Mahan’s 62 gives him the lead

Hunter Mahan shot an eight-under-par 62 Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., before play was suspended with 39 golfers still on the course.

The round was one stroke off the course record, and it was Mahan’s sixth consecutive round in the 60s at the TPC at River Highlands.

“It’s one of the courses that you look at it and you feel comfortable,” said Mahan, who finished second in the tournament last year. “There’s not really a shot here that I worry about.”

Mahan shot a 31 on his first nine holes, made par at 10, then birdied his next four holes. A rain delay of more than an hour didn’t seem to faze him, as he came back out and birdied No. 17.

Chris DiMarco shot a 64 despite an ailing shoulder.

Five golfers finished at 65, including tour rookie Michael Sim, a 22-year-old from Australia.

When play was suspended for the rainy day about 7 p.m., 13 groups were still on the course.

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Cristie Kerr, comforted by a new putter as she battled a cold, opened with a six-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead in the storm-delayed Wegmans LPGA at Pittsford, N.Y.

“I’ll buy every single putter I ever play with if I can putt like that,” Kerr, a nine-time tour winner, said of her 26-putt round at the tree-lined Locust Hill course. “I feel like my game is coming around.”

Canada’s Alena Sharp, showing steady progress in her third year on tour, ran off seven birdies and two bogeys to shoot 67.

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The Arnold Palmer Classic Course at SilverRock Resort in La Quinta has been added to the rotation of venues used to host the five-day Bob Hope Classic.

SilverRock Resort’s addition was approved by the PGA Tour’s tournament policy board last week.

Bermuda Dunes will be omitted next year before returning to the rotation in 2009.