Lydia Ko has fired a three-under 69 to move up into a tie for third in the season-opening LPGA Tour tournament in Florida.
Ko's score took her to seven-under after 36 holes of the $US1.5 million ($A1.93 million) tournament at Ocala.
The 17-year-old world No.2 had four birdies and a bogey in her round to trail South Korean leader Ha Na Jang by five strokes.
Jang, a rookie on the tour, shot the day's best score of 65.
Second is American Stacey Lewis, the world No.3 carding a 70 to be four shots back.
With Ko was Azahara Munoz, as were Angela Stanford and Austin Ernst, but they had holes to finish.
"I was super rusty," said Ko, who played with her left thumb taped. "For a moment, I didn't even know if I would be able to play ... I had zero feel. It's kind of good that it's back to normal. I tried to work hard in the three weeks I had to prepare for this."
Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, likely made the cut. She birdied the 18th to get to 4-over, which is expected to be safe.
Woods is playing her first tournament with full-time status, although she got in on a sponsor's exemption because she didn't have enough priority to make the 120-player field.
"It's definitely important for me to play well this week and get started off good," Woods said.
Reigning US Women's Open champion Michelle Wie rebounded from even par in the first round with a 2-under 70 on Thursday.
"A lot of stupid mistakes," Wie said. "But at the same time, you know, I just felt like it's kind of good to get it out of the way. You make the mistakes and 'OK, I'm not going to do that next time.' ... Just stupid errors here and there, but I'm excited for the weekend."
Only half the field completed the second round, with play being suspended for the day because of darkness.
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