Kim has 36-hole lead at LPGA major

Associated Press

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.

South Korean Song-Hee Kim shot a 4-under 68 on Friday in the Kraft Nabisco Championship to top a leaderboard loaded with majors winners.

Kim has top-10 finishes in all three events this year as she chases her first LPGA Tour victory. Her two-day total of 7-under 137 gave her a one-shot lead over majors winners Cristie Kerr (67), Karen Stupples (69) and top-ranked Lorena Ochoa (70).

The 21-year-old Kim is the highest-ranked player — No. 14 — without a career win.

Karrie Webb (70), a two-time winner here and a seven-time major winner overall, was two strokes back, tied with Stacy Lewis (68). Yani Tseng (71), the 2008 LPGA Championship winner, was tied at 140 with first-round leader Suzann Pettersen (73).

Asked if she’d be nervous being in the final group today, she said: “Nope.”

Keeping out of the rough and handling the fast greens at Mission Hills were keys for the leaders.

“I had a great round today, and my swing was really smooth and comfortable, and also I had great putting today,” Kim said after her bogey-free round.

Kerr had the day’s best round by going birdie-birdie-eagle on Nos. 9-11. Stupples opened birdie-birdie for her second straight 69, and Ochoa had birdies on three of her first five holes after making the turn.

“I bombed the driver all day today and it gave me a huge advantage on some of the holes where if you could get shorter clubs in, you could stop it a little bit better off the greens,” Kerr said.

For her eagle, she hit driver, 7-wood and had a 10-foot putt. “It was a perfect hole,” she said.