The focus group

Michelle Wie has emphasized staying in the moment over the first two rounds of the LPGA Lotte Championship.

For Angela Stanford, maintaining a similar mind-set was a necessity during her tour of Ko Olina Golf Club on Thursday morning.

Both kept their focus while making stirring ascents up the leaderboard, with Stanford taking a one-stroke lead over Wie into Friday’s third round.

A supportive crowd that swelled as the day progressed helped spur Wie to a bogey-free 5-under-par 67 that left her at 7-under 137 after 36 holes.

As Wie made her move with three birdies on the front nine and two more on the back, Stanford was in the midst of a stunning run of her own.

Stanford began the day at even par and was more concerned with the ache in her forearm than the scoreboards stationed around the course. Even so, she strung together five straight birdies from the third through seventh holes, had three more from Nos. 11 to 14 and signed for her lowest score of the season at 8-under 64.

"Honestly I was just trying to make it through today," said Stanford, who tweaked an injury to her forearm during her stay in Hawaii, "and I think maybe that helped my mentality. It’s just one shot at a time."

Stanford, a Texan who won in Hawaii in 2009, and Wie, a Stanford grad from Honolulu, will play with Cristie Kerr in the 11:20 a.m. tee time at No. 1 on Friday.

The winds laid back a bit Thursday morning, leading to an abundance of under-par performances compared to Wednesday’s opening round, when only 13 of 144 players managed to finish in the red in gusty conditions.

"It was still windy but not crazy windy like it was (Wednesday) afternoon," Wie said after posting her 23rd under-par round of the year. "I’ll take 5 under par. I knew I could have made a couple more birdies out there on the last couple of holes, but I’ll take it."

Wie was tied for the lead at 7 under after back-to-back birdies on the par-5 13th and 14th holes. But Stanford, playing two groups behind, overtook her with her birdie on 13 — not that Stanford noticed the jump.

"At a place like this, with the wind blowing … you have so much on your plate just trying to figure out what shots to hit and whatever," Stanford said. "I found myself not looking at (the scoreboard) as much just because I’m working so hard on every shot."

Wie, likewise, has kept her focus trained on the shot at hand even as she pursues her third career title. She missed a 3-foot birdie putt on No. 17, yet managed to build on her opening-round 70 to put herself in contention.

"I’m just going to see how it is the next couple of days," Wie said. "Just kind of take it hole by hole, day by day, try not to look too forward. Just try to stay in the present really and not get ahead of myself."

Kerr joined the contenders with a 6-under 66 and enters Friday’s round tied for third. Kerr, Wie and Stanford all made it through their morning rounds without a bogey.

Inbee Park, the world’s top-ranked player; 18-year-old Hyo Joo Kim and seventh-ranked So Yeon Ryu joined Kerr at 6 under. Park birdied four of her last five holes to finish at 4-under 68.

Kim was tied with Wie at 7 under until she needed two swings to get out of a bunker on No. 17, leading to her second bogey of the day, and finished at 2 under 70.

Se Ri Pak, who was tied with Kim and Ryu for the lead at 4 under after the first round, shot 1 under on Thursday and is tied with Ha Na Jang three shots behind Stanford.