BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Duane Smith has had moments when he thought someone else might make a better caddie for his wife, Sarah Jane.
"Lots and lots of silly mistakes," he said.
Duane wasn't always good with yardages and suggesting the right club for Sarah Jane, his wife since 2009 and his friend since they were both aspiring 11-year-old golfers in Queensland, Australia.
During one of the LPGA events that Smith (formerly Kenyon) played, the 2006 Longs Drugs Challenge, there was a little problem on a downhill par 3. "I totally messed up the number," Duane said. "It was the first good shot she hit that day, and it went over the green, over the cart path and nearly hit a cow in this farm. We made double. Lots of stupid mistakes."
Duane could laugh about that memory Friday because there was plenty to smile about too as he had just accompanied Sarah Jane as she shot her second consecutive 67 at Shoal Creek to complete the storm-interrupted second round of the 73rd U.S. Women's Open at 10-under 134 and in the lead. It was a masterful and somewhat surprising 36 holes for Smith, 33, who has played 222 LPGA events without a victory and missed the cut in five of her six previous U.S. Women's Open appearances.
"I think I was definitely nervous but not like I've been in the past," Sarah Jane said Friday. "I was actually kind of happy with how I handled it a bit more today. I feel the nerves of playing bad are a lot harder to deal with than the nerves of playing good."
Smith has experienced more of the latter lately. Coming off her two most successful seasons -- 56th on the LPGA money list in 2016 and 50th last year -- she has missed the cut in seven of 13 events in 2018, including five straight recently. It is during difficult days that the temptation to have Duane go from sideman to spouse is strongest, but the couple has stuck to the arrangement.
"I think I would be really uncomfortable with somebody else because I feel I'd be cheating on him because for me it's an intimate kind of thing," Sarah Jane said. "There are times when we've struggled and when it's not going so great on the golf course and maybe I should have somebody else for just a week, just to freshen things up. But I think it would just be so unfamiliar that I wouldn't enjoy it. So I say behave."
Each praises the other's easygoing deameanor for the longevity of the husband-as-caddie plan.
"Duane's is probably one of the calmest people I know, and I don't get crazy out there."
According to Duane, "It would take a lot to ever see Sarah fist pump. I don't think you'll see it even if she wins. She's pretty cruisy. I've never seen her fist pump. I don't think she ever will. It's not in her nature."
Cruisy? "That I don't yell at him, maybe," Sarah Jane said. "My insides are constantly going faster than what the outside is. I try to take it pretty easy out there."
They have been a couple for 15 years, their first date set up by Duane's best friend to pair in a mixed foursomes tournament.
"We played 36 holes together," Duane said. "That was kind of the moment we knew we were going to be together."
Sarah Jane arrived at Shoal Creek not only with the comfortable company of Duane but having gone back to a familiar set of clubs that she used in 2017, and she received a pep talk from her instructor, Sean Foley, who once taught Tiger Woods.
Sarah Jane and Foley frequently trade videos of swings on the phone.
She saw him for a lesson prior to the Kingsmill Championship and felt good about her swing but missed her fifth straight cut.
"I sent him a text message Sunday and I said, 'I don't know what I'm doing,'" she said. "I told him I was playing well and it just wasn't coming together. I said, 'Is there a book or something I can read?' He called me on Monday. He was like, there is no book, you idiot. Keep showing up. It's going to turn around. He just kind of set me straight."
Karrie Webb, her fellow Queenslander and a two-time U.S. Women's Open champion, believes Smith has the tools to break through.
"I think her ball-striking is her strength, but she has the whole package," Webb said. "It's just a matter of her believing in herself and knowing that she can get it done."
Sarah Jane's wait for her first LPGA victory is lengthy, but far from the longest such quest. Carolyn Hill needed 359 starts to break through, Cindy Figg-Currier 313, Missie McGeorge and Leta Lindley 295 each.
"She's not too fussed about what anybody thinks other than family," Duane said of his wife's career. "We've got to travel the world together. It's been amazing. We struggled for the longest time, just sort of breaking even. Then over the last few years she's played really well. And she's built a life for us."
Sarah Jane can take heart in the fact that the U.S. Women's Open has frequently been the place golfers have won their first LPGA event, 18 players in all, including four in the last decade -- Inbee Park, So Yeo Ryu, In Gee Chun and Sung Hyun Park. In the first women's major of 2018, the ANA Inspiration, Pernilla Lindberg, a longtime friend of Sarah Jane's, broke throughfor her first LPGA win in her 250th career start.
"She's hitting it great, she's seeing the green really well. She's made some very tidy up and downs," Duane said of his wife's performance. "Everything's going really well. She seems comfortable out there. We'll see how the weekend goes. Obviously unfamiliar territory, but everything's good right now."
The Smiths returned to Mission Hills to watch Lindberg win the ANA, where darknes forced the playoff to go an extra day. "Monday morning we were blown away by how calm she looked," Duane said. "That was something very special. Sarah knows it would take a lot to copy that."
Whatever happens this weekend, they are in this together.