Ochoa regains finishing touch

The wrong way to play the 18th hole at Bighorn Golf Club: Knock your drive way right and into a bush, as Lorena Ochoa did in the first round.

The right way to play the 18th hole: Hit it straight, as Ochoa did in the second round.

“It didn’t even come into my mind what happened yesterday,” said Ochoa, who had cut her right thumb while slicing green beans and wore a bandage.

Out on the golf course, Ochoa proved once again that she can cut it. Her method for steering her way around Bighorn was to birdie all the par fives, stay away from bogeys, shoot a five-under-par 67 and take the second-round lead Friday at Palm Desert in the $1-million Samsung World Championship.

If it looked simple, it also felt that way, Ochoa said.

“It was easy, one of those days,” she said after compiling a two-round total of nine-under 135.

Angela Park and Paula Creamer, who shared the first-round lead, are one shot behind Ochoa after their three-under 69s, along with Angela Stanford, whose 66 matched Cristie Kerr for the low round of the day.

Creamer made par on the last six holes and said she probably should have gone lower.

“I don’t feel like I hit the ball as well as I did yesterday,” she said. “I missed a lot of opportunities.”

Fifth last year and second in 2005, Creamer had a chance to catch Ochoa but couldn’t get a long birdie putt to drop at the 18th. Park had the same opportunity, but pushed a 15-footer that would have brought her even with Ochoa.

“I kept pretty steady,” Park said.

No one has been steadier than Ochoa. Except for her double bogey at the closing hole Thursday, Ochoa has played the other 35 holes without a mistake.

She said she was glad to have a lead, no matter its size.

“It was important today to play good, to have a solid round,” she said. “It’s where I like to be.”

There are nine players within five shots of Ochoa at the midway point, and Park said there’s a long way to go.

“A lot of golf left,” she said. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Maybe, but Ochoa has been fairly reliable. With six victories, Ochoa has matched last year’s total, and she has three more opportunities to get more -- the Korea Championship in Seoul, the Mitchell Co. tournament in Mobile, Ala., and the ADT Championship at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Ochoa said two of the par-five holes are reachable in two, and that’s what she did Friday, twice putting for eagles.

At the 473-yard third, she hit a three-wood from 230 yards and two-putted from 30 feet for a birdie. She also reached the 470-yard seventh, again with a three-wood from 230 yards, and two-putted from 10 feet for birdie.

“That’s the key to this golf course,” she said.

Ochoa also birdied the par-five 12th from just short of the green, and the par-five 15th, which she played as a three-shot hole. Her wedge from 95 yards left her a 10-foot birdie putt.

Ochoa’s other birdie was at the 354-yard 14th, where her wedge from 105 yards stopped six feet from the cup.

Michelle Wie wasn’t as fortunate. Wie birdied the last hole to finish her second consecutive 79 and remained in last place. She’s one shot behind Bettina Hauert, who made a 10 on the par-five seventh on her way to an 81.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com