19-year-old Australian Minjee Lee shot a second straight round of 69 to take a one-stroke lead over four players at the LPGA Lorena Ochoa International in New Mexico

The penultimate event of the LPGA season, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, continued at the Club de Golf Mexico.

Defending champion Christina Kim rebounded from an opening 73 with a bogey-free 66 to move into a share of second place at five under par.

Sei-Young Kim - no relation - also followed a 73 with a 66 to head into the weekend at five under. Kim, who won her third event of the year two weeks ago at the Blue Bay LPGA in China, had one of the shots of the day with her chip-in birdie on the par-three 14th.

Angela Stanford, coming off a playoff loss to Sun-Ju Ahn last week in Japan, shot a round of 70 to finish at five under par through 36 holes. The 37-year-old American won this event back in 2008 for one of her five career LPGA Tour titles.

Playing in the same group as Stanford were Suzann Pettersen and Inbee Park. Pettersen began the day a stroke behind Park for the lead but only managed a second round of 71 to close at four under par. The Norwegian entered this week after finishing in the top 10 in each of her last three tournaments.

Park followed her opening 68 with a rocky 71 that included an eagle, three birdies and four bogeys and left her tied for second with Stanford and the two Kims at five under. At number two in the world, the South Korean is the highest-ranked player in the field after Lydia Ko withdrew due to fatigue.

But out on her own 19 year-old Minjee Lee two-putted from 50 feet on the par-five 17th for the last of her six birdies to complete back to back 69s and move into sole possession of first place in the 36-player field at six-under par.