Michelle Wie walked off the 11th green on Thursday as a crack of thunder overhead had everyone turning back to the nearest exit during the second round of the Lotte Championship. The Stanford and Punahou School graduate was fighting to make the cut when a heavy shower put everything on hold for a little more than an hour.

Wie, who won this event in 2014, but missed the cut last year after opening with an 80, had been playing a little better of late, despite battling a bad back. Her world ranking dipped to the 150 range a few months ago, but she is now back to No. 75 worldwide. At one point, Wie was No. 2 in the world.

The 27-year-old went as low as 2 under for the tournament before a bogey at the par-3 eighth offset the birdie at No. 5 to shoot an even-par 36 on the front nine to remain at 1 under for the event. It was clear early on that 1 under was the number you needed to play through to the final two rounds and Wie achieved it with nine more pars on the back, including a 4-footer for par that rattled around in the cup before settling in for good.

Fellow local golfer Brittany Yada closed her second LPGA event with a 4-over 76 for a two-day total of 5 over.

“It’s really good to be home,” the Waiakea graduate said. “I wish the outcome was a little better, but I played respectable for my debut but stuff to work on for sure.”

Yada plans to enter the Monday qualifier for the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in Irving, Texas. If that doesn’t pan out, she plans to fly to Atlanta for the Symetra Classic.

“It’s hard to plan,” she said. “Just going to have to fly wherever needed.”

Lee stays on track

Mi Hyung Lee routinely keeps count of her greens in regulation and the number of putts during her rounds. The first number perhaps wasn’t as sharp as she hoped, but her wedge play helped her putting total.

Lee finished after dark on Wednesday and was tied with Paula Creamer for the first-round lead at 6 under. She was 1 over through nine holes on Thursday but birdied three of her first four holes after the turn and finished at 8 under going into the weekend.

With stronger winds on Thursday, “I missed a lot of greens today,” Lee said, “but my chips very better than before, better than yesterday. I missed 8 greens but made 26 putts, so that’s great.”

Early start, strong finish

Brittany Altomare rolled an early start to her day into a 6-under-par 66 on Thursday.

Altomare was among the six players who were on the course when Wednesday’s rain-delayed round was suspended due to darkness. She finished off pars on the eighth and ninth holes, then posted seven birdies over her first 15 holes of the second round.

“I’ve done it before, but it’s a little awkward and slightly annoying, but it is what it is. You can’t control the weather.” Altomare said.

“I had a short little warm-up, then played two holes, then short warm-up again, had some breakfast. I guess it was a little warm-up to today’s round.”

Altomare, who missed the cut in her Lotte debut last year, was in the 18th fairway when Wednesday’s downpour hit, resulting in a 45-minute delay that pushed the late afternoon groups into the night.

“We looked and there was a river going down the thing. We said I think we’re gonna wait,” Altomare said.