KAPOLEI — In what seemed perfectly logical for the multi-national LPGA, a South Korean golfer born in Brazil and raised in California, and a Tulsa All-American with a Thai name beat the elements and everybody else to surge into first at the Fields Open in Hawai'i yesterday.

Rookie Angela Park, 18, and fifth-year pro Stacy Prammanasudh, 27, fired 6-under-par 66s at Ko Olina Golf Club. It was two off Lorena Ochoa's tournament record set last year, despite another day of 30-mph gusts. Se Ri Pak, who will be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame after her 10th event this year, is alone in third a shot back.

The big breeze seemingly hasn't stopped since Fred Funk and the Champions Tour blew town after shattering scoring records at the astonishingly serene Turtle Bay Championship last month. The LPGA's first official event of 2007 was the SBS Open at Turtle Bay last week, won by Paula Creamer in a wind tunnel.

Monday's qualifier at Ko Olina was reduced to survival of the fittest, and didn't end until Tuesday morning. Wednesday's Pro-Am was more like a ride at a water park when rain added another element.

Yesterday's round was so wind-blown, Cristie Kerr prepared for a 25-foot putt from the top of a ridge on the 12th green, then watched in astonishment as her ball started without her and slid 10 feet, farther from the hole. This happened after she had tried unsuccessfully several times to get her ball to stay in front of her marker.

Believing she had not officially addressed the ball, Kerr putted out for par, finished at 69, then was met by officials before she signed her card. After they watched the tape with her several times, it was concluded she had placed her putter down behind the ball, which Kerr originally disputed. She was given a penalty stroke for the ball's movement and another for not replacing it in its original spot. If she had signed for the 69, she would have been disqualified.

Meaghan Francella, who shares fourth with Kyeong Bae at 68, also had her share of weirdness. Francella, who earned her way onto the LPGA Tour by finishing fifth on the Futures money list last year, characterized her 68 as the most adventurous round of her golf life.

Her 4-under back nine imploded when she triple-bogeyed the second hole (her 11th) with an errant approach shot followed by a three-putt, then bogeyed the third. Her day took another drastic, and drastically better, turn when she eagled the fifth and birdied two of her final four for a 68.

"I knew I could turn it around," said Francella, who admitted to being "fired up" after her four-shot fade. "I was putting well and hitting the ball so well, so I knew they were going to keep going in. I was rolling it too well for them not to go in."

To add to the craziness of her day, Francella signed for her 68, then saw herself at 69 when she glanced at The Golf Channel broadcast. Officials confirmed her scorer had not punched in her final birdie soon after Francella alerted them and, two hours after the fact, the 2005 North Carolina graduate was back at 68.

"Especially when you shoot a number like that, you don't want it to to be wrong," Francella said. "I'm really anal about my scorecard. I triple-check it, my caddie checks it, so I knew I was right. I wasn't extremely concerned, but I was a little nervous when I saw 3 under on the TV."

PARK, KIM BOND

Park's brilliance was somewhat unexpected; she earned her first LPGA paycheck last week by finishing 33rd. She earned much of her reputation with a wonderful junior career shared, in part, with Hilo 15-year-old Kimberly Kim, the only amateur at Fields, who shot 74 yesterday.

"We have a really strong bond, even though we don't see each other that often," Park said. "Great player, by the way."

Park played the front in 5 under, with three birdie putts from outside 15 feet. It was a dramatic difference from Turtle Bay, where her only bogeys came on five three-putts.

Prammanasudh also shot 31 on the front, with four consecutive birdies. Of her seven birdie putts, six came from within 10 feet. She credited that accuracy to kind pin placements, taking lessons for the "first time in my life" in the offseason and growing up in windy western Oklahoma.

Pak had four birdies on the back nine — the last three from inside four feet — but denied the wind had died at all.

"Turtle Bay, the last round was the most windy day (Saturday)," Pak said. "It's supposed to be the windiest place in Hawai'i, but we get here and it's the worst wind ever. ... Sometimes it's one-club, two-club, three-club difference. So it's all exciting, from beginning to end pretty much the same."

Her group would have been exciting without the wind. Pak played with Kerr and Christina Kim, whose round might have been more adventurous than Francella's. Kim's second shot on the second hole ricocheted off a tree and hit her hard enough above the right ankle to give her a welt.

She limped to a quadruple-bogey eight on that hole, with the two penalty strokes for getting hit by her own ball, but rallied to a 72 by playing the final seven holes in 5-under.

Former Rainbow Wahine Cindy Rarick shares 22nd with Turtle Bay's Dorothy Delasin, at 71. Rarick, who represents Waikoloa, eagled the 13th hole from 80 yards out. She shot a season-low 67 here last year and earned her biggest check ($4,822) of 2006. Rarick, 47, made just 13 starts in 2006.

The top 70 and ties at the end of today's second round will play in tomorrow's final round.

NOTES

Se Ri Pak, who turns 30 this year, is "attending" Sookmyung University in Seoul. Pak said classes started last weekend she expects to do most of her work online. She said it was a difficult decision 10 years ago to play golf and not go to college, but this "is a great chance to graduate from college." She is studying business with an eye on starting her own golf academy after she retires "in maybe 10 years."

"The bottom line is, I really love this sport and I do really love the golf game," Pak said. "So I really want to have my own business and I can help some great, talented athletes. I can help them with their dreams."

Pak has won 23 times on the LPGA tour, including five majors, and is closing on $9 million in earnings. By 2004, she had met all the entrance requirements for the LPGA Hall of Fame but one — 10 years of membership, which she will reach with her 10th start this year.

Laurie Rinker withdrew with a bad back after shooting 81, dropping the field to 136 pros and Hilo amateur Kimberly Kim, who goes out at 7:15 a.m. today off the 10th tee.

The second hole, which had three of the four dreaded "other" scores yesterday, played as the second-toughest at 4.355. The ninth was the most difficult at 4.435. Both are par-4s. The par-5 fifth was the easiest (4.565).

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.