Set link from within a module

I'm using an implementation of hook_user to create a custom node during user registration, and to set a few CCK fields. One field that I wanted was a User Reference to the newly registering user's profile. However, within a module trying something like

  // ...
  $node['field_user_reference'] = array(array('uid' => $node->uid ));
  // ...
  $node = node_submit($node);
  node_save($node);

doesn't set the user reference. As far as I know, this stems from CCK using the FormAPI and it only accepts inputs from its form.

However, I've had some success with the Link module. I can use

  // ...
  $node['field_newlink'] = array(	 // field_newlink is a Link module type
     array('url' => $lnk ),  
     array('title' => 'Some Dude'),		
     array('attributes' => 'N'),
  );
  // ...
  $node = node_submit($node);
  node_save($node);

and I get the link (but without the title, it shows say http://localhost/drupal/user/20 ).
I assume that this is a similar FormAPI situation.

If anyone has any ideas to help me to get the link title working, that'd be great.

Or, perhaps I've missed something and I don't need to use the Link module.
Is there a way to programatically set a CCK user reference?