Sorenstam, Beth Daniel and Cristie Kerr were tied for the lead after two rounds of the LPGA Safeway Classic yesterday.

"I love being in contention. I love the challenge. This is what it's all about," said Sorenstam, the defending champion who is looking for her fifth win of the year.

They were tied at 9-under 135 and held a two-stroke lead.

Honolulu's Michelle Wie, the lone amateur in the 144-player field, shot ever-par 72 and was tied for 14th with four others at 141.

Wie, a 13-year-old Punahou School freshman, did not play as well as she did Friday, when she hit 14 greens in regulation and needed just 27 putts.

Yesterday, she hit 10 greens in regulation and required 30 putts. She had four birdies and four bogeys. One bogey came on the par-4 No. 1, but she regrouped and over one six-hole stretch (No. 5 through No. 10), she made four birdies and one bogey.

Wie made the turn in 1-under 35, and came home in 1-over 37.

Daniel had to be the unhappiest of the three leaders as her 1-over 73 was 11 strokes worse than her opening round.

Daniel's 62 on Friday tied the course record at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club, set by Sorenstam last year, and gave her a four-stroke lead.

"I didn't hit the ball nearly as well as I did yesterday, and I putted pretty poorly," Daniel said.

Sorenstam had a second-round 67 and Kerr had a 69.

Daniel, an LPGA Hall of Famer who became the tour's oldest winner in July at 46, didn't have a birdie, but she did eagle No. 7, a short par-5, hitting a 5-wood within 9 feet.

But on par-4 ninth, she hit her drive left and was forced to punch out from under a tree, then three-putted for a double bogey.

"It would have been nice to go out there and shoot a couple under, or 3 under, and perhaps pull away a little bit," Daniel said. "But I didn't do that. Instead, I let a lot more people have a chance to win."

Sorenstam didn't have a bogey.

"I thought 4 under was a good, solid round," she said. "I three-putted twice yesterday but I didn't do that today.

"I love it out here. This is where I belong. I love to win tournaments. I mean, that's what it's all about," she said.

Kerr was still fighting a cold but mixed five birdies with two bogeys in gaining a share of the lead.

"I'm a little worn out," she said. "I didn't hit the ball nearly as well as I did yesterday."

Kerr said she would pace herself today with two of the top players in women's golf.

"I take the tortoise and the hare approach. I've never been the hare. I've always been the tortoise, you know, following along, catching up," she said.

Everybody was fighting the wind by early afternoon, along with temperatures in the mid-90s and plenty of early fall debris on the greens, including leaves, pine cones and dried branches full of needles from the towering Douglas firs and other evergreens lining the fairways.

On No. 8, a par-3 nestled against a small lake, Daniel saw her putt jump nearly 6 inches in the air after it struck a whirling maple seed that landed right in her line as she started her birdie putt.

"It was a pretty tough day to play today, with the wind and all the stuff on the greens," Daniel said.

"With the big trees out there, it's hard to tell how much the wind is going to affect the ball. It's tough on a course like this that's very tight."