Michelle Wie is ‘having fun’ again and it shows on the LPGA’s Asia swing

Michelle Wie is a name golf fans have not seen at the top of LPGA Tour leaderboards for some time. After her first top-10 finish in nearly two years, at last week’s China event, though, the former teen phenom is right back in it heading to the weekend in Malaysia.

Wie, whose first-round 68 was her first sub-70 result since July (when she carded a 69 in the opener of the Marathon Classic and subsequently missed the cut), finished T10 at Hainan Island’s Blue Bay LPGA. The 2014 U.S. Women’s Open winner followed up her best showing since a T5 at the season-ending 2014 CME Group Tour Championship with an opening 66 on Thursday at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

A 70 on Friday kept the player with golf’s most perpendicular putting stance in the hunt for her first victory since that Women’s Open triumph and she credited a relaxed attitude inside the ropes for her solid performance.

“I just had fun out there today,” Wie, who played the first two rounds with third-year pro Marina Alex, said after Thursday’s 5-under. “I love playing with Marina. She’s a really good friend of mine and she was playing great today, and just kind of feeding off each other’s energy.’’

Wie, whose injury-plagued season includes 12 missed cuts in 23 starts, drew Anna Nordqvist and three-time 2016 tour winner Ha Na Jang for Saturday’s tee time. At 6-under for the week and just four shots back, Wie will be chasing 36-hole leader Amy Yang.

The 27-year-old, four-time tour winner plans to compete in the remaining three events of the year, then head to her native Hawaii for some R and R and come back strong to kick off 2017.

“Just going to play out the rest of the season and then I’m going to go back home to Hawaii, take some time off, and try to regroup for next year,” Wie said.