Ochoa goes seven clear in Singapore

SINGAPORE -- World number one Lorena Ochoa is heading for a runaway victory at the HSBC Women's Champions after taking a seven-shot lead at the halfway stage of the LPGA tournament in Singapore.

Ochoa fired a seven-under-par 65 on the Gardens Course at the Tanah Merah Country Club for a 13-under-par aggregate of 131.

Swedish legend Annika Sorenstam, In-Kyung Kim of Korea and Paula Creamer of the United States share a distant second place as the 26-year-old Mexican played near flawless golf.

"It was a great day. A day I want to memorize and repeat," said Ochoa who is making her first appearance of 2008 at the inaugural staging of the $2 million tournament.

A run of six birdies in seven holes took Ochoa clear of her closest challengers, the only dropped shot of the round coming at the par-five 13th, where she twice found the trees before recovering with a superb 18-foot putt for a bogey.

"I don't know what happened," she said. "I think I swung too quickly."

Sorenstam, who has pledged to regain top spot from Ochoa and won the opening LPGA Tour event of the season in Hawaii, put on a much-improved performance on the second day to card a five-under-par 67.

"It was just good golf," she said. "I just needed one good putt to kick-start the great finish and I was just very solid throughout the round."

Creamer, who won the Fields Open last weekend, was less than satisfied with her second round of 71 as she slipped further adrift of Ochoa.

"I did not play good at all today," she said. "Nothing clicked. I had no solid shot all day. It started on the driving range and it went from there. It's a shame. Today was a bad day -- but there are two days left."

Kim kept in the picture with a two-under 70 despite a triple bogey at the testing 13th.

American Stacy Pramannasudh, Sweden's Linda Wessberg and Karrie Webb of Australia are tied for fifth position on five-under-par.

The 78-strong field in Singapore includes the top 15-ranked players in the world who are competing for the $300,000 first prize in the richest women's tournament in Asia. E-mail to a friend