WINNIPEG — Michelle Wie’s second round didn’t have the wow factor of a hole-in-one, but a 3-under-par 69 was enough to keep the American atop the leaderboard after the second round at the CN Canadian Women’s Open.
The Hawaii native was the clubhouse leader Friday with a two-round total of 10-under 134, three strokes ahead of Jiyai Shin of South Korea, who posted a 67 Friday for 137.
Morgan Pressel of Florida surged up the leaderboard into third, firing a 6-under 66 at the St. Charles Country Club. She’s tied at 138 with defending champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway.
Australia Sarah Jane Smith had a good day, shooting 66 to move into a tie for seventh at 3-under.
Wie, 20, notched Thursday’s ace on the par-3 11th during her first-round 65, a course record for a women’s competition.
“I tried. Didn’t work out,” Wie said with a smile of not repeating the ace.
“Compared to (Thursday), nothing was that dramatic.”
She smiled again when describing one reaction of the large crowd that followed her.
“I think they were very disappointed on 11 today when I made a bogey,” said Wie, who’s in her second year on the LPGA Tour.
Unlike last year’s event in Calgary, three of the 14 Canadians entered managed to make the cut of 4-over.
Adrienne White from Red Deer, led all Canadians with a 4-under-par 68 Friday and was at 1-over 145 after two rounds.
“It feels really good to be there and represent Canada on the weekend,” White said.
Montreal’s Lisa Meldrum was 2-under Friday for a two-day total of 3-over 147, while vertern Lorie Kane of Charlottetown was 1-over 73 to just make the cut at 4-over 148.
The competitors are vying for a cut of the US$2.25-million purse, with $337,500 going to the winner.
Pressel is in her fifth year on tour and seeking her third victory.
“It looks like Michelle is very confident in her game right now, so it looks like I’m going to have to have two more days of golf like I had today and we’ll see what happens,” said Pressel, who birdied five of her first eight holes.
Pressel’s best finish this season was a tie for second at the Evian Masters last month, an event won by Shin.
Shin is ranked No. 4 on the World Rolex Rankings and has nine top-10 finishes this season.
Only in her second year on tour, she said it was nice to have some fans call her name while she was in the same threesome as Wie.
“(They say), ‘Go Shin,’ and everybody knows my name, so I’m really happy and appreciate it, too,” she said with a shy smile.
Smith’s 66 gave her one of the biggest turnarounds after she shot a 75 on Thursday.
She credited some of the about-face to her coach, Canadian Sean Foley. She videotaped some practice swings after her first round and sent them to him for advice.
“He said I was just a little out of sequence so he just wanted me to get the feeling of my backswing being a little bit slower and get me in a better position to really give it a whack on the downswing today,” said Smith, in her fifth season on tour.
Pettersen likes the position she finds herself in.
“I love where I’m at,” said the third-ranked player in the world. “I like the chase down to the top, but we’ll see.”
She then told reporters she found the key to a better game on the seventh tee box.
So what was it?
“Not going to tell you,” she said with a smile.
Japan’s Ai Miyazato, ranked No. 1 in the world, goes into weekend play tied for 17th at 144. No. 2 Cristie Kerr of the U.S. is tied for 34th at 146.
Two of the top 10 didn’t make the cut, including No. 5 Yani Tseng of Taiwan (149) and No. 10 Anna Nordqvist of Sweden (150).
Another notable name that will be absent is 15-year-old American Alexis Thompson, who was the youngest player to turn pro last month. She shot 78 Friday for 149.
Notes: The last time the tour stopped in Winnipeg was in 1992 for the former du Maurier Classic at St. Charles, which was the first of eight career victories for American Sherri Steinhauer. She’s back and heads into Saturday’s play at 147 . . . CN is donating $500 for each birdie on the par-4, 420-yard 18th hole to the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. There have been 15 over the first two rounds.