Young edges ahead of Ochoa at Mission Hills

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) - Heather Young rolled in a 24-footer to birdie the par-five ninth to grab a one-stroke lead midway through the Kraft Nabisco Championship third round on Saturday.

The 33-year-old picked up her first shot of the day at Mission Hills Country Club to edge ahead of playing partner and world number one Lorena Ochoa at six under overall.

Mexican Ochoa, bidding for her third victory in four starts on the 2008 LPGA Tour, covered the front nine in level par to lie joint second with South Korea's Han Hee-won, who had completed 10 holes.

American Cristie Kerr, winner of last year's U.S. Open, fired a seven-birdie 66 to lie a further stroke adrift at four under alongside South Korea's Lee Seon-hwa (15 holes).

Ochoa, co-leader overnight with Young, appeared to have the opening women's major of the year in her grasp on a blustery afternoon.

The 26-year-old from Guadalajara birdied the par-five second for the third day in a row, reaching the green in two and two-putting, to briefly edge ahead by one.

However, she bogeyed the par-four third after finding the right rough off the tee and ending up short of the green in two to slip back to five under.

OUTRIGHT LEAD

The Mexican parred the next six holes to surrender the outright lead to Young on the ninth green.

Earlier, Norway's Suzann Pettersen stormed up the leaderboard with a sparkling seven-under 65 after narrowly making the cut the previous day.

The 26-year-old holed out with a six-iron from 158 yards to eagle the par-four seventh before finishing at two-under 214.

"Today was what I have been trying to do for the last two days," Pettersen told reporters. "I have played myself back into the tournament.

"Seven under is pretty good on a Saturday in a major so I'm right there. I just tried to play my game, make some birdies and try to make a move.

"I hardly made a mistake today and it helps when the putts go in the hole. The first two days I had 34, 35 putts. Today I had 27. It just shows that in a major you can make a move even if you just make the cut."

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)