Wie stays in front at Canadian Open

Published 5:00 am Saturday, August 28, 2010

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Michelle Wie’s second round didn’t have the wow factor of a hole-in-one, but a 3-under 69 on Friday was enough to keep her atop the leaderboard halfway through the Canadian Women’s Open.

The Hawaii native posted a two-round total of 10-under 134, three strokes ahead of Jiyai Shin of South Korea, who had a second-round 67.

Morgan Pressel had a 66 at the St. Charles Country Club to move into a tie at 138 with defending champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway.

Sarah Jane Smith of Australia also had a 66 and was in a group at 3 under in the tournament with a $2.25 million purse.

Wie, 20, had her 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,” Wie said.

Pressel is in her fifth year on the LPGA Tour and is 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.

The field dropped to 154 players after Shi Hyn Ahn and Il Mi Chung of South Korea were disqualified late Thursday for mistakenly playing each other’s balls on the 18th green.

Also on Friday:

Three on top in Scotland

GLENEAGLES, Scotland — Gary Boyd and David Lynn of England and Julien Guerrier of France were tied for the lead at the Johnnie Walker Championship at 9 under. Guerrier shot a 5-under 67, while Boyd and Lynn had 68s. Marc Warren of Scotland (70), Mark Foster of England (67) and George Coetzee of South Africa (68) were two shots back.

Price leads in Washington

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Nick Price birdied the first four holes and five of the last seven to match the lowest score in tournament history and take the lead with a 9-under 63 in the first round of the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic. Price rolled in birdies from 20 and 25 feet on the 6th and 13th, respectively, then capped the round with a 40-footer on the 17th. Tom Pernice Jr. was two shots back after a 64, and Hal Sutton and Bernhard Langer were tied for third after shooting 66s. Hometown favorite Fred Couples shot a 68.

Semis set at U.S. Amateur

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — Defending champion Byeong-Hun An, top-ranked American amateur Peter Uihlein, Stanford’s David Chung and UCLA freshman Patrick Cantlay advanced to the semifinals of the 110th U.S. Amateur.

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