A message for the folks back home: Se Ri Pak is feeling fine and in the mood to win.

Her summertime resurgence continued today as she moved into the first-round lead of the JAL Big Apple Classic with a 5-under 66.

"I want to get the trophy," she said. "I want it. ... Now I am working more hard than last year.

"My country-people keep asking what happens to her, how long do we have to wait, is she not practicing?" Pak said. "I tell them I want to win more than anything, but it's not that easy."

Pak edged ahead of a knot of players at the top of the leader board with making three birdies and an eagle over a six-hole stretch on the back nine.

She led Tina Barrett, Jane Geddes, Pearl Sinn, Rachel Hetherington and tour rookie Mi Hyun Kim, a Korean native lik Pak, by one stroke.

Some of the other hot golfers on tour were not far behind, including Lorie Kane (68), Karrie Webb (69), Laura Davies (70), Meg Mallon (70), Emilee Klein (70) and Juli Inkster (71).

Defending champion Annika Sorenstam, who set the tournament record last year with a 19-under 265, shot a 1-over 72 Thursday.

Pak broke out of a slump of sorts when she won at Atlantic City in late June, and two weeks later in the Jamie Farr at Toledo, Ohio. She said she has restored some balance to her life by practicing more and cutting back on interviews and personal appearances.

"My mind is all clear, like my body," she said. "Very light. ... Right now I'm much more happy, whether I win or not, I'm much more happy."

If anything, Pak said she is putting better now than in 1998, when she won four tournaments, including the U.S. Open.

On Thursday, she came to the back nine 1-under and made birdie putts of 12 feet on No. 10, 15 feet on No. 12 and 20 feet on No. 14.

On the par-5, 432-yard 15th, she hit driver and 6-iron to within 6 feet and made the putt for an eagle-3.

Pak gave one stroke back with a bogey on No. 16 after missing the green off the tee and failing to get up and down.

Barrett, who lost in a playoff to Sorenstam last week at St. Louis, said she was far from crushed by that defeat.

"I did tie for first, and I lost to a quality player with a birdie," she said. "So it's not like a pit in my stomach or anything."

She planned to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert Thursday night at the Meadowlands Arena.

Kim said she has been fighting a virus for two days and got only two hours sleep Wednesday. She planned to see a doctor Thursday afternoon, get some supper and go to bed.

Kim and Hetherington staged a spirited head-to-head duel for the early lead and at one point both were 5-under.

Hetherington dropped a stroke at the 222-yard par-3 seventh hole, her 16th of the day, when she was two clubs short off the tee, 20 feet long on her chip and wide on her putt.

Kim bogeyed her last hole of the day when she was in the fringe over the green in two and decided to putt with a 3-wood. The ball went past the cup by 8 feet and she missed the putt for par.

"I do it sometimes when I practice, but rarely in the game," Kim, through an interpreter, said of the 3-wood shot popularized by Tiger Woods. "I think because I was sick today, I lost my mind on the 18th hole and tried to do it."

Sinn and Geddes made identical late dashes up the leader board with eagles at No. 15 and birdies at Nos. 17 and 18.

AP