Ochoa likes her chances after 18 holes

She has won only one major, but the way the ball is rolling for Lorena Ochoa these days, there have been plenty of opportunities for her to develop a philosophy about how to make the most of golf’s biggest tournaments.

“You cannot get mad,” she said. “No stress involved.”

And so it was a low-key, buttoned-down opening round of four-under-par 68 that Ochoa coaxed out of Mission Hills Country Club on Thursday, a start that put her one shot behind leader Karen Stupples at the Kraft Nabisco Championship as she took off toward what could be her third victory in four starts this year.

But that’s getting ahead of herself, something that Ochoa would prefer to avoid. Patience is rewarded, another philosophical tact Ochoa believes, so she’s willing to wait a few days to see if it pans out.

“I like my chances to be there on Sunday and win the tournament,” she said.

She has liked her chances for a while. Ochoa has won 16 of her last 48 LPGA Tour events, one of every three, so she’s already ahead of that pace this year.

It was a mostly breezy day for the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year, and Stupples led the way with a 67. Stupples, 34, who took seven months off last year after having a baby, lives in Florida but was born in England and played for Europe in the Solheim Cup in 2005.

Stupples won the 2004 Women’s British Open and the Welch’s/Fry’s Championship in Tucson a few months earlier, but she hasn’t won since.

Her five-birdie, no-bogey round was a good start to change all that.

Since the arrival of Logan James in April, Stupples said she quickly became eager to play again.

“When I go to practice, I really make the most of the time I have and I think I am just more appreciative of everything that comes along, and more patient as well,” she said.

Ai Miyazato birdied the last two holes to finish with a 68 and match Ochoa. Natalie Gulbis and Heather Young are two shots behind Stupples at 69.

Liselotte Neumann, Maria Hjorth, Mi Hyun Kim and amateur Maria Jose Uribe are tied for sixth at 70.

Annika Sorenstam kept her streak going -- her one-under 71 was her 15th consecutive under-par round to start the year. But she sounded unimpressed.

“I don’t keep track of that,” Sorenstam said.

If she carried a wind gauge, she might have felt a little better keeping track of something, because the gusty conditions weren’t the best for scoring -- at least for her.

“Big factor,” Sorenstam said of the wind, which affected her shot into the 166-yard No. 8, her 17th hole. With the pin tucked left and the wind blowing left to right, Sorenstam wound up with a bogey and ended up with a round that could have been better.

It also could have been worse, so the three-time Kraft champion felt all right about how she started.

“I haven’t done anything to ruin my chances by any means,” she said. “I just have to clean it up a little bit. You’ve got to battle it, day by day. You have to be patient, especially when the conditions are like this.”

Ochoa had four birdies in a row at one stretch and missed only one fairway, but like Sorenstam, she bogeyed the eighth, her 17th hole, after her six-iron went through the green and she three-putted from the fringe.

Ochoa consistently out-drove her playing partner, Morgan Pressel. Ochoa said she has been altering her backswing on her drives so it becomes shorter. At 5 feet 6 and 140 pounds, Ochoa doesn’t look like a pounder, but she’s deceptive.

No other player asks her for driving tips, but Ochoa said they don’t hold back in other areas.

“What do they say?” she said. “They give me a hard time about how I can be so little and hit it so far.”

thomas.bonk@latimes.com