HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. (AP) – Michelle Wie had a revelation as she watched birdie putts keep falling into the cup Friday in the LPGA Championship, even though they didn’t belong to her.

“It was like, Oh, the ball can go in the hole,”‘ she said.

Wie eventually made enough of her own for a 4-under 68 that allowed her to keep pace with Dorothy Delasin and climb into the hunt at Bulle Rock Golf Club on a beautiful morning that yielded to the rumble of afternoon storms.

Delasin ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch to build a big lead, only to give most of it back by hooking her tee shot into the woods for a double bogey and chunking a chip out of an old divot that led to bogey on one of the easiest holes. She wound up with a 1-under 71 and was the clubhouse leader at 6-under 138.

Thunderstorms halted play for five hours, and half the field didn’t finish the second round when it was suspended by darkness. With a moon visible in darkening skies, Pat Hurst was at 8 under through 10 holes.

Annika Sorenstam, who joined Wie at a listless 71 in the first round, also was headed in the right direction. She made two birdies in eight holes and was at 3 under. The three-time defending champion will have to play 28 holes Saturday.

, weather permitting.

Wie still didn’t get much out of another superb game from the tee box and fairways. She was poised to get into the lead when she hit a knockdown 6-iron up the hill and into a stiff breeze into 10 feet, but missed the birdie putt. And she was 30 feet away, pin-high and just off the green on the par-5 eighth, until hitting a pedestrian chip and missing the 6-foot birdie.

She wound up at 5-under 139.

“I’m playing really well right now, and if I can just get things going, I think I can shoot really low out here,” said Wie, who has been under par in all six rounds at Bulle Rock dating to last year, when she was the runner-up.

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).

Kraft Nabisco champion Karrie Webb also loomed on the leaderboard. Webb holed out for eagle from 115 yards on the 16th hole and was poised to catch Delasin until catching a bad lie on the restart and taking bogey. She wound up with a 70 and was at 4-under 140, along with Se Ri Pak (69), who is slowly returning to form.

Most of the attention was with Wie, and the small gallery (about 400 people) got a bonus with Delasin.

Delasin goes about her business so quietly that when she made a detour to use the bathroom, no one realized she was gone until she nudged through a few fans to get back inside the ropes.

But no one could mistake the sight of a birdie putt disappearing into the cup, and that happened a lot. Even when she fanned a fairway metal toward a hazard, hit so poorly that it stopped short of the creek into thick rough, Delasin pitched softly to 15 feet and holed the birdie putt on the par-5 15th, starting a string of birdies.

She hit another fairway metal to 4 feet on the par-3 17th, made a 15-footer on the first hole after making the turn, stuffed a wedge into 5 feet at No. 2 and ended her run with a wedge to 12 feet behind the hole on the par-5 second.

“I was swinging it good and I was putting really well,” Delasin said. “I just put myself in contention for the weekend, and I want to keep the momentum up.”

Wie felt the same way.

The 16-year-old from Hawaii, who started her week by trying to qualify for the U.S. Open, looked as though she might struggle to make the cut late Thursday afternoon until finishing with three birdies over the final four holes.

“It was very important for my confidence that I made three birdies,” she said. “I was playing well yesterday, and the last four holes kind of showed it. And then it really helped today.”

Even so, there were moments of doubt.

Wie lipped out a 4-foot birdie putt on the 16th, and an 8-foot par save from the bunker stayed well to the right of the cup. She was six shots behind Delasin, but three straight birdies allowed her to keep pace. And it wasn’t long before Delasin faltered.

Delasin, who won the U.S. Junior Girls and the U.S. Women’s Amateur as a product of San Francisco municipal golf, hooked her tee shot so badly on the sixth that she could only punch out of the trees into the rough, then missed the green and took double bogey.

She laid up on the par-5 eighth, but found her ball in an old divot, tried to jab at it and came up woefully short of the green.

It was the first time Delasin played with Wie and she had no complaints, especially with the largest gallery at Bulle Rock.

“When I was winning, leading tournaments, the crowds were the same, so it wasn’t a big deal,” she said. “I like having people watch, whether they’re watching me or Michelle or anybody.”

No one watched much of anything in the afternoon as storms moved in.

AP-ES-06-09-06 2045EDT