Early tee is very sweet

Palm trees swayed back and forth, with a strong desert wind causing them to sprinkle leaves, sticks and broken bark all over Mission Hills Country Club at Rancho Mirage.

Fans in the gallery often held on to their hats. Golfers continued dropping grass to assess the wind’s direction.

Kristy McPherson heard the prognosis of dry wind gusts expecting to blow Friday between 20 and 30 mph as early as Tuesday during her practice round. And the wind didn’t disappoint, as it caused golfers at the Kraft Nabisco Championship to wait between shots, alter the shots’ direction and accept that well-placed shots didn’t always spell success.

Luckily for McPherson, her tee time was at 8:25 a.m -- four hours before air currents kicked into high gear. She and Christina Kim, who also had an early tee time, ended the second round on top of the leaderboard at six-under-par 138. Kim shot a three-under 69 in the second round, with six birdies. McPherson had a 70 with four birdies.

“I was counting my blessings for a good tee time,” said McPherson, playing her third season on the LPGA tour. “That’s part of the game.”

“I was very fortunate with that draw,” said Kim, whose last victory was at the 2005 Tournament of Champions. “I just had my fingers crossed.”

Doug Brecht, the LPGA vice president of rules and competition, said he wouldn’t have suspended play unless there was “an exorbitant amount of movement of balls on the green due to wind conditions.”

He estimated between five and 10 balls filled that description, including a play involving Ji Young Oh’s double bogey at the 18th hole. He said Oh marked her ball, replaced it and then backed up from the ball. When the ball rolled into the water, she was called for a one-stroke penalty. But Oh elected to play the ball from the previous spot.

“When the player places her ball back in position, it’s in play,” Brecht said. “And if the wind subsequently blows it to a new position, that’s where the ball’s going to played from.”

Oh dropped from second (a 67 on Thursday) to an eight-way tie for 18th place after a 78. She wasn’t the only one to suffer from the wind that blew up to 40 mph.

First-round leader Brittany Lincicome fell two shots back of the leaders after a 74. And defending champion Lorena Ochoa trailed McPherson and Kim by eight strokes after bogeying four of her last eight holes for a second consecutive 73.

“It was close to being really, really good, but the way I finished, I am very disappointed,” Ochoa said. “I know they are playing tough, but I missed a few important chances.”

Angela Stanford, who added a 75 to her opening 67, wasn’t sure if play should have been stopped because of the conditions.

“I don’t really know what unplayable is,” Stanford said. “I think if balls are rolling off greens, it probably is unplayable. But until like the last three or four holes, it really started to feel like, “Hmmm, I don’t know if we should be out here.’ ”

Nonetheless, 70 players made the cut at eight-over 152 in the first major championship of the year, including Michelle Wie, who scraped by with three double bogeys for a nine-over 81.

“You just try and survive,” said Cristie Kerr, who did just that with a second-round score of 68, putting her one behind the leaders. “Your golf swing doesn’t matter. Putting doesn’t matter. You’ve just got to try and see what kind of shot is laid out for you, and then you’ve got to play the conditions.”

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mark.medina@latimes.com