MORELIA, Mexico (AP) - Michelle Wie shot a 5-under 68 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the Tres Marias Championship at 12 under.
Wie, who won her lone LPGA Tour title 5 1/2 months ago in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, was a stroke ahead of Brittany Lincicome (67) and two in front of first-round leader Ai Miyazato (73).
Ochoa, who is retiring after this tournament, shot a 73 on Friday, leaving her five strokes behind Wie. Ochoa has 27 career victories - including two majors - and has been the LPGA Tour's top-ranked player for three years. She is stepping away to raise a family and work on her charity foundation.
Wie birdied seven of the first 12 holes without dropping a shot, overcoming swirling afternoon wind that made scoring low difficult for other late starters on the mountain-side course. This meant most of the first-round leaders.
Wie reached 7 under - and 14 under for the tournament - with a spectacular birdie on 16. But faded and finished with two bogeys.
She hit a booming drive downwind on No. 16 - father B.J. Wie estimated it at 380 yards - but hit an 8-iron approach from 165 yards over the green into loose gravel. She chipped out, but knocked it across the green into a bunker. She then holed out from 70 feet, lifting both arms skyward to celebrate the shot.
"It was a windy day out there," Wie said. "Ever since we got on the range it was blowing. So it's nice to be out of the wind."
Wie has played the LPGA's first four events this season, her best finish a tie for sixth in the Kia Classic at La Costa.
Lincicome had a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th, using a pitching wedge to hole the 125-yard shot. It was her first on the LPGA Tour.
The American has played all four events this season, playing well but never putting it all together - until Friday.
"I felt like I've been playing really, really well," she said. "Just if I'm hitting it well, I'm not putting well. If I'm putting well, I'm not hitting it well. It's nice to kind of see it coming together, and of all places Mexico because this is not normally one of my favorite golf courses."
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