Saturday August 27, 2011, 02:32 AM

Japan's Ai Miyazato fired a four-under par 68 to share the lead with American Angela Stanford after the second round of the LPGA Canadian Women's Open.

Miyazato, who opened with a bogey-free 65 a day earlier, on Friday stood with Stanford on 11-under par 133 after 36 holes in the $2.25 million tournament at Hillsdale Golf Club, two strokes ahead of South Korean Song-Hee Kim.

The Japanese star, who won five titles last year but only captured her first of this season last month in France, started slow but took a boost of confidence after telling herself to relax.

"I had a really good round but in the beginning I was a little bit too tough on myself. So it was a little hard to make a gain," Miyazato said.

"But I realized I'm being too tough on myself. I just had a nice self talk and I got really patient. So that's why I got a really good bounce back towards the end, so I'm very happy."

Miyazato birdied the par-5 fifth, added back-to-back birdies on the par-4 seventh and par-3 eighth and enjoyed another set of consecutive birdies at the par-5 14th and par-3 15th before her first bogey of the week at the par-4 16th.

"I had so many birdie opportunities, but I got also like really good up-and-down close to the pin like five times," Miyazato said.

"I played really good. I feel like I holed a lot of putts. I just have to look at the positives."

Stanford, who fired seven birdies against a sole birdie, joked after opening with a 67 that her putter had finally arrived at a tournament. She said Friday that the relationship between her and her putter is still a work in progress.

"I can't fall in love with him just yet," Stanford said. "We're on speaking terms, though, so that's good."

A total of 78 players made the cut on 143, a low level matching the record for Canada's national championshup event set in 1998.

Sharing fourth on 136, a stroke behind Kim, were Swedes Sophie Gustafson and Pernilla Lindberg, Britain's Becky Morgan, South Korean Seon Hwa Lee and US players Gerina Piller, Brittany Lincicome, Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie, the defending champion.

"It's what I wanted for the weekend," Wie said. "I'm motivated to go out and try to get this thing done. I'll do like I've done the last two days - stay patient and try to make a lot more birdies."

© 2011 AFP/sid