Soo-Yun Kang takes narrow advantage

Soo-Yun Kang is a big winner on the women's tour in her native Korea. Now, she's taking aim at LPGA Tour success.

Kang shot a 6-under 65 Thursday, riding a pinpoint 60-degree wedge to a series of short birdies and grabbing a one-shot lead in the Michelob Ultra Open.

"After a few holes, I got a feeling," said Kang, who's won numerous times in Korea but didn't commit to the LPGA Tour until last season.

Kang had birdie putts of 18 inches, 2 feet, 3½ feet and 6 inches, all after hitting her 60-degree wedge from in close. She also nearly holed a 7-iron on the par-3 fifth and made the 1-foot putt that remained.

Kang's late surge relegated Helen Alfredsson and Dorothy Delasin to second-best at 5-under 66.

Michelle Wie, playing in a tournament for the first time since she finished fourth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, routinely outdrove playing partners Clarissa Childs and Charlotta Sorenstam by a wide margin, but watched birdie putt after putt slide by in a 1-over 72.

Fellow teen sensation Aree Song, 18, opened with a 73.

Wie, 14, is playing under a sponsor's exemption.

"It wasn't a great round. It wasn't a terrible round. It was just an OK round, just kind of hacked your way through 18 holes," she said. "When I first started off today I didn't really feel any adrenaline like when I go into tournaments and I am in that tournament mode."

Alfredsson was happy to be back on the upswing less than a year after she saw clear signs that it was time to walk away from golf for a while.

Twice, in different tournaments, she picked up her ball on the green without marking it. Then, at the U.S. Women's Open last July, she was already 20 shots off the lead when she was disqualified, too.

Alfredsson went home and was "playing wife," she said.

"When vacuum cleaning, which is like the biggest drag in the whole world, becomes more fun that golf, you need to take a break," she said.

The layoff lasted about 2½ months, save for a few rounds in Europe, but she has returned with renewed focus, despite a slow start in her first five events this year.

She got on track Thursday with eight birdies and three bogeys in her 66. Delasin was more efficient with six birdies and one bogey.

Kim Saiki was two shots back, and a group of six was at 68.

Annika Sorenstam, the winner in two of four previous starts, was another shot back at 69, and defending champion Grace Park shot a 72.

Delasin, a four-time winner on tour, had six birdies and relied on advice from PGA buddy Notah Begay, who won the men's event here in 1999 and told her the most important thing was playing from the fairway.

"I hit a lot fairways, which is key out there," Delasin said. "The rough is not that high, but it's thick. I mean, it's going to get you."

Delasin's round was highlighted by a 40-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 sixth, a putt that was still moving fast when it disappeared.

"Good thing it hit the hole because it would have been off the green," she said, laughing. "I hit it pretty hard."

Saiki had the best round almost no one saw. She played in the first group off the 10th hole at 7:15 a.m., about an hour before Wie got started on the first hole and drew a crowd of several hundred fans with her.

Saiki's round included six birdies -- three in a row beginning at the par-3 13th -- and two bogeys in perfect weather along the James River

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