Veteran Scranton tops leaderboard

Nancy Scranton shot a 6-under 66 Thursday and held a one-stroke lead over Stacy Prammanasudh after the opening round of the inaugural Franklin American Mortgage Championship.

A three-time winner, Scranton last won in 2000 when she ended a seven-year drought at the Subaru Memorial of Naples. She needed only 28 putts Thursday in a bogey-free round that was easily her best in a year that features five missed cuts with her best finish a tie for 44th.

"Low round in a while," Scranton said with a laugh.

Scranton's best finish in 2003 was a tie for 29th, and a tie for 10th was her best finish the year before. But she said she could feel herself improving this year even though her scores weren't showing the difference.

"It seemed like I was wasting a lot of shots. I hadn't been playing well the past couple years," she said. "You get used to making bogeys. They were happening too easily even when I should've been able to save par. I was patient today and obviously hit it well.

Wendy Ward, Pat Hurst, Candy Hanneman and Mi Hyun Kim had 68s. Wendy Doolan, Angela Stanford, Gloria Park and Lorie Kane were all at 69.

Rain delayed the start of the tournament for 30 minutes, but play never stopped after that at the 6,458-yard Legends Club course even though golfers were allowed to lift, clean and place in the wet conditions.

Scranton hit her driver and irons very well as she missed only two fairways and never left herself anything longer than a 10-footer for birdie.

She got her first birdie on the par-5 7th when she pitched a 9-iron from off the green that hit the pin, leaving her a 3-foot putt. She birdied No. 8 with a 7-iron from 151 yards to 4 feet behind the hole.

She put a 9-iron to 3 feet on No. 10 for birdie, then took advantage when the gusting winds calmed down in the late afternoon with three birdies over her final four holes.

Scranton hit a 5-iron to 10 feet on No. 15 for birdie, put a sand wedge from 95 yards to 4 feet of the hole on the par-4 17th and took sole possession of the lead after she laid up on the par-5 18th with a 4-iron from 220 yards, leaving her a sand wedge into 4 feet.

She said she drew off good memories of playing at this course, which hosted the Tour between 2000 and 2002. But she isn't making any predictions of future success.

"We'll just keep trying. I felt pretty good out there. Obviously, it has been a while," she said. "It's early. It's just Friday tomorrow. We'll see if we're still talking Saturday night."

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