GOLF LPGA AT POWAY : Rittenhouse Gets Another Rolling Start, Leads by 1 With a 66

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 shoes and into her thongs Thursday at StoneRidge in Poway, there was one thing on her mind.

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

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 scoresheets were filled, Rittenhouse had 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.

The two were ahead of Michelle McGann, the youngest player on the tour at 20, and Laurie Rinker, who were tied for third at 68. Seven players were tied at 69.

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

Rittenhouse had a start similar to last week’s 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 goes 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 score 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 stayed 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 was 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 but bogeyed No. 1. 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 16 times in the top 20 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 the lead 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 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 had three birdies in her first nine, two on the second. She shot par or under on 17 holes. She had a bogey on the par-five sixth hole.

She remains wary.

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

LPGA Notes:

Nancy Ramsbottom had a hole in one with a four-iron on No. 7 (166 yards), but finished at 77. . . . Betsy King, winner of last week’s Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament, was one of seven players at two-under. . . . Patti Rizzo, the tournament’s defending champion, shot a 72. Patty Sheehan, a three-time winner, also shot a 72. . . . Ayako Okamoto, two-time tournament winner, had a 71. . . . Sally Little withdrew to undergo knee surgery.