GOLF ROUNDUP : Briles-Hinton Holds Women’s Open Lead

Steadfastly taking the low road Thursday, Jill Briles-Hinton scrambled her way to a four-under-par 66 and the first-round lead in the U.S. Women’s Open at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Briles-Hinton, a non-winner in nine seasons on the LPGA tour, kept her approach shots below the hole in recording the lowest score ever by a woman on the venerable Broadmoor East course.

Nancy Lopez and Chris Johnson had shot five-under-par 68s when the course played to par 73.

Play was suspended for 1 hour 17 minutes late in the day because of lightning with 36 players on the course. It was stopped again because of darkness, and 18 players must finish their first rounds today.

Briles-Hinton missed seven greens but saved par on six of those holes. She birdied five of her last 11 holes to take a one-stroke lead over four players, including 1981 Open champion Pat Bradley and emerging star Annika Sorenstam.

The key, Briles-Hinton said, was leaving her approach shots below the hole, even if that meant off the green.

“The greens are so fast,” she said. “If you’re on the wrong side of the hole, it’s very scary. I tried to stay low and below the hole so I could always putt uphill, and it worked.

“If I missed the green on the right side, I didn’t worry about it because I knew I would be chipping into [Cheyenne Mountain]. You could hit a perfect shot and four-putt. I missed quite a few greens, but that was a lot better than putting those downhill 40-footers.”

Joining Bradley and Sorenstam at 67 were Tania Abitbol and Jean Bartholomew.

Grouped at 68 were Val Skinner, Kris Tschetter, Julie Larsen, Tammie Green and Dawn Coe-Jones. Green overcame the distraction of a deer dashing in front of her as she prepared to hit her tee shot on the 12th hole. Coe-Jones had an even bigger distraction; she is six months pregnant.

Grace Park, a high school junior from Phoenix and the youngest entrant in the Open at 16, joined Helen Alfredsson and three-time Open titlist Hollis Stacy among those at 69. Defending champion Patty Sheehan and Meg Mallon, the 1991 winner, shot 70.

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Robin Freeman, who holds the dubious distinction of being the only two-time medalist at the PGA Tour Qualifying School, shot a six-under-par 65 to take a share of the first-round lead in the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic at Williamsburg, Va.

Dudley Hart and Richard Zokol also turned in 65s on the River Course of Kingsmill Golf Club, and they were one shot better than Kirk Triplett, Jim Carter and former UCLA teammates Scott McCarron and Duffy Waldorf.

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Wayne Riley shot a three-under-par 69 to take a share of the lead of the $1.04-million Scottish Open, and 19-year-old amateur Tiger Woods stayed in contention with four birdies in a row at Carnoustie.

Riley’s nine-under 135 total ties him with Colin Montgomerie, who shot a 71. They are one stroke ahead of Katsuyoshi Tomori, who had the day’s best round of 66.

Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, who was at 151, and Seve Ballesteros, who had rounds of 81 and 80, were the top players not to make the cut.

Woods birdied the 11th through 14th holes to finish with 71 for a four-under total of 140.