Sei Young Kim’s work on reshaping her shots in the Ko Olina wind left the LPGA Tour rookie in fine shape going into the third round of the Lotte Championship.

Kim normally plays a draw, but went with a fade in preparation for the tournament and matched her opening-round score with a 5-under 67 on Thursday to move to 10 under for the tournament.

"I think overall my game was in pretty good shape today," Sei Young Kim said through an interpreter. "I worked on my fade shots because of the wind, and I think that has really worked out well for me today."

She’ll enter Friday’s play tied atop the leaderboard with first-round leader I.K. Kim, who followed up her opening-round 65 with a 69 on Thursday.

Inbee Park, the third-ranked player in the world, is again in contention three shots back at 7 under after third- and fourth-place finishes the past two years. Paula Creamer made the biggest move in Thursday’s afternoon wave and broke up the run of Korean flags at the top of the leaderboard as part of a four-player tie for fourth at 6 under.

Defending champion Michelle Wie is lurking at 5 under for the tournament after turning in a 3-under 69 Thursday morning.

Wie started her round on No. 10 and vaulted up the leaderboard with a blistering start highlighted by an eagle from 117 yards out on the par-4 15th hole.

She made the turn at 4 under for the day and 6 under for the tournament, two shots behind the leaders, before a wayward tee shot on No. 2 led to a momentum-stalling double bogey. But she birdied from the fringe on No. 6 and parred in from there to end her round in a tie for eighth. She’ll start Friday’s round at 11:41 a.m.

"I started off really hot. I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t keep that going on the back nine, just had a couple of bad breaks," Wie said. "But I just felt solid, same as yesterday. Just had to be patient in the wind. It was pretty gusty today. Sometimes it wouldn’t blow at all and sometimes it would blow."

Wie hit 15 greens in regulation on her way to her fifth round in the 60s this season. But she left some birdie opportunities on the greens and she’ll need to convert on a few more on Friday to close the gap on the leaders.

Sei Young Kim won the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic in February and her fade helped her hit 16 greens en route to dropping seven birdie putts. While sharp iron play pushed her up the leaderboard through two rounds, she got a hint at the tests awaiting the field on Friday.

"I’ve looked at the pin locations for the next two days. I think it’ll be very challenging," said Kim, who missed the cut in her Lotte debut last year.

Kim bogeyed her first hole of the day, got it back with a birdie on No. 11 and carded three more on her first nine holes. She made up for a bogey on No. 2 with a run of three consecutive birdies from the fifth through seventh holes to move double digits under par.

"You don’t try to beat the golf course or you don’t try to beat the wind," she said. "You just try to play along to see what you can do to get the best result."

Where Sei Young Kim arrived in Hawaii with a momentum of a fourth-place finish at the ANA Inspiration, the season’s first major, I.K. Kim tied for 51st two weeks ago and missed two cuts in five events this season.

She balanced practice with play during a stay in Las Vegas in the break leading into the Lotte Championship, focusing primarily on her putting.

"I felt like I was hitting the ball really well, having a lot of opportunities, but putting was letting me down a little bit," said Kim, who has three career wins, the most recent coming at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in 2010.

She took a conservative approach Thursday morning following her early evening finish on Wednesday.

"Couple pin positions today were very tricky, so I had to kind of play conservative on a few holes," Kim said. "But if you hit good shots you will have opportunities and make some birdies out there."

Creamer shot a second consecutive 69 and was tied with Park until a bogey on No. 18 dropped her back to 6 under with Chella Choi, Jenny Shin and Mirim Lee.

"I love playing the wind, I always have," Creamer said. "I have a pretty good record in Hawaii. I feel very comfortable just working the ball and putting the ball in the right spot and hopefully going into the weekend I’ll just continue being aggressive and take my pars when you need to, but try to capitalized a little bit more on the par 5s."

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