HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — Michelle Wie may not feel she owes an apology to anyone.

She at least owes thanks to Karen Davies.

At the end of broiling day at Bulle Rock that gave Suzann Pettersen a shot at major redemption and put Annika Sorenstam on the fast track to recovery, the only drama left was whether Wie would be allowed to return to the LPGA Championship.

It came down to the final shot in the final group yesterday, when Karen Davies made bogey that allowed Wie and 13 other players to make the cut.

But that was a small consolation.

A much bigger prize looms for those at the top of the leaderboard, starting with Pettersen, the feisty Norwegian who only 10 weeks ago surrendered a four-shot lead on the back nine of the Kraft Nabisco Championship with a bogey-double bogey-bogey stretch that allowed Morgan Pressel to become the LPGA's youngest major champion.

Pettersen was starting to cook under the late morning sun when she sizzled on the golf course, making three birdies over her last four holes for a 5-under-par 67 and a one-shot lead over seven-time major champion Karrie Webb.

"I forgot about that a long time ago," Pettersen said of her meltdown in the desert. "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 showed her resiliency already by winning the Michelob Ultra Open a month after the Nabisco, although the pressure figures to ratchet up a notch at Bulle Rock with a major title at stake.

Pettersen was at 8-under 136. Keeping the lead won't be easy with four major champions right behind her.

Webb was on the verge of winning the McDonald's LPGA Championship last year until she was beaten in a playoff by Se Ri Pak, whose hybrid 4-iron stopped inches from the cup on the first extra hole. The Australian is hitting the ball so well that she was slightly perturbed at only shooting a 69, after giving herself so many chances.

Another shot behind was former U.S. Women's Open champion Birdie Kim (71) and big-hitting Brittany Lincicome, who shot 69 and summed up the effect of a searing sun and no cloud cover. Walking up to the seventh tee, she plopped down in a plastic chair and sat there until it was her time to hit.

"I'm more tired now than I've ever been in my life," Lincicome said. "We were counting the holes down starting on the back, and that wasn't a good idea because they didn't seem like they were ever going to end."

The group at 5-under 139 included Pressel, who overcame a rugged start with five birdies over her last 10 holes for a 71; and Sorenstam, the 10-time major champion who would not have guessed she could get into contention so soon.

Sorenstam missed two months of competition with neck and back injuries, returning last week at her Ginn Tribute to tie for 36th. She remained somewhat of an afterthought until closing with two birdies 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. But she is known to run off birdies by the bundles, and the Mexican star was not about to lose hope this week.

"That's what I wanted to do today," she said. "Maybe tomorrow."

Wie continued to keep 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.

The recent Punahou School graduate showed plenty of fight yesterday, making consecutive birdies to give herself a chance at making the cut, although a bogey on the final hole gave her a 2-over 74, extending to 10 her streak of rounds without breaking par on the LPGA Tour.