Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa set a course record eight-under-par 65 during the second round of The Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika, which was one better than the course record set by Sorenstam on her home course 24 hours earlier.
In doing so the World number two caught up with the World number one on home territory and tied for the lead with Sorenstam on nine-under-par 137.
Sorenstam, competing on her home course Bro Balsta in Stockholm, tacked a two-under-par 71 onto her first round 66 in the more difficult afternoon conditions.
She was stung on the arm by a wasp on the 15th green but admitted it didn’t affect her.
“It’s always tough to follow a seven-under-par. I got off to a great start. I birdied the first, sixth and ninth and I felt pretty good at the turn,” she said.
“The back nine didn’t go my way but I’m tied for the lead going into Saturday and I think that’s pretty good.”
Ochoa, who teed off at 8.30, made her move early on posting an eagle, eight birdies and two bogeys.
The 24-year-old from Guadalajara eagled the 17th, which was her eighth hole, hitting her driver more than 300 yards and then playing a six-iron 165 yards to five feet.
“I was so many strokes behind that I needed to play crazy today,” said Ochoa, who leads the US LPGA Tour’s money list.
“I started with a couple of birdies and got some good momentum and also I made an eagle on my eighth hole, the 17th. That really fired me up. I was really excited and happy and then I had a good back nine after that.
“I think the difference was also my putting because I made a lot of good putts. It wasn’t really close but I made at least four or five 20 footers so that was a big difference. I shot eight-under with two bogeys so you know I left a couple of strokes out there today.”
Having carded a 62 in the first round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship earlier this year Ochoa is no stranger to shooting low numbers and like Sorenstam, she has won twice on the LPGA Tour this season.
As a guest of Sorenstam this week, she is hoping to upstage the Swede on home territory by securing her third win of the season and her sixth in total.
She is in good company, having been joined by a group of some 20 Mexican supporters. This is the first time that the Swedish based Mexicans have had the chance to see their superstar in the flesh.
Ultimately, they would like to see her achieve her goal of becoming World no.1. “I think Annika has been playing for so many years and has dominated golf for so long that she deserves that position. I’m just trying to get closer and closer,” Ochoa said.
Gwladys Nocera, the European number one, from France, fired a second successive 69 in her second round to finish just one shot behind the leaders on eight-under-par 138.
The three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour had two bogeys and six birdies in total with three in a row from the 16th hole and another three back-to-back from the fourth hole.
Nocera leads the Ladies European Tour’s New Star Money List by a whisker over England’s Laura Davies and hopes to finish higher than her this week to protect her position.
Davies had a 75 for a 36-hole tally of one-under-par 145 to sit eight shots off the lead and seven behind Nocera. Meanwhile, the European Solheim Cup Captain Helen Alfredsson had a 70 to sit alone in fourth place on a seven-under-par total.
Karen Stupples was the best British player on six-under-par with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen. Stupples birdied three of the last four holes.
Italians Veronica Zorzi and Sophie Sandolo tied for fifth place on five-under-par, while Bettina Hauert, Liselotte Neumann and Riikka Hakkarainen tied for ninth on four-under-par.
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