Even as she saw her chance for a repeat fiesta at the Kraft Nabisco Championship slipping away, Lorena Ochoa found some glimmer of hope to hang onto Saturday.

“The good thing is I made birdie on the last hole and that feels good,” Ochoa said after shooting even-par 72 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course. “Hopefully tomorrow, it's a better day.”

It would have to be a remarkable day for Ochoa to become the third player to win consecutive Kraft Nabisco titles. At 2-over par, Ochoa is tied for 15th but 10 shots behind leader Kristy McPherson.

So barring a miracle, Ochoa won't win her third major title today. So there won't be a repeat of the most memorable Kraft celebration of the first 37 years of the tournament.

The lasting image of Ochoa in the 2008 Kraft Nabisco isn't the little fist pump she gave when she finished off the five-shot victory, or even the image of her pounding drives down the middle of the fairway. Instead, it is Ochoa being lifted into the air by about two dozen people who had flooded Poppi's Pond, the victory lake next to the 18th fairway. And the lasting sound is the mariachi band that was playing in the background as Ochoa, friends and family splashed around in the pond.

Who knows what the celebration will be like today. but there likely won't be a brass band playing “Stars and Stripes Forever” if an American wins or songs from Sweden or Australia or Korea if players from those countries win (ABBA? Men at Work?).

What made the fiesta so fun was that it had the feel of spontaneity and of deep joy from those who joined Ochoa in the pond. Not that everyone who has jumped in the pond hasn't been joyful. The fiesta was just, well, different.

This week though, as Ochoa tried to join Sandra Post and Annika Sorenstam as the only back-to-back Kraft winners, the Mexican star has never been part of the picture. A disappointing opening 73 was followed by a 73 in the horrible winds of Friday. That was a good score Friday as the average score soared over 76, but Ochoa was disappointed with a stumbling finish.

Needing a good though not great round Saturday to get back into contention, Ochoa managed a 72 and lost two shots to McPherson.

“It was a better score, a better day,” Ochoa said of the round. “A little bit up and down, really good shots and missing cuts out there. Then a couple of bad drives I put in a bad position. So a little bit of everything.”

When Ochoa raced through the 2008 Kraft Nabisco for the third of what would eventually be four victories in her first five events, Ochoa was talking about maybe making a run at the Grand Slam and how at that moment she felt no one could beat her. But she came into the week saying she was hoping to putt better, and she was talking Saturday about how there just aren't that many birdies on the course this week.

“I think there's been so many things going on this week,” Ochoa said. “And the greens are really hard, extremely hard. It was hard to put it close to the pin today.”

Make no mistake, Ochoa is still the No. 1 player in women's golf, but for whatever the reason, Ochoa hasn't been close to the dominant player who hammered the field in the 2008 Kraft and set off the memorable fiesta. Maybe it's as simple as winning back-to-back Krafts is just tough.

There may be some of that mariachi magic left on the course today for Ochoa, but this year the party will belong to someone else.

Larry Bohannan covers golf for the Desert Sun. His columns appear Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at 778-4633.