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Pettersen forgets collapse to take lead at Bulle Rock

Suzann Pettersen appears to have put a major collapse behind her.

Ten weeks after she self-destructed down the stretch in Kraft Nabisco Championship, Pettersen birdied three of her last four holes on Friday just in time to escape the heat, posting a five-under 67 to take a one-shot lead over Karrie Webb in the LPGA Championship.

"I forgot about that a long time ago," Pettersen said of her collapse in California, where she played her last four holes in four over to finish one shot behind Morgan Pressel.

"I didn't look at it as a collapse. I looked at it as what I can do different, so I do stronger when I get to the next tournament and I'm in the same situation," she said.

All that mattered at broiling Bulle Rock was finding some shade.

With temperatures in the 30s and no cloud cover, players who teed off in the afternoon carried umbrellas to shield the sun and guzzled water to keep hydrated.

Pettersen teed off early and was at eight-under 136 before the course started to cook.

"I was lucky being on this side of the draw," the Norwegian said. "Already on the front I was heating up pretty bad, and on the back nine, there are some places that just seem to be sheltered from the breeze. So it's boiling."

Michelle Wie also played in the morning. By the end of the day, the 17-year-old from Hawaii was lucky to still be in the tournament.

She bogeyed her last hole for a 74 that left her at three-over 147, and it looked as though she would miss the cut by one shot. Wie probably owes thanks to Karen Davies.

Playing in the final group, Davies bogeyed the last hole to allow 14 other players -- Wie included -- to tie for 70th and make the cut.

Wie was 11 shots behind.

Webb continues to hit the ball so well that she was slightly disgusted with her 69.

Big-hitting Brittany Lincicome shot 69 and was two shots behind with former US Women's Open champion Birdie Kim (71). The group at five-under 139 included Pressel (71) and Annika Sorenstam, who birdied her last two holes for a 69.

Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player but without a major, hurt herself with a double bogey when she went long on the fourth green and wound up with a second straight 71 to finish at 142, six shots behind.

Wie continued to keep her driver in the bag and conceded that her chances of winning this week were unrealistic on a course where she is playing with more caution than abandon. Even so, she had few complaints.

"This was 5,000 times better than last week," said Wie, and that was before she knew she was playing on the weekend.
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