WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The two best players in women's golf played together and seemed to push each other to keep doing better, the day ending with both high on the leaderboard.

For Michelle Wie, it was another rare day of gaining experience, a 4-over-par 75 leaving her more in danger of missing Friday's cut than making Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa or most anyone else in the Michelob Ultra Open sweat the presence of the one-time preteen phenom.

And it wasn't that the River Course at Kingsmill wasn't there for the taking. Mhairi McKay tied the course record with an 8-under 63, Sorenstam and Sun Young Yoo had 64s and Ochoa and Diane D'Alessio, who played with Wie, shot 65 on a soggy day with intermittent drizzle.

In all, 90 of 144 players were at par or better. Six others were three off the pace, and eight more were four behind. Wie was already 12 shots back, in a tie for 126th, and probably should have felt fortunate to be there because several bounces went decidedly her way:

— She pulled her drive on the par-5 seventh, and only a tree kept it from flying out of bounds.

— She hit into the greenside rough on the par-3 13th and it kicked onto the green.

— She hit her drive way right on the wide open par-4 14th, and another tree knocked it down.

Still, she took the half-full approach to her first round on tour since the Fields Open in Hawaii, where she made the cut but finished in a tie for last, 20 strokes off the pace.

"I felt like I was hitting the ball pretty well," she said. "There were a couple of shots here and there where I felt like if I play a couple more tournaments or had more experience under my belt, it would come out a little differently. But like I said, I'm hitting the ball solid. I just have to work out a couple of other things for tomorrow."

Fresh off a month working with coach David Ledbetter, Wie said she was encouraged.

"I just think it's going to come around anytime," she insisted. "I'm not far off."

She'll have to get there fast to stick around for the weekend, especially with top-ranked Ochoa and No. 2 Sorenstam off to fast starts in a tournament neither has won.

Sorenstam, coming off a playoff victory over Paula Creamer two weeks ago in the Stanford International Pro-Am, had seven birdies in a bogey-free round.

"I haven't shot this low all year, so it feels good to get off to a good start here, a place that I really like a lot and haven't played so well," she said. "Very solid, lots of fairways, lots of greens. Just good golf."

Sorenstam played with Ochoa and defending champion Suzann Pettersen (71) and was 4 under through eight holes, the kind of start that she hopes will lead to big things.

"I think my game fits this course," she said of the 6,315-yard layout, where her best finish is sixth. "Why I haven't played well here in the past, I'm not really sure."

Ochoa, a three-time runner-up here, had an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys in her first event since her winning streak was halted at four last weekend. She moved into a tie for third with D'Alessio with three consecutive birdies on the back nine.

The soft greens made scoring necessary — "You got to take advantage of that," she said — and playing with Sorenstam only highlighted the need to attack flags.

"It keeps you motivated to play good and make birdies," Ochoa said.

McKay avoided trouble all day in a bogey-free 63, and turned her only errant tee shot of the day into a birdie. It came at the par-4 14th, where her drive came to rest under a tree, but she hit a punch 6-iron that skidded onto the green, 20 feet from the cup.

She made that putt, and several others, thanks to a tip from her brother, who caddied for her last weekend at the Scottish Open and thought she was standing up too soon on putts.

"Definitely helped me," she said.

Yoo played in the afternoon and closed with four consecutive birdies.

"I didn't realize I could be like this," she said, "so I really feel good."

D'Alessio had the shot of the day — a 7-iron from 134 yards on the par-4 16th that landed about 5 feet short of the hole, hopped and rolled in.

"My caddie yelled, 'Go in' and it did," she said. "She needs to do that more often."

Besides the eagle, D'Alessio had five birdies and two bogeys.

While she was celebrating the shot, Wie was walking toward the green, where she followed a pulled drive with a shot that went far right into greenside rough. From there, she chipped across the green onto the fringe, pounding her wedge in frustration, and then two-putted.