Sorenstam moves into one shot lead

Being paired with Karrie Webb brings out the best in Annika Sorenstam.

Playing with the LPGA Tour's hottest player, Sorenstam turned in her second straight bogey-free round in the Takefuji Classic, shooting a 68 today to reach the 36-hole mark at 8-under-par 136.

That's one stroke ahead of first-round leader Janice Moodie, who checked in with a 70.

Webb was hanging around, too. She completed an up-and-down round of 70 for a 6-under 138 total. But to save her score, she had to roll in an 18-foot putt and a 25-foot chip on the final two holes of the Kona Country Club course.

Also at 138 was Marisa Baena, who picked up four strokes over the final 11 holes for a 68.

"I enjoy it very much," Sorenstam said of playing with Webb. "She's playing so well and I like to think I can feed off of that.

"She has so much confidence in her putting - hopefully, it will rub off on me. I think we played similarly today, so maybe we're feeding off each other."

Sorenstam's performance through the first two rounds proves it. In two days, her short game has enabled her to hit 31 greens. Her placements to the green were so precise that her longest birdie on Friday was from eight feet.

"I'm happy with the way I'm hitting the ball," she said. "It's fun to hit the ball consistently like that. I get up to my ball in the fairway and feel very confident with the yardage.

"I'm not seeing anything but a big green and where I need to hit it."

Although she was two strokes higher, Webb felt she played better in the second round.

"I missed quite a few short ones," she said. "I hit it close to the hole, but I wasn't always on the right side. I had a lot of putts down grain and cross grain, and it's basically a guessing game with those.

"I hit the ball better than I did yesterday."

The $800,000, 54-hole tournament is sponsored by Takefuji Corp., a consumer finance company in Japan.

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