Canadian Open - 2nd Round

Michelle Wie maintained her three-stroke lead Friday at the CN Canadian Women's Open.  Jiyai Shin moved into second place at -7 while Morgan Pressel and Suzann Pettersen are tied for third at -6.  Na Yeon Choi and Jee Young Lee are tied for fifth at -5.

It wasn't another 65 but 69 was good enough to keep Wie from losing ground to her pursuit.  Starting on the back nine, an early bogey at 11 was her only one of the day as her lead dwindled to one.  Birdies at 13, 15, 5 and 6 put Michelle into double-digits which, compared to most of the field, seems like twice that.  Only 16 players are under par through 36 holes and only the six listed above are better than -3.  Friday's best rounds definitely came early as Pressel and Sarah Jane Smith put up 66, Morgan with 31 on the back nine and Sarah Jane with 30 on the front.  Shin also played in the morning and finished her round with five birdies on the front nine to move into second place.  Pettersen posted her second straight 69 (not nearly as steady as Thursday's as she bogeyed three times) to keep her title defense alive.  NYC and Jelly both played in the morning too and both carded 67 to move into the Top 5.

Early on, Karin Sjodin was sniffing the lead as she played the first eight holes without a single par.  Three birdies, a double at 4, an eagle to offset that at 5, two more birdies and a bogey at 8 started one of the wildest rollercoaster rounds you'll ever see.  For the day, Karin parred only six holes, birdied six and bogeyed four to post 70 and stand T7 -3.

The cut ended up at +4, dooming Yani Tseng, Angela Stanford, Anna Nordqvist (79!), Sun Young Yoo, Hee Young Park, Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Momoko Ueda.  Azahara Munoz shot 68 today but it wasn't enough to offset yesterday's 82 so she goes home.  On the flipside, Sarah Kemp was in second place starting the day but shot 80 (in the afternoon winds, of course) and made the cut on the number.

Another player who made it on the number is competing in her final LPGA event this weekend.  According to Larry Smich, Rachel Hetherington is hanging up her spikes after this one.  Rachel won eight times in her career, all between 1998 and 2003, and was frequently a Top 15 player during that time.  Her best season by my reckoning was 2003, when she won twice, finished second twice, collected 11 Top 10 finishes and ranked as the #6 player on Tour in my system.  Hetherington suffered a broken ankle on Christmas Day last year while skateboarding - a present from her husband to help her practice for her new hobby, surfing - which undoubtedly hastened her retirement as she was only able to start five events in 2010, although she made the cut in four of them.  Congratulations on a fine career Rachel, and good luck in your future endeavors.