LPGA leader shows Wie how it’s done

Dorothy Delasin kept pouring in birdies Friday in the LPGA Championship, which turned out to be a lesson for more than one player.

Michelle Wie, playing in the same group, realized that putts really do drop into the cup every now and then. She started making some birdies of her own, kept pace with Delasin and wound up with a 4-under-par 68 to get back into the mix.

Karrie Webb saw a leaderboard with Delasin at 10 under par and didn’t blink.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned in the majors is to hang in there,” said Webb, who won the Kraft Nabisco Championship two months ago after starting the final round seven shots behind. “Funny things happen.”

Strange things happened, for sure.

Delasin hooked a tee shot into the woods and made double bogey. She chunked a wedge from a sodded divot and made bogey on one of the easiest holes at Bulle Rock in Havre De Grade, Md. She had to settle for a 1-under 71, which still made her the clubhouse leader at 6-under 138 by one shot over Wie and three others.

Then, blue skies quickly yielded to the rumble of thunder, causing a five-hour rain delay.

Annika Sorenstam played one hole right after lunch, and when she got to the second tee it was almost time for dinner.

The three-time defending champion made two birdies and was 3 under through eight holes when the second round was suspended by darkness.

It was to resume at 8 a.m., with 70 players unable to complete their round. The delay was so long that when Natalie Gulbis finished her round of 73 some 10 hours after she started, the last group was being announced on the first tee.

“Still too many holes left for the round to say too much about it,” Sorenstam said.

Nicole Castrale, who began this major with a career-best 64, stumbled to a 75 and joined Wie in the group at 139 with Mi Hyun Kim (71) and Shi Hyun Ahn (70).

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., finished her round, shooting a 74 for a 143 total. Rathdrum’s Tracy Hanson shot 75 and is at 148.

PGA Tour

The two-time Westchester Country Club course winner Vijay Singh shot a bogey-free 7-under 64 on for a share of the second-round lead with David Howell in the Barclays Classic at Harrison, N.Y., the final tour event before the U.S. Open next week at nearby Winged Foot.

Champions Tour

The first round of the Bank of America Championship was postponed for a day because of rain that made the Nashawtuc Country Club course in Concord, Mass., saturated and unplayable.

Play will instead start an hour earlier than originally scheduled today, with the goal of finishing at least 18 holes and possibly 36 holes Sunday.

Rankin has breast cancer

Judy Rankin, 61, a Hall of Famer and golf analyst with ABC Sports, has breast cancer and is undergoing treatment that will keep her out of work for an indefinite period.

Rankin was diagnosed about three weeks ago and has had two minor surgeries, with another to follow.

But she was given an optimistic outlook because the cancer was detected early.

“I’m not sick,” she said. “This cancer I have up to now is not an invasive cancer, but it would be at some point down the road. I think I have the best of a bad thing.”