LPGA Birdies help Sorenstam rebound

The best female golfer trails Cristie Kerr by seven shots.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Annika Sorenstam's cut streak is safe.
Now, about that winning streak.
With four birdies in a five-hole span Saturday, Sorenstam rebounded from a rough start at the Michelob Ultra Open and got herself back into contention for a record sixth straight victory. At 1-over, she's seven shots behind leader Cristie Kerr.
There are 36 holes to play, though, and nobody rallies like Sorenstam.
"I just needed a few birdies to get me going," said Sorenstam, whose 4-under 67 was low score of the day. "A few more would have been great to get on the leaderboard and tell them I'm still here."
Asked if she really thought the other players don't know she's lurking, Sorenstam smiled.
"I think they know I'm here," she said. "I just don't know how badly they know I'm here."
At the top
They'll soon find out. Kerr (68) topped the leaderboard at 6-under. Michele Redman (69) and A.J. Eathorne (69) were two strokes back, and Shi Hyun Ahn and Nicole Perrot are at 3-under.
"I'm still optimistic," Sorenstam said. "But I need to see some really low scores."
She's done it before. Often.
She's come from behind in 19 of her 59 victories, including two of her three wins this year.
And she might be the player best-equipped, mentally and physically, to handle playing 36 holes in one day. The last time she played 36 holes on a Sunday, at last year's LPGA Championship, she left with her seventh major title.
"I am in pretty good shape," she said. "I don't think that is going to be something I have to worry about."
Kerr, on the other hand, made it sound about as appealing as a root canal. She acknowledged getting run down Saturday -- she made two bogeys in her last five holes -- and that was only playing 18.
"It's not only a test of your physical game, but of your mental game," she said. "Anything can happen, especially with that much time."
Streak at stake
Sorenstam has been unbeatable over the last six months, winning five straight tournaments to tie Nancy Lopez's long-standing record.
But her chances of making it six in a row were looking a little iffy after she opened with a 5-over 76 on Thursday. Forget history. She had work to do just to make her 47th straight cut.
But Sorenstam's putter wouldn't cooperate on the front nine Saturday. She even asked caddie Terry McNamara to read the greens for her, but the ball still wouldn't go in the cup.
Putting woes
Some of her putts ran long, like the 6-footer on No. 7 that burned the edge of the cup and rolled a foot by, drawing a groan from the crowd. Others stopped short. She had an 18-foot birdie chance on No. 6, but it stopped 2 feet short of the hole and wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she waved her putter at it.
"I was getting a little impatient," she said. "Then my caddie, Terry, said, 'Save your energy. You can still do this. You're going to need it tomorrow.' I was just trying to stay optimistic and keep grinding, hoping something will roll in. And it did."
When a 15-footer swirled into the cup on 11 for her first birdie of the day, Sorenstam was off.
"After that, it was just going my way," she said. "I was dialed in, and I didn't know what happened. I felt really good."
She made a 4-footer on 12, trading fist bumps with McNamara as the gallery of several thousand that followed her the entire day cheered. Her second shot on the par-4 14th looked as if it might go in, but it bounced a few feet by and she made it an easy birdie. On 15, she two-putted from 40 feet, just missing an eagle.
"I got great momentum," she said, "and that was really what I was looking for."
And now she's looking for something else.
As she walked off the 18th green, a fan yelled, "Good luck, Annika! We're pulling for six!" Sorenstam looked up, and smiled.