Early Birds Get Breaks at Oakmont : Hamlin, Arrington First to Start, First at Day’s Finish at 71

Normally, the first starting time is one of the most undesirable in a golf tournament.

It is usually barely light, it is cold and the dew is still on the greens.

Thursday, in the first round of the GNA/Glendale Federal tournament at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, the first tee time was 7:15 a.m. It was not quite through being dark, it was cold and it was miserable.

But, as it turned out, it was the best of times for Kristi Arrington, who started on the first hole, and Shelley Hamlin, who started on the 10th.

When a chilled rain raked Oakmont in mid-morning and eventually caused LPGA officials to halt play after half the field had completed 18 holes, Arrington and Hamlin were left sharing the lead at 71, one under par.

The 71 players who were still on the course when play was called at 1:42 p.m. will resume this morning where they left off. When they finish--weather permitting--the second round will start.

Had half the 142 starters not finished 18 holes, the entire round would have been played over.

Arrington, 22, is a tour rookie from El Paso, Tex., who is starting her seventh tournament. She missed the cut five of her first six starts.

Hamlin, 36, is a four-time winner of the California Amateur who has won only once in 15 years on the pro tour. That lone win was in 1978.

Thursday, though, on a water-logged course where 19 of 71 finishers failed to break 80, Arrington and Hamlin played as if they were at the top of the LPGA money list.

“I only had 27 putts and I had five one-putt greens on the back side,” Arrington said. “It started raining about the fifth hole, but we were lucky we finished before it started really pouring.

“I was steady the front side. I made nine straight pars. This course doesn’t seem so tough, but maybe I’d think differently if I shot 80.”

Arrington was named to the Collegiate All-American team her senior year at the University of New Mexico, an honor she calls the highlight of her career.

Whereas Arrington is at the dawn of her career, though, Hamlin is in the twilight of hers.

“I just want to see if I can do it (win) again,” Hamlin said. “I haven’t threatened for so long, all the way back to 1980. I just want to see if I still have it. I told some friends that if I didn’t do well on the West Coast swing that I would quit.

“I hate to quit, though. This is a great job--if you’re playing well.”

Crisp iron shots that kept her approaches around the hole helped keep the former Fresno golfer under par despite a balky driver.

“I hit my irons absolutely fabulously, and I hit my driver absolutely deleted,” Hamlin groaned. “This course is playing so much longer than last year, it’s a big advantage for the long hitters. I’m usually about average, but accurate. Today I was short and wild--the worst of both worlds.”

Hamlin won only $19,584 in 25 tournaments last year, and has won only $5,769 in three this year.

Nancy Rubin, a member of the other Oakmont course in Pittsburgh--site of six U.S. Opens--is also technically tied for the lead at one under par. Rubin, however, has played only four holes.

One shot behind the leaders, at par 72, are Sherri Turner, Cathy Morse, Laurie Rinker and Jane Geddes.

Other finishers included Kathy Whitworth at 73, JoAnne Carner and Donna Caponi at 75, two-time winner Mary Beth Zimmerman at 79 and Patty Sheehan, 1983 player of the year, at 80.

Many of the top names, such as defending champion Jan Stephenson, Amy Alcott, Hollis Stacy, Laura Baugh and Juli Inkster, were still on the course when play was halted.

Today’s second round-pairings were delayed 4 1/2 hours, with the first threesome going off at 11:45, or after everyone has completed the first round.

“If it doesn’t rain anymore, we hope to be caught up by Saturday night,” said LPGA official Kerry Haigh. “Then we could end up as planned on Sunday.”

That would make for an interesting situation for the groups of Sue Ertl, Jane Lock and Kathy Ahern, who will start the second round on No. 1 today, and Betsy Barrett, Kathy Hite and Sherri Steinhauer on No. 10. They are scheduled to tee off at 5:34 p.m.

If they get in one hole before it gets dark, they will be lucky. Which means, if they are to catch up--and they make the 36-hole cut--they will have to play 35 holes Saturday.