A black number after the first two rounds of the LPGA Lotte Championship dashed Michelle Wie’s hopes of winning once more at Ko Olina Golf Club.

You wouldn’t know it watching the Punahou alumna leisurely stroll the grounds during her third round on Friday, displaying a care-free attitude that was rewarded with her first round of the week in the 60s.

Wie, who won for the fifth time in her career last month in Singapore, made five birdies on her way to a 3-under 69 to move up to 2 under for the tournament in a tie for 18th place as one of 27 golfers under par.

Slotted 13th in the Women’s World Golf Rankings, ahead of third-round leader Brooke Henderson, Wie ended her day seven shots behind the 20-year-old Canadian, who nearly ran away with the tournament before struggling down the stretch to inject some drama into today’s final 18 holes.

Wie, who looked and sounded comfortable and at ease with her game in her yearly return home to the islands, talked about her round like it was a practice day with buddies and not moving day in a professional event.

“I’m just having fun with it,” Wie said. “I think I’m treating golf more like a game. Trying not to grind as much as treat it like a game … just having a lot of fun playing.”

Wie hit the most fairways and greens in a round this week and again finished with fewer than 30 putts for the day, continuing her strong play on the greens.

She entered the tournament ranked 12th on tour with 29.04 putts per round.

Averaging 280 yards off the tee in the round, the long-hitting Wie shockingly found herself using a wood hitting to the green on the par-4 18th — a hole nobody could birdie during the first round.

She stuck her shot roughly 12 feet from the hole and finished off the birdie putt to complete the 69.

“The wind changed all of a sudden on 11, and it was straight into the wind on 18,” Wie said. “Decided to hit a little 11-wood and worked out nicely.”

Wie started the day in the black but hit the turn at 2 under after birdies on both par-3s on the front and another on the par-5 fifth.

Needing to gain a few more shots to really make a run up the leaderboard, Wie made up for her first bogey of the round on 12 with a birdie at 13, but dropped another shot on 15 before closing strong.

“Tried to just judge the distance out of the rough a lot better and stay patient today. Putting a lot better today, too,” Wie said. “(The round) started off with normal tradewinds, and all of a sudden I made the turn and it was straight downwind and it was, like, really weird.”

Wie has been plagued by injuries to the neck, wrist and leg in the past, and her right leg was heavily taped up on Friday, but she insisted it was nothing.

“Everything is fine,” she said. “I don’t know why my tape jobs just get really aggressive really quickly, but I’m feeling good.”

And it’s as evident as ever.