03 April 2008 - 00H30

Ochoa sets sights on first major of LPGA season

World number one Lorena Ochoa arrives at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major championship on the women's golf calendar, brimming with confidence.

Ochoa swept to victory at the Safeway International on Sunday, her second victory in three starts in 2008.

Now she has her sights on adding another major title to her increasingly impressive resume.

"It's just a tournament I really like," Ochoa said. "I came here two times as an amateur. I have great memories and I have a lot of support from people that come from Mexico and cheer for me. I'm ready to have a good week. I've been close a few times and hopefully this is the year."

Last year Ochoa doomed her chances on Saturday with a quadruple-bogey down the stretch.

Morgan Pressel hoisted the trophy, becoming at 18 the youngest major champion in LPGA tour history.

In difficult scoring conditions, Pressel fired a final-round 69, coming from four shots behind to win her first LPGA title.

She birdied the last hole then watched as Norway's Suzann Pettersen blew a four-shot lead with just four holes to play.

South Korean Se Ri Pak botched her chances with bogeys on five of the last six holes.

"It's still all kind of a blur," Pressel said. "I just remember it being a great, exciting moment."

In trying to repeat as champion, Pressel will be trying to accomplish what only one player has been able to do - Annika Sorenstam in 2002-03.

Sorenstam is among the nine past champions in the field for the two million-dollar tournament. She is also one of the five Hall of Famers entered.

Three players have a chance to complete the career Grand Slam with a victory - Briton Laura Davies, American Meg Mallon and Pak.

Sorenstam, hampered by a ruptured disk in her neck last season, has made it clear that she wants to regain the world number one spot she relinquished to Ochoa. A 10th major title would be a good step in that direction.

"I'm in a different situation this year, and I'm just finding my game, and I'm very, very close," said Sorenstam, 37, "In the past I was on top and trying to stay there. That's not the case now. And that's all right."

Sorenstam won her season opening tournament at Turtle Bay in Hawaii. She was fourth at the Fields Open and second behind Ochoa at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore.

Ochoa, whose eight victories in 2007 included her first major title and led to her second straight player-of-the year award, is just as determined to stay right where she is.

She says her aim is to dominate the women's tour as Tiger Woods does the men's.

"That's what I'm trying to do," the 26-year-old said. "It's very different where he is and what he's doing. But I do believe that every tournament I play, I'm there to win and I'm 100 percent ready to do my best and give myself a good chance to win the tournament.

"I'm doing that every week and try to get as many as possible."

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