OCHOA TAKES A MAJOR STEP.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Lorena Ochoa had only 100 or so people following her record round Thursday in the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, which was fine with her. She was able to hear that familiar voice, her father urging her to attack the flags and stick it close.

``Just like this,'' Javier Ochoa said to her after Ochoa began the first round with a 9-iron to 2 feet to set up a birdie.

And she obeyed, knocking down flags on a calm morning in the desert, piling up birdies until she was in the record books with a 10-under 62 that gave her a four-shot lead over 16-year-old Michelle Wie.

Wie got all the attention and matched her best score on the LPGA Tour, a bogey-free 66 in which she played with poise and precision and had a birdie putt on every hole.

Ochoa gladly settled for a record score at Mission Hills, matching the lowest round in an LPGA major championship to take a big lead in the first major of the year.

``I thought to myself, 'This is a good start to the tournament.' I didn't think it was going to be this good,'' Ochoa said. ``Everything was easy, and everything was so clear. It was fun to be out there.''

The average score was 73.7, which made Ochoa's round even more stunning.

Defending champion Annika Sorenstam glanced at the leader board when she was playing the sixth hole, saw the ``10'' next to Ochoa's name, and couldn't believe it.

``We had to look twice. We didn't know if she was on her 10th hole or she was 10 under,'' Sorenstam said after making birdie on the last hole for a 71. ``This golf course is not easy. She made it look easy.''

Ochoa finished her round with a sand wedge into 12 feet - only one of her 10 birdies was longer - to break the tournament record of 63 set in 1997 by Mary Beth Zimmerman. The only other 62 in an LPGA major was by Minea Blomqvist in the 2004 Women's British Open at Sunningdale.

--Masterful: Phil Mickelson tied the BellSouth Classic tournament course record with a 9-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over Gavin Coles after the first round of the PGA Tour event that is the final tuneup for the Masters.

Mickelson, who birdied six of the first seven holes, missed a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th green that would have set the mark at the TPC at Sugarloaf in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Ga.

``It was a fun day, a fun start,'' Mickelson said. ``I birdied the first couple and was off and running. looked up and I was 6 under through seven. That was a good feeling.''

--Spanos Tour: Kevin Pom Arleau of La Quinta finished 71-70-67-208 for a two-stroke win over J.J. Jakovac (71-71-68) in an A.G. Spanos Tour event at Angeles National Golf Club in Sunland.

Arleau, the first player to win without a playoff in five 2006 Spanos Tour events, earned $17,700 for the victory.

Cary Schoen of Valencia tied for fifth at 69-75-69-212, and Burbank's Tommy Barber, who won the 2005 Spanos Tour Championship, earned a share of 10th at 73-74-68-215.