Ochoa lurks one behind pacesetting mum Stupples

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) - World number one Lorena Ochoa justified her billing as a red-hot favorite for this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship by charging into contention in Thursday's opening round.

The in-form Mexican reeled off four consecutive birdies on her way to a four-under-par 68, finishing level with Japan's Ai Miyazato to lie one stroke behind pacesetting Briton Karen Stupples.

Americans Natalie Gulbis and Heather Young carded 69s on a hot, breezy day at Mission Hills Country Club while three-times champion Annika Sorenstam opened with a 71 in the first women's major of the year.

Ochoa, who has won twice in three starts on the 2008 LPGA Tour, surged up the leaderboard with a four-birdie run from the par-five 18th after teeing off on the 10th hole.

She holed a five-footer on 18, struck superb approach shots to within two feet at the first and second, and then rolled in a 20-footer at the third, prompting a celebratory fist pump.

Level with leader Stupples at five under, she then slipped back with a three-putt bogey at the par-three eighth before parring her final hole.

"It was pretty tough with that wind but it was a good day for me, a good start," Ochoa, 26, told reporters after piling up six birdies and two bogeys.

"It was important to get a couple of birdies early in the round to give myself some momentum and on this course you need to be really smart and really patient.