BY this time last year, Lorena Ochoa was on 13-under par, seven strokes clear of the field after two days of play at the HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah Country Club.

This time, in the US$2 million event's sophomore year, the top 38 players in the 78-woman field are within seven strokes of each other, with just three strokes separating the top 10.

World No. 1 Ochoa, who had strung four rounds in the 60s en route to the US$300,000 winner's cheque last year, began today's third round in a tie for 11th with eight others, after a dismal one-over 73 yesterday.

Americans Paula Creamer and Jane Park begin the day on six-under, one stroke ahead of Australia's Katherine Hull and South Korean Kim Mi Hyun.

At one point yesterday, there was a six-way tie for the lead on five-under -- consisting of Hull, Kim, Creamer, Park, the US' Angela Stanford and Japanese star Ai Miyazato.

But, some slipped away as Creamer and Park pulled away with a birdie each on the par-four 16th -- Park doing so in style, sending a wedge shot 97 yards to an inch of the pin for an easy tap-in birdie.

Stanford double-bogeyed the 18th, followed by a Miyazato bogey on the same hole.

Five-time Major winner Pak Se Ri, too, had been on five-under after three birdies and a bogey on the front nine, but double-bogeyed the 10th to fall to three-under. She was tied for fifth with three others.

"This golf course has a lot of undulating greens, doglegs right and left, and at the same time the wind is blowing left and right," said South Korea's Pak. "From hole one to hole 18, you really have to be 100 per cent focused."

Rain has made Tanah Merah's 6,547-yard Garden Course play longer and the greens slower. Players are finding it hard to sink birdies -- only 203 birdies and one eagle was sunk yesterday, compared to 219 birdies on the first day.

Rain fell on the course again this morning just before the 8.30am tee-off, so it certainly doesn't look like we'll be seeing more birides out here today.

One thing's for certain though -- we're in for an exciting finish. And don't even write off Ochoa or any other player for that matter.

For at the Ginn Tribute at South Carolina in June last year, South Korea's Lee Seon Hwa showed that even a nine-stroke deficit is not insurmountable.

Lee took advantage of a stunning collapse from overnight leader Sophie Gustafson and excellent play to finish the regulation 72 holes in joint top spot with Hall of Famer Karribe Webb.

In the playoff, she then saw Webb miss a short par putt as she made hers. Lee walked away with her third LPGA Tour title and one of the richest paydays, US$390,000, in women's golf.

Anything is possible, especially in this crazy game of golf.