SEMMES, United States (AFP) - Laura Diaz fired a five-under 67 on Friday to take a two-shot lead over fellow American Heather Daly-Donofrio midway through the LPGA Tournament of Champions.
Diaz, who shared the first-round lead with three other players, nabbed five birdies on the back nine to pull away from the pack.
Mexico's Lorena Ochoa and Christina Kim were three shots back and Hall-of-Famer Julie Inkster led a group of four players four shots off the pace in the 39-player event.
"It was a good day today," Diaz said. "I think that this is a hard golf course. And unfortunately, we had a lot of rain last night and it was soggy. But just to go out and shoot at the pins is nice, you know."
Diaz finished with three straight birdies. At 16 she hit a sand wedge to about a foot, at 17 an eight-iron from 144 yards to nine feet and at the last a wedge from 50 yards for another putt from inside 10 feet.
"I think it was good for my mental game that par save on nine," Diaz said. "I think I was definitely getting frustrated with myself on the front side. It felt much better on the back side and I was able to capitalize on some good shots."
Diaz, 29, is seeking her first LPGA victory since winning twice in 2002. That was her best season on Tour, when she won 843,790 dollars.
Diaz has five Top-10 finishes in 25 starts this season and has 338,560 dollars in earnings.
Daly-Donofrio posted the best round of the day with a 33 on both the front and back nine to take sole possession of second place. She hit all 14 fairways and 15 greens in regulation.
"It was just a great day of golf today," Daly-Donofrio said. "I hit it well. I started off hitting my irons not that great but they were going straight to the green. I just putted really well. I didn't make too many mistakes."
Ochoa carded her second straight 68, while Kim signed for a 70.
South Korea's Grace Park, who started the day in the group at the top of the leaderboard, carded a 73 and dropped six shots off the pace. With a victory, Park can clinch second place in the Player of the Year race.
Nobody can catch Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam, who is not entered here after securing her seventh Player of the Year Award last week. Sorenstam posted her seventh win of the season at the Mizuno Classic in Japan.
With 201.33 points, Park has a seemingly comfortable lead of 45.48 over Ochoa with two tournaments remaining. But with points doubled in next week's ADT Championship, several players are still mathematically alive in the hunt to finish in the runner-up spot.
Ochoa is third with 155.85 points, followed by Meg Mallon (140.50), Kerr (129.00) and Briton Karen Stupples (113.50).
11/13/2004 - 18:01 GMT - AFP