RANCHO MIRAGE — After she watched her lead in the Kraft Nabisco Championship blown around like a palm frond on one of the wildest days of weather in the event's 38-year history, Angela Stanford could only rue her unfortunate tee time Friday.

“I don't really know what unplayable is. I think if balls are rolling off greens, it probably is unplayable,” said Stanford, who lost the tournament lead in the afternoon by playing her final four holes in 5-over par in sustained winds of more than 30 mph. “Like the last four, three holes, it really started to feel like, ‘Hmmm, I don't know if we should be out here.'”

Stanford and the other players who teed off in the afternoon flight Friday could only play to survive the winds and hope they weren't blown completely out of contention in the LPGA's first major championship of the year.

If Stanford, Brittany Lincicome and other late starters were hurt by the wind, the beneficiaries were the players who teed off in the morning. Two of those players, Kristy McPherson and Christina Kim, took advantage of calmer conditions to move to the top of the leader board at 6-under 138 after 36 holes.

Kim managed a 3-under 69 on Friday, while McPherson shot 70 and said after her round she didn't expect to hold the lead at the end of the day.

“You know, sit and watch and worst-case scenario, I don't see being any more than three shots back,” McPherson. “If I do happen to go into the lead on Saturday, then that's even all the better.”

What McPherson hadn't figured on was just how strong the winds would get. The wind was so strong and was causing afternoon players so many problems that LPGA officials discussed the possibility of suspending play.

“Mostly what we were looking for was an exorbitant amount of movement of balls on the green due to wind situations,” said Doug Brecht, vice president of rules and competitions for the LPGA. “We did have some. At last count, it was somewhere between five and 10 balls that actually had some movement that was definitely attributable to the wind.”

One player, Ji Young Oh, had to take a one-shot penalty when her ball, resting on the green of the 18th hole, began to roll again and rolled into the lake in front of the putting surface.

The wind did more than cause 20 of the 96 players to shoot 80 or over. It divided the second round distinctly into those who played in the morning breezes and those who played in the afternoon gales. Eighteen of the 46 players teeing off between 8 and 9:30 a.m. matched or broke par-72 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Of the 49 players who teed off between noon and 1:30 p.m., none even matched par.

Overnight leader Brittany Lincicome managed a 74 and stayed close to the lead at 140, one shot behind Cristie Kerr. Kerr, another early starter, carded the day's best score, a 68.

While the wind in the afternoon dominated the second round, it was the play of McPherson and Kim early that pushed them into the lead. McPherson rallied from consecutive bogeys in the middle of her round to shoot her 70.

“I was mad. I was not too happy. I just hit two poor tee balls in a row,” McPherson said of her two bogeys on the second and third holes, her 11th and 12th holes of the day. “But after that, you know, I made a good five-footer for par on the next hole, No. 4, and you know, the birdie on No. 5 was huge. Just hit a good shot up there, and got my mindset back to where I was supposed to be.”

Kim jumped up the leader board with a sizzling front nine, then stayed in the lead as the winds began to strengthen.

“I was 4 under through nine and ecstatic about it. The wind started to pick up gradually as the day progressed,” Kim said. “Throughout the season so far, I know it's only been five events, I seem to get a lot of unlucky bounces. So things started to turn around over the last two days.”

The weather is expected to be better for today's third round, and players like Stanford and Lincicome can only be thankful that Friday's breezes didn't completely end their chances for a title this week.

“That's just the way it is. I mean, it's the luck of the draw,” Stanford said. “Last week, I went early/late, late/early (tee times for two days), and missed the wind. As the year goes on, it all balances out.

“Unfortunately this week, it's a major, and I got a bad draw,” she added.