Pettersen leads first LPGA major by 1

Associated Press

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.

Suzann Pettersen shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 on Thursday in the Kraft Nabisco Championship to take a one-stroke lead over former champion Lorena Ochoa, who missed birdie putts on her final two holes.

Ochoa, who teed off three hours after Pettersen in the opening round of the season’s first major, had chances to tie the Norwegian star but rolled a long putt just right of the hole on No. 17 and then missed a 10-footer on 18.

Pettersen, trying to bounce back from a hip injury, had a great start by hitting 12 fairways and 13 greens in regulation. Top-ranked Ochoa, the 2008 champion, had six birdies and two bogeys.

Majors champions Karrie Webb, Yani Tseng and Karen Stupples were in a group at 69.

Defending champion Brittany Lincicome curled in a birdie putt on 12 to drop to 4 under before bogeying Nos. 13 and 15 to finish with a 70.

Michelle Wie had a 71.

Tseng, who won the 2008 LPGA Championship, had an adventuresome round including an eagle, five birdies and four bogeys.

Houston Open

HUMBLE, Texas

Kevin Stadler and Cameron Percy shot 5-under 67s to share the first-round lead.

Vaughn Taylor and James Driscoll — Stadler’s playing partners in a morning threesome — were a stroke back along with fellow morning starter Kevin Sutherland and Anthony Kim, who played in the afternoon when the wind picked up and gusted to 30 mph.

Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and 2007 champion Adam Scott were topped a group two strokes back at 69.

Ernie Els, coming off consecutive victories at Doral and Bay Hill, opened with 70. Fred Couples shot a 71.

Kim was tied for the lead after making three straight birdies on his back nine, then finished with a bogey on the difficult 18th. Kim drove into the water, then hit his third shot off a corporate suite and over the water-guarded green. He pulled off a spectacular pitch over the massive greenside bunker, and the ball stopped 2 feet away.