By Ken Klavon and Alex Miceli

Newport, R.I. - Michelle Wie made chicken out of chicken salad Saturday, which just happened to save her round. On the par-4 seventh, Wie hooked her drive way left past a hazard and into swampy ground.

Instead of opting for relief from casual water, the teen sensation took an unplayable lie and the one-stroke penalty that went with it. She dropped, worrying that the ball would land in weed or mud patch, making her next shot even more difficult. It hit a grassy patch but rolled into the mud.

"I was not happy with it," said Wie, one shot off the lead entering Sunday. "It was like in the middle of the mud, there was a little weed behind my ball, and Greg [Johnston’s] face was priceless after he saw where I dropped the ball. He’s like, ‘That’s your drop?’"

Paula Creamer feels the brunt Saturday of a Newport Country Club course that has made it tough to score. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

An 8-iron in hand Wie took an awkward swing, releasing her right hand in the process as the low-liner made its way toward the green. It stopped 15 feet short of the flagstick, eliciting loud applause. She drained the putt to save par.

"Right after the ball went into the hole I kind of laughed at myself," she said. "It was pretty ridiculous."

Last Time

The last 36-hole finale occurred in 1990 at Atlanta Athletic Club, in Duluth, Ga.  Patty Sheehan had started strong with a 66-68 through the first 36 holes, and at 10 under par, had a six-shot lead over her closest pursuers heading into Sunday.

Sheehan, 33 at the time, extended her lead to 12 strokes early in the third round. It dropped to 11 early in the final round until disaster struck as she went 9 over par the final 33 holes. Defending champion Betsy King came from nine shots back, shooting 70-71 for a one-shot victory over Sheehan, who could only muster a 7-over-par 75-76 on the final day.

Sheehan would eventually win her first Women’s Open title two years later at Oakmont C.C. in Oakmont, Pa., and again in 1994 at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Mich.

Golf Mama

Pat Hurst might have been the only player not thinking about golf when she got home on Saturday night  A mother of two, the 37-year-old Hurst has more than her hands full with Jackson, 7, and 4-year-old daughter Reilly.

With her husband Jeff and kids with her this week, Hurst still likes to be part of the daily routine when she returns home from playing golf. That includes having dinner, baths for the kids and a story before they go to bed.

"I think it's much easier for me to go home and not think about golf," said Hurst after her even-par round Saturday.  "For me, it's great having the kids out here and when I do go home, I leave golf at the golf course, and I go home and I be mom.

"They don’t know what the U.S. Open is, which is a good thing. They know mom is playing golf and they want mom to win, but they don’t realize how hard it is to win. But they definitely want mom to win."

Hurst will have to make the transition from mom back to contender early Sunday morning to play maybe her most important 36 holes of her life.  Finding herself tied for the lead after two rounds with Annika Sorenstam, Hurst is in the rare position of leading a Women’s Open after two rounds.

Hurst’s record early on was not stellar in the Women’s Open, as she missed the cut her first four times. While she has only made the cut six times in 14 tries prior to this year, she did have her chances with a T-4 in 1998 at Blackwolf Run and a T-7 at the Orchards in 2004.

Hard Course

Newport Country Club continued to be a difficult test for the field in the second round on Saturday with only three players --Young Kim (69), Candie Kung (70) and Juli Inkster (70) -- recording under-par rounds.  That was compared to nine under-par rounds in Friday’s first round.

Twenty-five players recorded rounds of 80 or higher on Saturday versus 20 on Friday. 

"I thought they would be easier, but no," said Lorena Ochoa. "For some reason, I think the wind picked up earlier than I thought it would be. And on the back nine they have some tough pin placements.  I want to say pretty similar.  I think it was about the same."

Statistically the course was a little more receptive with a stroke average of 75.775 in the second round versus a 75.954 in the first round, but it was clear that the winds were stronger and came earlier then they did on Friday.

"It was very tricky getting the ball into the fairway," said Wie.  "It was very tricky because the winds were crossing.  There were one or two holes where it was like behind us.  The rest of the holes it was like into you or cross-wind, so it was obviously very tricky."

Wie also found the hole locations to be more difficult than in the first round, mostly tucked behind the little hills around the greens.

The most difficult holes in the first round were the par-4 ninth and the par-4 third. Both continued to take no prisoners with stroke averages of 4.795 and 4.596, respectively. They have been the two hardest holes of the first two days even with Becky Iverson’s eagle two from the fairway on the ninth in the afternoon.

With the course continuing to play hard and with the call for continuing wind, no lead seems safe.

"I think this course everybody can shoot like 80, everybody can shoot like even par," said Jeong Jang. "That's like eight strokes.  That's like three or four strokes - not a problem."