McKay extends lead to four shots

The U.S. Women's Open turned out to be battle, all right.

Mhairi McKay was unstoppable for 35 holes until she found herself in a fight to protect her seven-shot lead. A triple bogey on her final hole left her bruised, but still leading by a comfortable margin going into the weekend.

"There's trouble out there, and I'm just trying to play sensible shots and avoid the trouble as much as possible," McKay said Friday after a 1-under 70.

Michelle Wie and Danielle Ammaccapane battled each other, the kind of sniping rarely seen in this genteel game.

B.J. Wie claims Ammaccapane made contact with his daughter for walking in her line on the 14th green, and later berated the 13-year-old for various breaches of etiquette by the kid and her caddie-father.

"Please ask my dad. I don't want to talk about it," Wie said Friday after making the cut, although still 10 shots behind.

The bowl-shaped green on No. 8 battered Juli Inkster, a double bogey that cost her momentum but not another shot at winning the U.S. Women; and it incensed Annika Sörenstam, whose perfect shot turned into a bogey on her way to another 72.

They call it the toughest test of golf, but no one expected this.

"One hole can swing a whole tournament out here," Beth Daniel said.

At the end of a gorgeous day at Pumpkin Ridge, McKay was at 6-under 136 and had a four-shot lead over Inkster (71), Hillary Lunke (69) and Angela Stanford (70).

Donna Andrews had a 72, and at 1-under 141 was the only other player under par.

Sörenstam was at 144, but hardly concerned about her eight-stroke deficit.

"No lead is comfortable on the weekend on this course," Sörenstam said. "Nothing is easy here."

Still, the biggest news Friday was what happened Thursday.

B.J. Wie claims Ammaccapane either pushed or brushed up against his daughter on the 14th green of the first round, angry that the teen was walking in her line of sight.

Wie said Ammaccapane berated her in the scoring trailer after the first round.

"I was really surprised, because I guess I've always played with really nice people," Wie said after posting her second straight 73, allowing her to easily make the cut at 146.

Ammaccapane, who finished at 148 and made the cut, didn't want to talk about it.

"He's entitled to what he has to say," Ammaccapane said. "If he wants to bad mouth me, he can bad mouth me. But he'll get an earful from my father."

Meantime, Sörenstam had a few choice words for Witch Hollow, particularly after taking a bogey on the 379-yard eighth hole, where the pin was placed in a bowl and the green was so hard there was no chance of getting anything close.

Her 6-iron landed about 3 feet onto the green and wound up in the first cut of rough over a shelf. She started her birdie putt 15 feet to the right, watched it roll back to the cup and 15 feet beyond, almost to the fringe.

Sörenstam looked at her husband, David Esch, and made a slash gesture across her throat. Translation: Miss the green long and you're dead.

She told the rules officials she thought the hole was almost unplayable.

"You want us to miss the green," Sörenstam said she told the official.

Inkster knows the feeling, although she brought her troubles on herself. After birdies on three of the first five holes to momentarily take the lead at 5 under, Inkster went from a fairway bunker to a greenside bunker on No. 8, then blasted out long on the upper shelf, slapping her thigh in frustration.

She brought double bogey into the picture, and that's what she got.

On the other side of Pumpkin Ridge, McKay was up to her old tricks. After five straight birdies in the opening round, she ran the table again with five birdies over seven holes to build a lead that didn't seem possible.

Still, Inkster didn't feel like the Open was slipping away.

"I've been in enough of these to know that no lead is safe," Inkster said. "These next two days are going to be really tough. I'm happy where I'm at."

The cut was at 7-over par.

Seven of 14 teenagers in the field made the cut, led by 17-year-old Aree Song at 1-over 143. Among those sent packing was Karrie Webb (78-72), who missed the cut for the second straight year after winning back-to-back Opens.

No one could have guessed that McKay would give back so many shots so quickly, especially after being in complete control of her game for 35 holes.

Her tee shot not only found a fairway bunker, it plugged against the lip, leaving McKay no choice but to blast out as hard as she could and hope the ball found green grass. It did, but only barely, moving about 5 feet and onto a downslope of the rough.

From there, she punched into the left rough, then saw her pitch to the green run down the slope and into a collection area. She chipped out to 30 feet, and had to make a 6-footer just to save triple bogey.

"Any other hole, I wouldn't be in too much trouble there," she said. "No. 9 really wasn't that bad. It was just purely circumstance, if you look at everything."

Everyone was watching.

Lunke figured she would be a mile out of the lead, but as she stood on a podium and looked at a TV screen of McKay making triple bogey, Lunke sized up the situation.

"It looks a lot better now," she said. "I'm not happy to see her do that. She's a friend of mine. But, yeah, even better for me."

McKay figures to have the last say going into the weekend.

"In my mind, the U.S. Open is the premier event for women," she said. "And it's just very exciting. The last two days have been great. If it continues like this, that's great. And if it doesn't, it's been a great experience."

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