Solo LPGA Lead for Han

Annika Sorenstam ran into familiar foes Thursday in the LPGA Championship -- a punishing DuPont Country Club and Wendy Ward.

All that mattered was the golf course, and Sorenstam had few complaints.

Her one-under 70 at Wilmington, Del., left her three strokes behind Hee-Won Han and two behind Ward, her nemesis from the Solheim Cup.

It still left Sorenstam in a tie for seventh and in a good frame of mind as she tries to capture the one major championship that has given her fits the last five years.

“That’s the best start I’ve had at this championship in a while,” Sorenstam said. “I’m just a slow starter.”

Han was anything but that on a windy day in Delaware, where the wet, thick rough put a premium on accuracy, with only six players breaking 70.

The 24-year-old Korean birdied two of her last three holes for a 67.

Han, the LPGA rookie of the year in 2001 despite starting the year without her tour card, didn’t know where Sorenstam was on the leaderboard, and she didn’t care.

“There’s still three days left,” she said.

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On a sunny but soggy morning that produced erratic rounds across the board, Robert Gamez shot a five-under 66 to take a one-shot lead over Rich Beem and Notah Begay in the first round of the Capital Open at Potomac, Md.

“It’s sloppy out there,” said Beem, thankful that the golfers were allowed to lift, clean and place on fairways waterlogged from nearly a month of steady rain. “Fortunately, we have ball in hand today. If that wouldn’t be the case, we would have had some shots that would have gone completely sideways -- they would be questioning our ability.”

Seven players, including former British Open champion Paul Lawrie, were two shots back at 68.

A string of pars was an unusual sight in a field peppered with big names preparing for next week’s U.S. Open at Olympia Fields. Few were more adventurous than Phil Mickelson, whose recent driver problems hit a new nadir when his tee shot struck a house some 60 yards out of bounds to the right at the short par-four 13th. He shot a 75.

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Bobby Wadkins, Mike San Filippo and John Jacobs shot two-under 68s to share the lead after the first round of the Senior PGA Championship at Newtown Square, Pa.

Seven other players, including defending champion Fuzzy Zoeller, were a stroke back in the first of five major championships on the Champions Tour season.

Former Master champion Craig Stadler, making his Champions Tour debut, was two off the lead after shooting an even-par 70 at soggy Aronimink Golf Club.