Shanshan Feng takes early lead in Kraft Nabisco

RANCHO MIRAGE, California: Michelle Wie let a couple of shots slip away late Thursday afternoon in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, leaving her a shot behind Shanshan Feng.
Tied for the lead after playing a four-hole stretch in 5 under, Wie lipped out a 3-foot par putt on the par-3 17th and settled for par and a 5-under 67 after her wedge approach released long on the par-5 18th.
Feng shot a 66 in perfect morning conditions at Mission Hills in the first major championship of the year. The 24-year-old Chinese player had seven birdies and a bogey.
Wie birdied the par-5 ninth and par-4 10th, made a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th and moved into a tie for the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 12th.
She got up-and-down for par from near a steep face in a bunker on the par-4 15th, hitting to 1½ feet with her left foot almost 2 feet above her right.
Wie is making her 12th start in the tournament. She was ninth in 2003 at age 13, fourth the following year and tied for third at 16 in 2006.
Wie has two LPGA Tour victories, winning the 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico and the 2010 Canadian Women’s Open. She has been in the top 16 in all five of her starts this year, finishing a season-best fourth in Thailand.
Feng won the 2012 LPGA Championship to become the tour’s first Chinese winner and had two victories late last year. She tied for 16th last week in the Kia Classic.
Paired with 58-year-old Hall of Famer Amy Alcott, Feng rebounded from a bogey on 15 with a birdie on par-4 16th and closed with two pars.
Se Ri Pak birdied her final hole to match Wie at 67. The 36-year-old Pak won the last of her five major titles in 2006.
Fifteen-year-old Angel Yin, from Los Angeles, was another stroke back with Amy Yang. The long hitter also played the event last year, tying for 55th.
Yin missed the cut last week in the Kia Classic in Carlsbad, shooting 83-72 after earning a spot in the field as a Monday qualifier.
Anna Nordqvist, the winner in Carlsbad for her second victory of the year, opened with a 71. Playing partner Stacy Lewis, the 2011 winner, had a 73.
Lewis struggled off the tee, hitting drives to the right.
Sixteen-year-old Lydia Ko and Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, also a two-time winner this year, were in the group at 73, and defending champion Inbee Park had a 74.
Park is struggling with her putting after dominating on the greens last year when she swept the first three majors and won six times.

Haas, Hoffman on top

In Houston, Bill Haas and Charley Hoffman topped a jam-packed first-round leaderboard at the US PGA Tour’s Houston Open on Thursday on seven-under par 65.
Haas’s round was highlighted by an eagle at the par-five fourth hole at the Golf Club of Houston. He added six birdies and one bogey while Hoffman had seven birdies and no bogeys as the two afternoon starters took a one-shot lead over Matt Kuchar, Keegan Bradley, J.B. Holmes, Erik Compton and Jim Renner.
Kuchar hit all 18 greens in regulation on his way to a bogey-free six-under 66.
Bradley also played without a bogey — as did the other two players in his group, five-time major winner Phil Mickelson and former US Open champion Webb Simpson.
“It was the first time I remember that happening, certainly in my career,” Mickelson said. “Not to have any bogeys in the group is pretty special.”
The group teed off on 10, and Bradley, a former US PGA Championship winner who notched a runner-up finish at Bay Hill last month, nabbed his first birdie of the day at the 13th, then added three in a row from the 15th.
“I hadn’t been making any putts, and it seems like the putter just kind of woke up right about now, which is really a good time of year for it to do that,” said Bradley, who is among many in the field using this tournament to hone their games for the first major of the year, the Masters at Augusta National next week.
After the group of five players sharing third place on 66, another 10 players were tied on five-under 67, a group that included 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, 2009 British Open winner Stewart Cink and Spain’s Sergio Garcia.
Simpson and Mickelson were among a big group on 68. Mickelson, who will be seeking a fourth Masters green jacket next week, got his final tune-up off to a solid start.
He said the injury to his right oblique muscle, which had forced him to withdraw from the Texas Open last week, had responded well to treatment.
“I feel a lot better four or five days later,” Mickelson said. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. It just feels sore as opposed to a kind of painful experience.”