Six other golfers, including Karrie Webb, this season's top money-winner and the only player ever to win the Myrtle Beach title, were a stroke back at 69.

Webb is looking for her third straight title in the event at Wachesaw East Golf Club. Twelve other players were at 70.

Temperatures were unseasonably cool -- in the 50s -- as the $675,000 tournament got under way. Brisk wind swirled through the tall pines lining the 6,231-yard layout during the morning and early afternoon.

By late afternoon, heavy rain soaked the course but play continued. More rain was expected Friday before a storm off the coast drifts out to sea.

"I'm a good mudder," said Inkster, who has won two tournaments already this season. "If you shoot 3- or 4-under, you feel you have shot a good round."

Inkster was only 1-under at the turn, then had three birdies on the back nine.

"I'm very happy with 3-under," Webb said. "I didn't make any mistakes today which was very good."

Benz, in her 17th season on tour, has yet to win a title. She notched birdies on three of the first four holes and was 6-under at one point.

But she hit an approach shot into the water and had a double bogey on the par-4 16th.

"I felt really good out there," she said. "It really got my adrenaline going to be on the leaderboard. That hasn't happened in a long time."

Benz has several second-place finishes in her career, but her best finish in recent years was third in the Oldsmobile Classic in 1994. She has thought about doing something else if her golf game does not improve this season. She has made only two cuts this season and her best finish was 52nd in the Welch's-Circle K Championship.

"It does take a toll on you when you're struggling. You just have to ride through it and eventually good things start happening," Benz said. "Hopefully that's where I'm at."

Divots