Ochoa pulls a quad on 17

As far as trouble goes, that greenish-blue pond in front of the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club is the undisputed heavyweight champion around here, but that’s not where Lorena Ochoa sank in Saturday’s third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

It all started with a tree, the one she hit at the par-three 17th, the one that turned out to be 173 yards of quadruple-bogey terror for Ochoa. She probably said goodbye to her chance to take the No. 1 ranking away today from Annika Sorenstam after a stunning sequence of miscues.

Se Ri Pak and Suzann Pettersen begin today’s fourth round tied for the lead in the year’s first major at four-under-par 212, one shot ahead of Paula Creamer and this season’s early surprise, Meaghan Francella. But this major’s major ripple was Ochoa’s catastrophic 17th hole.

Ochoa wound up with a 77, falling from a tie for third at three under to a tie for 12th at one over, all in a wobbly sequence that left her humbled.

“I’m human,” she said

Aiming for a left-side pin, she hit a six-iron too far left and the ball struck a tree. She chipped over the green, whiffed on a sand wedge, knocked the ball back on to the front of the green with her fourth shot and three-putted for a 7.

“I went from one behind the lead and all of a sudden I’m way back,” she said. “But the tournament is not over yet.”

That’s a comfort for everyone, essentially because there are nine players within four shots of Pak and Pettersen at the top. Creamer, who played with Ochoa, said Ochoa made a strategic error.

“That’s just a pin you don’t go for,” said Creamer, who shot a 73. “That’s a no-no.”

Pak is the only one among the top 15 players to have won a major, and she has won five of them, but never at Mission Hills.

Sorenstam has 10 majors, but she isn’t going to get her 11th this week.

Sorenstam said she took “baby steps” in the right direction after her one-under 71 that left her tied for 33rd.

Starting her round at the 10th tee with the back of the field instead of the first hole with the leaders was an unsettling experience for Sorenstam.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re in a major anymore,” she said. “I didn’t even have a single butterfly.”

Her No. 1 ranking probably won’t disappear today, but Sorenstam still has bigger worries out on the course, trying to get her game rolling in 2007. She has another chance today to do that.

“I’ve just got to find it again,” she said. “A good round would kind of kick-start it.”

Pak rolled in a 30-foot putt to birdie the 18th for a two-under 70 and Pettersen made a 35-footer to finish with her own birdie and a 71. Pak owns 23 LPGA Tour victories in her landmark career, showing the way for the South Koreans to make it on tour. She won 14 times between 2001 and 2004 and won two majors -- the LPGA Championship and the U.S. Open -- as a rookie in 1998.

“I really don’t have very much pressure on me because I’ve been here many, many times,” she said. “I just want to go out and have a good day.”

Pettersen, from Norway, has never been better than third in four full years on the LPGA Tour, but she’s known as a big hitter with a deft touch around the greens.

Only two shots back of the leaders is Brittany Lincicome, whose 71 left her at two-under 214, and she’s one shot ahead of three others tied for sixth: Shi Hyun Ahn, Catriona Matthew and Maria Hjorth. Ahn, the first-round leader, double-bogeyed the 14th and 17th and still managed to shoot a two-over 74.

As for Francella, she has gone from unknown to major contender in a stretch of three weeks. The 24-year-old from New York won in only her sixth LPGA tournament, beating Sorenstam in a playoff in Mexico last month. That victory earned her an invitation to Mission Hills this week.

“I didn’t even think I was going to get into this tournament,” she said, “and anything that happens is a bonus, because I just want to be here. So I’m pretty excited.”

Meanwhile, Ochoa figures she’s not done. She said she is going to put a positive spin on her quadruple bogey at the 17th. Imagine if she could come back and win.

“I would have a good story,” she said.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com