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Lorena Ochoa celebrates a birdie on the fourth hole during the first round of the 2008 McDonald's LPGA Championship on Saturday.

“Hit the ball beautifully today,” said Sorenstam, a three-time LPGA champion in her final year on tour. “Just didn’t make some putts today, unfortunately. But I’m very, very happy with my game.”

Ochoa went wire-to-wire to win at St. Andrews to win her first major at the Women’s British Open, and she was atop the leaderboard the final three rounds of the Kraft Nabisco for her second in a row.

But she was on the ropes early at Bulle Rock.

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.

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Bastel handled the length of the course just fine, picking up two birdies with metal clubs — the hybrid on the 18th and a 7-wood to 12 feet on the 13th hole — and the only downer was coping with a nasty cold.

Kane, a popular Canadian with a big smile, has gone seven years since her last victory and was starting to wonder what was wrong. A month ago at the Michelob Ultra Open, she wasn’t aware that sports psychologist Bob Rotella was watching her along the back nine. He told her she was doing fine, and when the putts started falling, they would fall in bunches.

She made four from the 10-foot range, chipped in for birdie on the 13th and picking up much-needed confidence along the way.

This is a major week for Kane for two reasons — after the LPGA Championship, she will try to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open. Kane’s caddie asked her if she wanted to take a free pass from the pro-am and practice on the qualifying courses.

She declined.

“I’m here to win the McDonald’s, and I’m preparing for that,” she said. “I’m going to worry about Monday when Monday comes.”