By The Associated Press

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Annika Sorenstam didn’t need to take the lead in the first round of the Nabisco Championship to be where she wants.

She only needed to be in contention, forcing all the other players to watch the leaderboard the next three rounds to see what she does.

Sorenstam accomplished just that in Thursday’s first round, shooting a 2-under 70 to stand one shot off the pace set by a trio of players. She’s won four tournaments in a row, and was happy to have a good opening round in this one.

“Not a bad start,” Sorenstam said. “I just didn’t finish it as well as I’d like to.”

Sorenstam played the last 14 holes at 1 over in windy conditions, finishing the day a stroke behind first-round leaders Rosie Jones, Karen Stupples and Mi Hyun Kim.

All three have credentials of one kind or another. But none carries the dominant presence that Sorenstam brings.

“I saw the leaderboard where she was 3 under through four or five holes,” Jones said. “I thought, “Not a bad way to begin.”‘

Sorenstam came to the desert on a roll, and would like nothing better than to get tournament win No. 59. She also has a goal of winning all four majors this year, something never done in women’s golf.

First, though, there’s three rounds to be played and a few teenage phenoms – Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel – to deal with.

The Nabisco is the first of four majors, and Sorenstam looked as if she may make it a runaway when she eagled the second hole and then birdied No. 4. But the winds picked up and Sorenstam struggled on the way in, making a final bogey on the 17th hole to drop out of the lead.

“The wind made it a lot tougher, I thought,” Sorenstam said. “I thought I putted well, but they just didn’t go in. It seems like the greens are a little moody.”

Sorenstam lurked a stroke behind the trio of leaders, which included the 45-year-old Jones, who plans to retire at the end of the season.

Jones, playing patiently like the veteran she is, didn’t make a bogey all day, shooting a 3-under 69 to share the first-round lead of the season’s first major tournament with England’s Stupples and Kim of South Korea.

Another rainout on the PGA Tour

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The 17th hole was still the only island green Friday on the TPC at Sawgrass.

But just barely.

The second round of The Players Championship lasted all of 44 minutes before rain saturated the Stadium Course and left half the fairways unplayable. Nearly seven hours later, officials had no choice but to send players home until 7 a.m. today and figure out what to do next.

“The perfect scenario would be getting the second round in tomorrow,” PGA Tour tournament director Mark Russell said. “We really haven’t thought much beyond that.”

Steve Jones, who opened with a 64 for a one-shot lead, won’t play until noon today.

This was the seventh time in 13 tournaments that weather halted play during a round, and it was the second straight week that Mother Nature had thrown a PGA Tour event into chaos. The first round of the Bay Hill Invitational was washed out after three hours, creating three marathon days until a Sunday finish.

Golf’s fifth major might not be that lucky.

The forecast includes thunderstorms the rest of the week, and Russell wouldn’t rule out anything – a 54-hole tournament for the first time in the 31-year history of The Players Championship, maybe even the first Tuesday finish on the PG

Montgomerie way off lead at Indonesia Open

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Colin Montgomerie was way off the lead Friday at the rain-delayed Indonesia Open, a tournament he needs to win to qualify for the Masters.

Montgomerie, who seven times was Europe’s No. 1 player, was at the projected cut mark of 3 under par after 13 holes. He is among 64 players who need to complete the second round today.

The Scotsman was ranked 54th entering the tournament and must re-enter the top 50 to qualify for the Masters, which begins April 7.

Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand shot a 7-under 63 Friday to take the clubhouse lead.

His eagle-3 on the ninth hole gave him a two-day total of 14-under 126, a stroke ahead of Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who had a 62. Wiratchant also had to play six holes to finish his rain-delayed first round in 73.

First-round co-leaders Arjun Atwal of India and Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland were at 10 under. Atwal completed 13 holes and Hoey nine when lightning flashed and play stopped.