Kim takes 1-shot lead in Kraft Nabisco

South Korean Song-Hee Kim shot a 4-under 68 on Friday in the Kraft Nabisco Championship to top a leaderboard loaded with majors winners.

Kim has top-10 finishes in all three events this year as she chases her first LPGA Tour victory. Her two-day total of 7-under 137 gave her a one-shot lead over majors winners Cristie Kerr (67), Karen Stupples (69) and top-ranked Lorena Ochoa (70).

The 21-year-old Kim is the highest-ranked player - No. 14 - without a career win.

Karrie Webb (70), a two-time winner here and a seven-time major winner overall, was two strokes back, tied with Stacy Lewis (68). Yani Tseng (71), the 2008 LPGA Championship winner, was tied at 140 with first-round leader Suzann Pettersen (73).

Asked if she'd be nervous being in the final group Saturday, she said: "Nope."

Keeping out of the rough and handling the fast greens at Mission Hills were keys for the leaders.

"I had a great round today, and my swing was really smooth and comfortable, and also I had great putting today," Kim said after her bogey-free round.

Kerr had the day's best round by going birdie-birdie-eagle on Nos. 9-11. Stupples opened birdie-birdie for her second straight 69, and Ochoa had birdies on three of her first five holes after making the turn.

"I bombed the driver all day today and it gave me a huge advantage on some of the holes where if you could get shorter clubs in, you could stop it a little bit better off the greens," Kerr said.

For her eagle, she hit driver, 7-wood and had a 10-foot putt. "It was a perfect hole," she said.

Starting on the back nine, Ochoa bogeyed No. 18 before going on a tear after making the turn. She birdied three of her next five holes and had other birdie chances.

After winning the Women's British Open in 2007 and the Kraft Nabisco in 2008, Ochoa failed to have a top-10 finish in a major in 2009 for the first time as a professional.

Her best finish in a major last year was a tie for 12th at this tournament.

"It's just golf. I have my opportunity this week and I'm going to try my best," she said.

Defending champion Brittany Lincicome couldn't stay on the fairways and bogeyed three of her first four holes for a 74 to drop seven shots back.

After taking the first-round lead with a bogey-free 67, Pettersen struggled through a round marked by three bogeys and a double bogey.

Michelle Wie was tied for 10th at 2 under after her second straight 71.

Molder shoots 66 to take Houston Open lead

Bryce Molder birdied four of the last seven holes for a 6-under 66 and a one-stroke lead in the Houston Open, the final event before the Masters next week at Augusta National.

Molder had a 9-under 135 total on Redstone's Tournament Course.

First-round co-leader Cameron Percy (69) and fellow PGA Tour rookie Alex Prugh (66) were tied for second, and Lee Westwood (68), Anthony Kim (69), Joe Ogilvie (67) and Kevin Stadler (70) were 7 under after another windy day.

Ernie Els, Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson made the cut, but were far off the pace after failing to break par in the second round. Els (74) and Couples (73) were even par, and Mickelson (76) was 1 over.

Els is trying to win his third straight start and the 50-year-old Couples is warming up for the Masters after three consecutive wins on the Champions Tour.

Several big names came to Houston to tune up for the Masters.

Organizers have tried to simulate course conditions that players will see at Augusta National - fast greens, light rough, shaved-down runoff areas and fairways mowed toward the tees.

Lucas Glover's second-round 68 included the first hole-in-one in the course's five-year tour history. Glover used a 6-iron on the 199-yard 16th hole for the first ace in the Houston Open since 2005. He was 3 under.

Molder, winless in 88 career starts, made short birdie putts on 12 and 13, then chipped in on the par-5 15th. He rolled in a 33-foot putt on 17 to take the outright lead.

The 31-year-old former Georgia Tech star has never played in the Masters, but says he's more focused on trying to earn his first victory than qualifying for Augusta.

"Once you're out there and over the ball, you're not really thinking, 'Well, maybe this is what could or could not get me in next week," Molder said. "If you ask me that Sunday afternoon and I've got a two-shot lead walking down the last hole, maybe so. But I haven't won on the PGA Tour. When I win out here, first and foremost, it's going to be exciting."

Percy and Prugh are tour rookies, also seeking their first wins.

The most notable distinction of Percy's career so far is that he's the last man to play a competitive round with Tiger Woods. He was paired with Woods on the final day of the Australian Masters on Nov. 15.

"All my friends think they're going to win a trivia contest in about 10 years or something," Percy said.