Honolulu's Michelle Wie fired a 5-under-par 67 yesterday to move into contention after two rounds of the LPGA's Kia Classic at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Wie, a Punahou alum and current Stanford student, is at 5-under 139 and in a four-way tie for third place, two shots behind leader Hee Kyung Seo, who shot a bogey-free 67 for a 137 total.

In-Kyung Kim shot her second consecutive 69 and is one stroke back of Seo at 138, while Seon Hwa Lee (71), Vicki Hurst (68) and Song-Hee Kim (68) were tied with Wie.

Wie had birdies on the par-5 No. 3, par-4 No. 4 and par-4 No. 7 to make the turn at 3 under. She made consecutive birdies at the par-4 No. 10 and par-5 No. 11 before a bogey on the par-4 No. 17. She finished with a birdie on the par-5 No. 18.

Wie earned her elusive first win as a professional at the end of last season at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico.

"It's kind of a little bit of a confidence factor, like I know I've done it before so maybe I can do it again kind of thing," she said.

So far this year, Wie has finished in a tie for 22nd in Thailand and a tie for 15th in Singapore.

Wie said she had better shots with her irons yesterday.

"I definitely feel confident and comfortable," Wie said. "Hopefully tomorrow and the day after I can keep that going where I don't think about much and just play."

Seo is playing in her sixth LPGA tournament. She won 11 times on the KLPGA Tour the past two years. "If I get a win here, I can get a card for tournaments here, so that's very big," she said.

Japanese star Ai Miyazato, the first LPGA Tour player in 44 years to sweep the first two events of a season, continued to lag well behind. She followed her opening-round 74 with a 72 and was in a tie for 37th, nine back.

No LPGA player has won the first three tournaments in a season.

First-round leader Na On Min stumbled with a 74 to drop into a tie for seventh at 4 under 140.