Michelle Wie is gone, putting all the attention on Lorena Ochoa's player of the year fight with Jiyai Shin at the LPGA Tour Championship.
Wie withdrew from the season-ending tournament yesterday because of a sprained left ankle, hours after Ochoa shot a 6-under 66 to take a one-shot lead over Reilley Rankin.
Wie, fresh off her first LPGA Tour victory at Ochoa's tournament in Mexico, shot a 72 in the afternoon. She limped through her round on the gimpy ankle that she sprained during the Solheim Cup in August, went for treatment afterward and withdrew about an hour later.
"I wanted to do everything I could do to fight through the injury," Wie said in a statement. "It bothered me last week in Mexico, but I was able to play through the pain. I realized today that I wouldn't be able to continue to play through it."
Ochoa teed off in the morning, before the wind picked up.
She was four shots ahead of Shin (70) on the leaderboard, but the 21-year-old South Korean leads Ochoa by eight points (156-148) in the race to become the tour's player of the year. To earn the distinction this year, Ochoa must win this week or finish no worse than third and hope Shin places out of the top 10.
But Ochoa says she's actually feeling more relaxed this week after dealing with the demands of hosting a tournament a week ago.
"Last week was a little bit tough in many different ways with all the things to do and all the pressure," she said. "Everything is a little bit easier, if you compare it to last week."
Shin and Ochoa started on the back nine and both were 2 under after three holes. Shin added birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 to move to 4 under.
Both players bogeyed the difficult 17th, then picked up birdies early on their second nines. Ochoa added birdies on Nos. 6, 8 and 9, capping her round with a 15-foot putt and a modest fist pump.
"Tomorrow is a new start," Ochoa said. "I'm going to play like I'm a few shots behind and continue being aggressive and give myself chances to win on Sunday."
Shin bogeyed two of her last four holes as the wind strengthened. She is trying to sweep the rookie and player awards. Nancy Lopez is the only player to win both in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 1978.
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