Michelle McGann was in so much pain last week that she thought of skipping the second round of the Mercury Titleholders Championship.

Today, feeling a lot better, she took a one-shot lead in the Sara Lee Classic after the second round.

McGann shot a 7-under-par 65 to take the lead over Annika Sorenstam heading into Sunday's final round at the 6,242-yard Hermitage Golf Course.

Last week, I didn't think I'd be able to play in the second round because I just couldn't get up enough strength to go out and play golf," McGann said. "Then to play well this week ... It's a crazy sport."

McGann, a seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour who is also a diabetic, has not felt well much of this year and has finished no higher than 25th. She recently began wearing a portable insulin pump 24 hours a day, and McGann says it has been a tremendous help.

"For 16 years I've had to wake up and take insulin shots. Now it's a whole new experience," said McGann, whose first tour victory came in the 1995 Sara Lee Classic.

In a tournament in which breaking records has become almost routine, McGann's two-day score of 16-under-par was the lowest 36-hole total in LPGA history. Judy Dickinson's previous mark of minus-15 in the S&H Golf Classic had stood since 1985.

Sorenstam set another record with a 61 Friday, but the Swede's 68 today found her one stroke off the pace at 15-under. Kris Tschetter was two strokes back of McGann's 128, while Meg Mallon was three shots off the pace. Michele Redman and Korean rookie Mi Hyun Kim were 10-under, six shots behind McGann.

McGann's round included six birdies on the first 11 holes and, after a bogey on the 14th, two more birdies down the stretch. McGann's brother, J.C., was her caddie.

Her parents, Bernadette and Bucky McGann, have also been with her this week and the relaxed golfer chatted with her father during the round.

"She has the game, and it's just a matter of time when she's going to be back," Sorenstam said of McGann. "It seems like she's back now."

The weather was sunny and in the 80s, with only an occasional breeze.

"It's perfect out there," Sorenstam said. "There's no wind, and the rain we had softened the course. You can really hit the ball up to the pin."

Karrie Webb, the LPGA Tour's leading money-winner, recovered from an opening-round 72 with a 6-under-par 66. She shot 4-under-par on the back nine, five better than she had Friday. Webb's playing partner, Italian Stefania Croce, carded the best round of her seven-year career, a 7-under- par 65.

Defending champion Barb Mucha, who was in danger of missing the cut after shooting 72 on Friday, fired a 3-under 69 and made the cut by one shot.

"You don't want to miss the cut when you're defending, but I sure was thinking of it the whole time out there," Mucha said.

The cut was 2-under-par 144, a record for the Sara Lee Classic.

AP