GOLF ROUNDUP : Henke Makes a Splash in the Memorial

A chilly, misty rain turned the first round of the Memorial tournament into an exercise of patience and putting.

“The rain made the golf course play easier--longer but easier,” Nolan Henke said Thursday after a seven-under-par 65 gave him a two-shot lead at the Jack Nicklaus Muirfield Village Golf Club.

“I played two practice rounds and did not make a birdie in 36 holes,” he said. “I could not make a putt from four feet--literally.

“Today they went in for some reason. I guess the rain helped. It slowed the greens so my power jabs only went four feet by the hole instead of six or seven.”

Mark Brooks was alone in second with a 67.

Mitch Voges, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion from Simi Valley, had an 87, highest of the day on the course on which he will defend his title in August.

“I’d say that’s the worst experience I’ve ever had in the game of golf,” Voges said.

Veterans Nancy Lopez and Ayako Okamoto and unheralded Katie Peterson-Parker shot four-under-par 67s to take the first-round lead at the McDonald’s Classic in Wilmington, Del.

Lopez, a 16-year pro and a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and Okamoto had five birdies and a bogey over the 6,389-yard, par-71 DuPont Country Club.

Parker, a struggling second-year pro not even listed among the top-100 money winners, shot 32-35 with four birdies.

Arizona State’s Phil Mickelson shot a second-round seven-under-par 65 to take a 12-shot lead in the NCAA Golf Championships, an event that has become Mickelson against the record book.

Coupled with his record-tying 63 in the opening round, he was at 16-under-par 128 after 36 holes on the 7,246-yard Championship Course at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque.

That broke the previous 36-hole best of 11-under shared by John Inman of North Carolina in 1984 and Tom Kite of Texas in 1972.

Inman holds the 54-hole record of 12 under.