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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 1:11 p.m., Friday, July 11, 2008

Golf: Creamer leads by 6; Wie just makes cut

By RUSTY MILLER
Associated Press

SYLVANIA, Ohio — Picking up where she left off after a course-record 60, Paula Creamer shot a 6-under-par 65 today to build a six-stroke lead through two rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

Michelle Wie, the acclaimed amateur from Honolulu who has struggled as a pro, was even-par and barely made the cut.

Chasing her third win this season on the LPGA Tour, Creamer shattered the tournament's 36-hole record by six shots. She stands at 17-under 125 — the lowest two-round total on tour this year by five strokes.

The 21-year-old Creamer, who missed the cut at the Farr a year ago, needed a birdie on one of the two closing par-5 holes to tie the tour record for fewest shots taken through two rounds. Instead, she parred both, missing a short birdie putt and then saving a par on the 18th after missing the green with her approach.

Creamer had seven birdies and her only bogey of the tournament a day after she had 11 birdies including nine of the final 11 holes. The 60 eclipsed by a shot the course record of defending champion Se Ri Pak.

Eun-Hee Ji shot a 66 and is at 11-under 131.

No one else is within 10 shots of Creamer.

Pak, trying to become the first LPGA player to win the same event six times, shot a 69 and was 12 shots back. She went 63-68 a year ago in the first two rounds to match Kelly Robbins' tournament record, set in 1997.

Rachel Hetherington, who won the 2002 Farr, shot a 67 and was tied for third with H.J. Choi (68) at 135.

Creamer, leading the U.S. Solheim Cup standings and third on the money list, started the day with a five-shot lead on Ji. She rolled in an 18-foot putt on the par-3 second hole to briefly push the lead to six. But she pulled her drive into the trees and made bogey at No. 4 after Ji had birdied the same hole earlier, paring the advantage to four strokes.

Short birdie putts at the ninth (7 feet) and 10th holes (18 inches) pushed the lead to five shots. After turning away in disgust after her 6 iron from the middle of the fairway ended up 40 feet away at No. 12, Creamer then made the birdie putt.

She hit a 4 iron to 6 feet for another birdie at No. 14 and hit a 35-footer for another birdie at 16 and seemed poised to tie or even surpass the LPGA's raw-score record through 36 holes of 124 strokes, shared by Annika Sorenstam and Meg Mallon. But she missed a 5-footer for birdie at 17 and then salvaged par after missing the green and chipping 8 feet past the hole at the closing hole.

Creamer's 17-under score in relation to par matches the third best ever on tour.

The Californian is in ideal position to capture her seventh career victory — and erasing some recent bad memories.

She won the second tournament of 2008 in Hawaii and then won again at the Tulsa stop. But she faded to a 78 in the final round of the U.S. Women's Open two weeks ago to finish in a tie for sixth and then shot a closing 74 last week at the NW Arkansas tournament.