had gone 30 holes without a bogey at Bulle Rock until a three-putt on the opening hole.

The big blow came at the par-3 seventh. She pulled her tee shot left of the green into a mangled lie. She tried a flop shot over the bunker, but it was more like a foul tip. The ball squirted a few inches, Ochoa made double bogey and suddenly was three shots behind.

A half-dozen players had at least a share of the lead at one point, with Sorenstam generating as much excitement as the gallery could muster. With temperatures climbing past 100, it felt like a sauna with no help from wind. Even the tops of 60-foot oak trees didn't move.

But it was loud enough, especially as Ochoa was walking up the fifth fairway and heard a cheer through the trees on the sixth green, where Sorenstam had stuck another close for birdie.

That gave her a share of the lead, but only briefly, for Hjorth soon pulled ahead with an 8-iron to 8 feet for birdie at the 12th.

• Lorena Ochoa leads after the 2nd round of McDonald's LPGA Championship (June 6, 2008)

Lorena Ochoa trudged up a grassy mound to the right of the fifth green with a wedge in her hand, searching for a rare errant shot. She found the ball in the bunker, much to her relief, blasted over a steep lip and saved par.

That was all the trauma she could stand in one day at Bulle Rock.

It was the only fairway and the only green she missed. Ochoa was practically perfect Friday in the McDonald's LPGA Championship, making enough of her 17 birdie chances for a 7-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Lindsey Wright. There was no stress, no par putt longer than 3 feet, and not much to ruin a day when golf felt as simple as walking.

"My best round in the season," Ochoa said.

It put the 26-year-old from Mexico in her favorite spot — atop the leaderboard at a major championship.

Ochoa had at least a share of the 36-hole lead in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews and Kraft Nabisco Championship, winning both those majors by a combined nine shots.

"I think it's just good to be in the lead ... because my name means something, you know?" she said. "In a way, that's what I'm trying to do — to put pressure on other players and to let them know that you want to win."

Ochoa's 65 matched her best score of the season and topped by three shots her best score in this major. She was at 10-under 134, the lowest 36-hole score at Bulle Rock since the LPGA Championship moved here in 2005.

Lorie Kane made three straight birdies to catch Ochoa in the afternoon, but the Canadian had to settle for a 70 and was two behind.

Three-time LPGA champion Annika Sorenstam tried to make a move with a 68, but she was still four shots behind. But she sounded as though she anticipated a duel with the No. 1 player on Sunday.

"I think I'm in good shape," Sorenstam said. "I played well here in the past. It's a major, and 36 holes is nothing. The way I'm hitting it, I'm just waiting for the putts to drop. It could be a lot of fun."

Wright, who grew up in Australia and played college golf at Pepperdine, has never finished better than fourth on the LPGA Tour. She had the outright lead with a birdie on the 18th, but stumbled twice on her back nine until finishing with a birdie.

"Kind of nice to come into the weekend in this position, especially when Lorena is leading the tournament," Wright said. "She's obviously the person to beat. When you see her up there, you know she's not going to make too many mistakes. It keeps me focused because I know I can't make too many mistakes. I have to make birdies."

Ochoa took the lead with one final birdie, a 20-footer on the 18th hole and curled into the side of the cup. Ochoa swung her leg and pumped her fist, happy to see the last putt fall on a day when she missed a half-dozen putts shorter than that.

Her longest putt for birdie was about 25 feet on the 13th hole. She missed three birdie putts inside 8 feet. And even as the temperatures began to climb, Ochoa barely broke a sweat.

"It was very easy. I did enjoy it a lot," Ochoa said. "I'm going to try to do two more rounds like that."

Her work done, Ochoa headed to the movies with her brother to watch "Sex in the City." But she departed Bulle Rock with her name atop the leaderboard, and it stayed there throughout the afternoon.

Morgan Pressel made seven birdies, but her round of 70 was slowed by five bogeys. It was the second straight major she played with Ochoa the first two rounds, and one good aspect is that she didn't need to see a leaderboard to figure out where she stood. In this case, Pressel was eight shots behind.

Pressel's round was impressive on two counts — she often can rely on four of her fairway metals or hybrids in her bag while Ochoa had an iron, and the LPGA's youngest major champion had to use a different caddie. Jon Yarbrough learned Friday morning that his father had died after a long illness, telling Pressel in the parking lot and finding her a caddie from Bulle Rock named Matt Hall.

Yarbrough also had to leave before the Women's British Open last summer when his father-in-law died.

Pressel wound up keeping her yardage book.

"I haven't done so much math in a long time," she said.

As for the fairway metals?

Ochoa was walking toward the 10th green when she casually mentioned to Pressel that she had the same yardage — 121 — for the third time that round. Pressel couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"She's like, 'Shut up. I've had five times 195 yards,'" Ochoa said, laughing. "I was like, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll shut up. I'm not saying anything.' And then I look at her and I said, 'Well, you put it closer than me.' Because it's true. The way she played today was very impressive."

So was the way Ochoa played, and it nudged her closer to another major.

• Lorena Ochoa trails by 3 shots after 1st round of McDonald's LPGA Championship (June 5, 2008)

HAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND -- Even in grass up to her knees, Lorena Ochoa never panicked. Trying to become the fourth woman to win three straight majors, Ochoa wanted to get off to a strong start Thursday in the McDonald's LPGA Championship, and instead had nowhere to go in the rough left of the 13th fairway. She eventually had to walk 50 yards back to play her next shot and took double bogey.

Four holes into her round, she was eight shots behind.

"For sure I had to fight hard and catch up," Ochoa said. "And I did it."

She didn't make it all the way back, but she followed her plan on a soggy Bulle Rock course. Even par by the turn, three birdies on her back nine, a 3-under 69 that left her three shots behind Lorie Kane of Canada and Emily Bastel.

And she was one shot ahead of Annika Sorenstam, who has six months left to catch Ochoa before she retires.

"Today was important just not to get away too far from the leaders, and that's why I'm so happy that I did," Ochoa said. "Three under for the first day of a major is good, even though I had the double bogey. And hopefully, tomorrow I'll have a great round."

Ochoa seems to always know the score, and she didn't stop with her question about Sorenstam.

She gazed at an electronic board behind the seventh green, her 16th of the day, to size up the competition and make sure they were not getting too far away. A year ago, Ochoa plodded along around par until she was too far back to make a move.

Ochoa hooked her tee shot into waist-high native grasses on the 13th, so deep in the rough that even taking two club lengths for an unplayable lie did not give her a shot. After conferring with a rules official, she walked some 50 yards back in a line with the green, dropping in the rough near the 11th fairway.

"It happened early in the round, and I knew I had a lot of holes left," Ochoa said. "I was feeling good. I didn't get too stressed. I just thought, 'Make a couple of birdies on the front and finish even, and then 3 under on the back.' So I did that."

She got back to even par with a 40-foot birdie on the 18th, then birdied the third and fourth holes from 12 feet.

By then, Ochoa was in a rhythm of fairways and greens, picking up her last birdie on the par-5 eighth with a 5-wood into 20 feet and an eagle putt that hung on the lip.