RANCHO MIRAGE — Brittany Lincicome couldn't quite remember all of the holes Thursday, and she couldn't quite remember the distances of some of her holed putts.

What she knew for sure was she was in the lead of an LPGA event for the first time in a long time, and the lead was at a major championship.

“If you would have told me that this morning, I would have taken it and ran,” Lincicome said after a 6-under 66 at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course gave her a one-shot lead in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

A two-time winner on the LPGA, Lincicome hasn't been close to the winner's circle since taking the Ginn Open title in 2007. But Thursday, Lincicome found what she called a “happy place” enough times to score eight birdies to offset two bogeys and take a one-shot lead over Brittany Lang, Angela Stanford and Ji Young Oh.

“Today was just breathing, trying to take long, slow breaths and stay relaxed,” Lincicome said of her attempts to stay positive and not get too down on herself. “If I felt like I hit a bad shot, I kind of went to a happy place, like a positive spot, a pet (a Rottweiler named Bunker) or my fishing, or my caddie, we would start singing, anything to keep my mind off the bad shot that I just hit.”

Having missed 12 cuts in her last 25 LPGA starts dating to the start of the 2008 season, Lincicome has been looking for something to boost her confidence and help her stay positive. Just Tuesday she turned to the Vision 54 program originated by Swedish coaching icon Pia Nilsson, a program she will attend next week in the Phoenix area.

“It's really just getting out of my own way,” she said. “If I hit a bad shot, it takes me five holes to recover and get back to where I am calmed down and relaxed enough to make another birdie.”

Starting on the back nine, Lincicome birdied her first two holes, then bogeyed the 14th. She added birdies at the 15th and 18th, then made birdies on the first two holes of the front side, both with 8-foot putts.

A bogey at the third, a three-putt from 25 feet as best Lincicome could remember while struggling to recall the holes after her round, was followed by birdies at the fourth and fifth holes to close out her scoring.

Lincicome's putting practice partner, Angela Stanford, is one of three players at 5-under. While joking that the speed drills on the greens help Lincicome to the 66, Stanford had other reasons for Lincicome's struggles in the last year.

“I think a lot of times younger players, they get a lot of success early, and golf is a tough game and she's got a lot going on in her life,” Stanford said. “And good stuff. Not necessarily bad stuff.”

Stanford, riding a wave of confidence from two late wins in 2008 and a season-opening victory in 2009, had two bogeys and seven birdies.

The day's other Brittany, Brittany Lang, was one of the few players to take advantage of the 485-yard front tees on the par-5 18th. She reached the island green in two shots and rolled in a 20-foot eagle putt.

“I felt like I couldn't do anything wrong,” Lang said. “I didn't stay aggressive toward the end of the front nine, which was my back nine, so I was kind of disappointed with that.”

Like Lang, Oh had seven birdies and two bogeys.

The scoring for the day was lower than many players had predicted with the firm and lightning quick greens running 13 feet on the stimpmeter.

“The greens are really good. They are really, really pure,” Lincicome said. “They are starting to get a lot quicker.”

“That's the good thing about pure, fast greens,” Stanford said. “If you can get it on line, it's going to roll out. I think you make more putts on greens like this.”

Lincicome said that on the ninth hole, her last hole of the day, she had a putt that was downhill and downwind and she “just breathed “ on it. She made the putt for par.

But while the scoring was low, with 29 of the 96 players breaking par-72, it wasn't a great start for defending champion Lorena Ochoa. Trying to become just the third player to win consecutive Kraft titles, Ochoa reached 2-under through nine holes but played her next nine in 3-over 39 to finish at 73.

That put Ochoa seven shots off the lead and two shots behind Michelle Wie. Wie, back in the tournament after missing the last two years, had three birdies and two bogeys despite fighting her driver on many of her early holes.

“This is my first major in a while and it was excitement, but just a little jittery,” Wie said of her early struggles. “But I calmed down pretty quickly.”