A 39-year-old mother of two is leading the du Maurier Classic.

No, not Juli Inkster.

Patti Rizzo isn't trying to win her third straight major championship, nor is she one point away from getting into the Hall of Fame. She hasn't won on the LPGA Tour in 10 years, and she really doesn't expect that to change at Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club.

Rizzo, who said she will retire after this year because she is tired of taking her family on the road to "watch me play bad golf," almost withdrew from the du Maurier when she went to the wrong airport in south Florida and missed her flight, and her clubs didn't arrive for a Monday outing.

She played only one practice round at Priddis Greens, but looked like she owned the course today.

"I wish I could do what I did for four days," Rizzo said after a 5-under 67 left her tied for the lead with Rosie Jones. "I just don't have that confidence."

Confidence seems to be the sole property of the other mom who has been carting two daughters around the LPGA Tour. Juli Inkster, who won the U.S. Open and LPGA Championship during a 21-day span in June, played the first three holes in 3-under and wound up with a 68, one stroke out of the lead.

"Juli is on a major roll," Rizzo said. "She's going to be the one to beat."

Even Jones, who birdied three of the last four holes, couldn't help but talk about Inkster's run at history.

"Too bad she didn't play good in the Dinah (Shore). She could have just wrapped up the majors this year," Jones said with a laugh. "This is a perfect golf course for her. She doesn't necessarily have to hit it perfect, but she can play a golf course like this so well."

It wasn't a perfect round, even though Inkster played without a bogey on the hilly, difficult Priddis Greens course. She didn't always have the right club in her hand, and she didn't make every 15- to 20-foot birdie putt.

But for someone who needs only one victory to become the 17th player to qualify for the Hall of Fame, she had few complaints.

"Everybody is all over me about two majors and the Hall of Fame," said Inkster, her two daughters and one of their friends sitting at her feet. "I'm just trying to go out there and keep doing what I'm doing. That's what I've been doing all year, just getting myself in position.

"Every day, I go out there and try to shoot a solid round," she said. "That's what I did today."

It was the 26th consecutive round of par or better for Inkster.

Scotland's Catriona Matthew made two birdies and an eagle in her round of 68 and Gail Graham was another stroke behind.

Graham wasn't the Canadian a boisterous gallery threw its support behind.

Lorie Kane, third on the money list but still seeking her first LPGA victory, asked her family to stay home in Prince Edward Island so she could reduce the pressure of trying to win a major in her homeland.

Some good that did.

Kane was greeted like a national hero on the first tee, and it took her about five holes to settle down.

"The pressure is something I've never felt before," she said.

Playing with Inkster turned out to be a blessing. Setting aside whatever pressure Inkster feels, she told Kane, "You can handle this, just like I handled it at the U.S. Open."

Kane made four birdies on the back nine and was at 2-under 70.

"There's a lot of pressure for her to play well here," Inkster said. "But you've just got to play your own game and root for yourself."

The Canadians can appreciate how Inkster played and what she is trying to accomplish. Not since Pat Bradley in 1986 has a player won three majors in one season. Mickey Wright and Babe Zaharias also won three majors, while Ben Hogan is the only PGA Tour player to do that.

That wasn't on Inkster's mind Thursday on a day of fickle weather in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies - sunshine and heat, followed by cloud cover and cooler temperatures, and wind that at times whipped up as strong as 20 mph.

Inkster took only 13 putts on the front nine and kept it simple the rest of the way.

"I'm playing with a lot of confidence and playing aggressive," Inkster said. "I don't know what the other players think, but I think I have just as good a shot as anybody if I'm right in that hunt with three or four holes to go."

After her start Thursday, that's a distinct possibility.

DIVOTS: Aces seems to be air at Priddis Greens. Sara Sanders made her first hole-in-one on the LPGA Tour in the first round, a 9-iron from 122 yards on No. 15. Sanders received a $1,000 check for the ace. In the pro-am Wednesday, Dale Eggeling and Catrin Nilsmark got aces, as did two amateurs. ... Just like at Augusta National, caddies in the du Maurier are required to wear coveralls (red, not white). The exception is Jeff "Tree" Cable, the 6-foot-7 caddie for Se Ri Pak. Tournament officials couldn't find one that fit him, so he was allowed to wear a bib. ... Gail Graham puts ice on her left thumb after every round because of tendinitis, which causes pain and numbness. ... Kelli Kuehne didn't hit a green in regulation until her sixth hole and wound up with a 79, her highest first-round score this year.

AP