Yani Tseng did not get to the top of the world rankings by shrinking from competition. Indeed, No. 1 Tseng had Kraft Nabisco leader Stacy Lewis in her sights as she ran up the leaderboard in Friday’s second round on a toasty Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Attempting to win back-to-back KraftNab titles, Tseng put on a clinic as she strung together three straight birdies after making the turn with a 35. Starting on the 10th Thursday afternoon, Tseng was 5-under for the day through 16 holes after making her seventh bird of the day at the par-3 fifth.
At 7-under for the tourney, Tseng was only two shots back of Lewis, who carded a 3-under 69 earlier in the day. Her flat stick on fire as the temperature soared to 101 and baked the already hard greens, Tseng could easily have had two more birdies but her putts on four and six missed by whispers.
Tseng gave Lewis a bit of breathing room when she dropped a shot at the eighth after a poor tee shot on the par-3. She finished with a 4-under 68, three shots back of Lewis heading into the weekend.
Fan favorite Michelle Wie made Friday her moving day, firing a sizzling 5-under to move into contention, six strokes off the lead. The Stanford student had an eventful start to her day, pulling a tee shot left and hitting a little girl in the head.
“I hit it left and thought I hit it on the cart path,” Wie told Golf Channel Friday afternoon. “I felt so horrible [but] I heard she’s fine so that makes me feel a little better.”
Meanwhile, with the projected cut line at 4-over, Cristie Kerr missed her first cut in a major championship in nine years, according to Golf Channel. Kerr could not get anything going in her second round after carding a 78 on Thursday. With an even-par on Friday, she closed out her 2011 stint at the Kraft Nabisco at 6-over.
