The U.S. Women’s Open is not meant to be fun.

It was a matter of survival last year at Cherry Hills, a test so demanding that only one player broke par in the final round and seven players didn’t break 80. One of those was Wie, who went into the final round in a three-way tie for the lead, started missing fairways and short putts and tumbled to an 82. Birdie Kim won by holing a 30-yard bunker shot on the last hole to finish at 3-over 287.

Newport figures to be just as stern.

It is a links-style course off Newport Harbor and can stretch to 6,616 yards, and features deep grass off the fairway and wind that makes the course play even longer.

Wie had to rely on another sponsor’s exemption after the final-round collapse last year sent her into a tie for 23rd. Playing her first Women’s Open as a pro, she appears to be closing in on her first victory since 2003. She had birdie putts on the final hole of this year’s first two majors that would have put her in a playoff, missing from 10 feet at the Kraft Nabisco and from 50 feet at the LPGA Championship.

In between, she made the cut against the men on the Asian Tour and tried to qualify for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. But her putting needs vast improvement, along with her wedge play.

“I was counting too much on the last moment, and I know what I have to work on for the next two weeks,” Wie said after the LPGA Championship. “I’m really excited for the U.S. Open.”

Women’s golf has delivered plenty of excitement in the first two majors.

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At the Kraft Nabisco, Webb holed a 116-yard wedge for eagle on the last hole to get into a playoff with Lorena Ochoa, then beat her with a birdie on the first extra hole. At the LPGA Championship, Se Ri Pak hit a 4-iron hybrid from 201 yards that stopped 2 inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie that beat Webb in a playoff.

Both had gone two years without winning. Both are Hall of Famers.

Sorenstam has gone only three months without a victory, so a win at the U.S. Women’s Open hardly would feel like a renaissance in her career. Considering how long it’s been since she won the Open, though, it might feel like one.