History Follows the Leader : LPGA: Lenore Rittenhouse took an uneasy lead at StoneRidge Thursday. She has been off to fast starts before but only once has she enjoyed a winning finish.

She birdied four of her last eight holes and shot a five-under-par 66, but by the time Lenore Rittenhouse stepped out of her golf cleats and into her thongs Thursday at StoneRidge, there was one thing on her mind.

“I’m going to go home, play with my dog and try and trick my mind into thinking tomorrow is the start of a new tournament,” she said.

Huh?

Rittenhouse was alone in first place after the opening day of the LPGA Red Robin Kyocera Inamori tournament, played in chilly winds and under an overcast sky. By the time the score sheets were filled, Rittenhouse had taken a one-stroke lead over Nancy Brown.

Brown stepped off the course with thoughts similar to Rittenhouse’s.

“I’m just going, ‘Oh my God, here I go again,”’ Brown said.

What?

The two were ahead of Michelle McGann, the youngest player on the tour at 20, and Laurie Rinker, who were tied for third with a three-under 68. Seven players were tied at two under.

Rittenhouse and Brown both were a little haunted, and with good reason. Both are playing against history--let alone the rest of the field--this weekend.

Rittenhouse had a start similar to Thursday’s last week at the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament in Rancho Mirage. She led after the first round with a five under 67--two strokes ahead of Betsy King. She went out the second day and bogeyed her way to a 78, and followed that with a 74 and 77. By the time King was accepting the winner’s check, Rittenhouse had plummeted into a tie for 40th.

That wasn’t the first time Rittenhouse disappeared from the leader board after the first day. And if she marches out today and disappears again, it won’t even be the first time she has done it at StoneRidge.

Two years ago, she shot a career-low 65 in the first round here. She went on to a 71, 72 and 77 in succeeding rounds and tied for 23rd.

She nearly shot a 65 Thursday but missed a six-foot putt on No. 9, which was her final hole since she started on No. 10. The ball rimmed the cup and came out, and Rittenhouse bent over in frustration. Then she signed her card and headed for the clubhouse.

“I’m a first-day player,” she said to nobody in particular.

If this were track, Rittenhouse would be known as the rabbit. If it was Indianapolis, Rittenhouse would be driving the pace car.

“I think in my career I have led a lot of tourneys after the first day but screwed up the next,” she said. “It’s not a choke to me, it’s like trying too hard. Choke is when you can’t bring yourself to do it. When I play bad, it’s like the whole round is mediocre.”

As for her missed putt, Rittenhouse said it was strategy that went awry.

“I wanted that bad,” she said. “I played it straight and it broke. I saw another player play it and it didn’t break.

“Can I play a one-day tournament?”

Rittenhouse, who won her only LPGA tournament championship in the 1983 United Virginia Bank tournament, was two under par after her first nine holes and bogeyed No. 1, her first after making the turn. But then she birdied the second, third, fifth and sixth holes.

Brown, 28, has never won an LPGA tournament but is coming off a very consistent year. She finished in the top 20 16 times in 1989, with five top-10 finishes.

Had she played well on the final day at StoneRidge last year, she may have had six top 10 finishes. She was tied for first after two rounds with a six-under-par 136. She led by herself after the third round by two strokes over eventual winner Patti Rizzo with a seven-under-par 206.

Then, she went out on the final day and shot a six-over-par 78 and fell into a tie for 17th.

“I was a little tight,” she said. “I just tried to get birdies, and I got a questionable ruling on the 10th hole, just when I felt like I was starting to get my composure.”

The problem was, Brown thought she should have gotten a drop from a bad lie, and officials wouldn’t allow it.

Her first round Thursday temporarily put that out of her mind.

“It’s nice to play well,” she said. “I haven’t had a lot of good first rounds this year. It’s nice to get some birdies early.”

Brown birdied three of her first nine holes and two of her last nine. She shot par or less on 17 holes. She had a bogey on the par-five sixth hole.

But she is still wary of what today will bring.

“I’m just going to try to go out and play like I did,” Brown said.

Rittenhouse, meanwhile, remembers her performance here two years ago--and her missed putt Thursday--more than a hole-in-one here last year. For the time being, at least.

“A lot of bad things happen to me here in San Diego,” she said.

LPGA Notes

Nancy Ramsbottom had a hole-in-one with a four-iron on hole No. 7 (166 yards), but still finished six-over at 77. Her hole-in-one came on the same hole Lenore Rittenhouse had hers last year. Rittenhouse used a five iron. . . . Betsy King, winner of last week’s Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament, was one of seven players tied at two-under. . . . Patti Rizzo, defending champion of the Red Robin Kyocera Inamori tournament, shot a one-over 72. Patty Sheehan, three-time winner of the event, also shot a 72. . . . Ayako Okamoto, two-time tournament winner, had a 71. . . . San Diegan watch: Heather Drew (Solana Beach) is tied for fifth with a two-under 69; Kathryn Young (Coronado) is tied for 28th with a 72; Dee Dee Lasker (San Diego) is tied for 65th at 74; Jane Thobois (Oceanside) and Meg Mallon (formerly of Ramona) are tied for 82nd at 75; Sharon Barrett (Spring Valley) is tied for 129th at 79. . . . Sally Little withdrew from the tournament to undergo knee surgery.