GUADALAJARA, Mexico: Michelle Wie had six birdies in a six-under 66 yesterday to seize a share of the first round lead in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational alongside Candie Kung and Angela Stanford.
Wie, whose 2009 triumph here was the first of her two LPGA tour victories to date, opened with back-to-back birdies at Guadalajara Country Club, and strung together four successive birdies from the 10th through the 13th.
It was a great start for a player who has struggled to just two top-20 finishes this season and needed a sponsor invitation to get into the 36-player field after failing to qualify.
“It’s been a really difficult year,” said Wie, whose round was just her eighth in the 60s this year. “It’s been the hardest year I’ve had so far.”
The American said she knows what she needs to do to keep it going at Guadalajara.
“You have to be on the right position on the fairway, on the right position on the green, get above the hole a couple times and getting in your putts,” she said. “So for the next couple of days, I just need to put them in the right position, keep doing that -- just position golf.”
Taiwan’s Kung and American player Stanford both had seven birdies and one bogey in their six-under efforts. Kung, playing for a fifth straight week, admitted she wasn’t expecting a low round on a course where she hasn’t done particularly well in the past.
“I did not expect this at all,” she said. “This is my fifth year and I haven’t done well at all the last four, so I just kind of go out there and play my way around and I happened to have seven birdies,” she added.
World No. 2 Stacy Lewis, who won her fourth title of the season last week in Japan, was one shot off the pace on 67. AFP
