Lewis leads by 1 in Alabama

Mobile, AL – Stacy Lewis carded a five-under 67 Friday to take a one-shot lead over four players after two rounds of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.

Lewis, the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship winner, finished 36 holes at nine- under-par 135.

Lindsey Wright, one of four first-round co-leaders, managed a three-under 69 to slip into a share of second at minus-eight. She was joined there by Karin Sjodin (64), Sydnee Michaels (68) and So Yeon Ryu (67). Sjodin's 64 matched the course record on the Crossing Course at Magnolia Grove, which is part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

Karine Icher and Chella Choi posted matching rounds of seven-under 65. They climbed into a tie for sixth at seven-under-par 137 and were joined there by Brittany Lincicome (67), Sun Young Yoo (69) and Mariajo Uribe (69).

Lewis got off to a slow start as she birdied the par-five sixth. She parred the other eight holes on the front nine.

Things quickly picked up on the back nine. She birdied the 10th to move to six-under. After a pair of pars, Lewis birdied the par-five 13th.

Lewis stuffed her approach within two feet at the 15th and kicked that in for birdie. She two-putted for birdie on No. 16 and made it three in a row with a 20-foot birdie effort at the 17th.

That run gave Lewis the lead at 10-under. However, she stumbled to a bogey at the last to cut her lead to one.

"It's really just been boring golf. I haven't made a ton of putts or anything. I just hit a lot of shots close and taken advantage of the par-fives," Lewis explained. "It's been pretty relaxing and it's been fun."

Wright parred her first three holes before converting back-to-back birdie efforts at 13 and 14. She birdied the par-five 16th to get within one of the lead. However, Wright parred the final 11 holes to end there.

Sjodin got off to a fast start with three birdies in the first four holes. She parred the 14th, then birdied the next two holes to move to minus-five.

The Swede stumbled to a bogey on the 18th, but came back with birdies on two and three. Sjodin again made consecutive birdies from the sixth to move into a share of second.

"I think yesterday I felt really good about the way I was hitting the ball and my putter didn't behave very well," Sjodin said. "So today I just kept hitting it really good, actually even better than yesterday, and managed to make some putts, so it was a fun round."

Michaels birdied the first two holes to move to six-under. She ran off eight straight pars from the third before making her third birdie of the day at the 11th.

After faltering to a bogey on the 15th, Michaels came right back with birdies on 16 and 17 to get within one of the lead.

Ryu, the reigning U.S. Women's Open champ, birdied the 10th to get her round going. After four pars in row, she poured in three consecutive birdies from the 15th to jump to minus-seven.

The 21-year-old stumbled to a double-bogey on the third, but she fought back with birdies on the sixth and seventh. Ryu closed with a birdie on the ninth to share second.

"This golf course has really tricky greens and really big greens and [they're] really tough to putt, but I made a lot of birdie putts because I hit my iron shots really perfect," said Ryu. "I think the really big key was iron shots."

NOTES: Defending champion Maria Hjorth managed a one-under 71 and is tied for 56th at minus-one...The cut line fell at even-par 144 with 77 players moving on to the weekend...Among those missing the cut were Karen Stupples, Pat Hurst, Laura Davies, Christina Kim and Grace Park.