ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Lorena Ochoa made three birdies in the first nine holes to maintain her six-shot lead in the Women's British Open on Sunday and move closer to her first major.
With no sign of the gusty winds that sent many of Saturday's scores into the 80s, Ochoa continued her accuracy to the greens and made birdie putts at the fifth and sixth holes to move to 8 under.
Despite three-putting at the eighth, she made a 25-foot birdie putt at the ninth to reach the turn in 34, 2 under for the day.
Although Jee Young Lee of South Korea, Swedes Linda Wessberg and Maria Hjorth and Reilley Rankin of the United States all picked up shots to move to 1 under, Ochoa increased her lead to seven strokes as she homed in on her first major after several near misses in her previous 23 attempts.
Ochoa's lead was trimmed to five when Lee birdied the ninth and the Mexican dropped a shot at the 154-yard, par 3 eighth, where she left her long first putt 6 feet short.
But Ochoa made a the long putt at the ninth to reach the turn six ahead.
Ochoa has three tour victories this year and four more runner-up finishes, including to Cristie Kerr at the U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst a month ago. Last week, Ochoa tied for third at the Evian Masters behind Natalie Gulbis.
Last year, Ochoa won six times, was runner-up six times and finished in the top 10 in 20 of 25 tournaments. She's added three more wins and another four second places this season.
Beth Daniel, winner of 33 tour events including one major, the 1990 LPGA Championship, went into retirement at 51 with a 2-over 75, finishing 12-over 304. She returned to the British Open after a tie for sixth last year.
The Scottish fans cheered a 6-under 67 by Mhairi McKay, who tied the best round of the tournament so far by Ochoa on Thursday. McKay was out in 31 and made eight birdies to finish at 3-over 295.
Japan's Miki Saiki had seven birdies and shot a 67 to finish 2-over.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Source: ESPN.com
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