SCOTLAND'S Pam Wright, who has not had her struggles to seek in her

six seasons as a professional, returned a 68, five under par and free of

bogeys, in the first round of the Weetabix Women's British Open

championship in dreich weather yesterday at Woburn.

One score might not be the golfing equivalent of seeing the light on

the road to Damascus; it at least pierced the gloom.

But just when she seemed certain to lead on her own -- two Americans,

Cindy Figg-Currier and Alice Ritzman, the Swede Annika Sorenstam, and

Sarah Gautrey, the Australian who is the European Tour's only

left-hander, had failed to match her score -- another American, Kris

Tschetter, did so in the grey, damp evening.

Wright, aged 30, had a successful playing career at Arizona State, was

the 1989 LPGA Rookie of the Year, and has played on both Solheim Cup

teams. But victory has kept eluding her, and this year No.116 and

thirty-sixth on the respective American and European orders of merit and

twenty-fifth in the Solheim rankings, her match place obviously is in

jeopardy.

After a 70-minute delay to allow flooded greens to dry out, Wright

quickly hit her stride on the 6257-yard Duke's course, now relieved of

the bone and bounce caused by a two-month drought and on greens softened

to more receptive targets as rain persisted until lunch-time.

A putt of 20 feet fell at the third, and three of Wright's four inward

birdies came at long holes. Two were notable, for, having ''lost'' her

drive at the twelfth she hit two No.6-iron shots, the second to 15 feet,

and having reached the home green with a No.5 wood, made an awkward

second putt of three feet.

Wright has certainly set about making worthwhile the long journey from

Aberdeenshire of her parents, Janette, the former Curtis Cup player, and

Innes, the Aboyne professional, to watch the rest of the championship.

Tschetter, aged 29, and with one victory to her credit, belied her

fortieth place on the American order of merit with four birdies in five

holes from the eighth. She bogeyed the seventeenth, the shortest of the

par-4s, but at the long last, which downwind yielded a rich crop of

birdies, recovered dead from a bunker to tie.

When match 16 set out it might have taken for a slogan ''From Here To

Maternity,'' since Figg-Currier, aged 34, and one of her partners, Patti

Rizzo, are both 11 weeks into impending motherhood. Her condition has

not discouraged Figg-Currier from playing in her seventh consecutive

tournament, for she enjoys travelling the world and experiencing

different conditions.

In her eleventh season and also seeking her first victory,

Figg-Currier made her score with an outward 31 based on seven single

putts, four for birdies and three to save par. Despite pangs of hunger

and four disruptive visits to the toilet caused by her pregnancy,

Figg-Currier retrieved two bogeys with two concluding birdies.

Ritzman, at 42, is, after 16 seasons and 407 tournaments, still

without a victory and, with more than $1.33m, has the highest rating on

the LPGA career money-list of that unsuccessful sisterhood. She had a

birdie putt of four feet at the last to lead and took three, perhaps an

explanation.

Sorenstam had six successive birdies from the fourth, one short of the

European Tour record, to turn in 31, and Gautrey was home in 33, five

under. It may yet be significant, however, that although Laura Davies

took 74, that represented a forceful recovery since she began with four

bogeys, having three-putted each of the first three greens. First-round

scores (British and Irish players unless stated, * denotes amateur):

68 -- P Wright, K Tschetter (USA).

69 -- C Figg-Currier (USA), A Sorenstam (Sweden), S Gautrey

(Australia), A Ritzman (USA).

70 -- K Pearce (Australia), C Pierce.

71 -- H Alfredsson (Sweden), K Lunn (Australia), * M Fischer

(Germany), L Neumann (Sweden), S Gronberg-Whitmore (Sweden), S

Strudwick, K Cockerill (USA), S Hodge, M McGuire (N Zealand), C Hall.

72 -- T Loveys, M Burstrom (Sweden), S Mendiburu (France), S Moon

(USA), L-A Mills (USA), A Nicholas.

73 -- E Orley (Switzerland), J Forbes, M Spencer-Devlin (USA), D

Mochrie (USA), Li W-L (Thailand), H Wadsworth, M Hageman (Holland), K

Orum (Denmark), M Lunn (Australia), B King (USA), S Robinson, H

Kobayashi (Japan).

Others included:

74 -- T Yarwood, S Prosser, L Davies, M-L de Lorenzi (France), G

Stewart, C Nilsmark (Sweden), A Alcott (USA), J Geddes (USA), M

Figueras-Dotti (Spain), K Davies, J Lawrence.

75 -- D Dowling, P Rizzo (USA), L Fairclough, C Dibnah (Australia), T

Johnson, D Barnard.

76 -- K Marshall, D Reid, N Buxton, * S Lambert, L Hackney, L Lambert

(Australia), F Descampe (Belgium), B New.

77 -- D Hanna, J Morley, J Furby, P Grice-Whittaker, S Bennett, N

Moult.

78 -- A Arruti (Spain), F Dassu (Italy), A Shapcott, C Langford, A

Brighouse, * K Shepherd.

79 -- J Soulsby, J Kinloch, * K Egford, T Craik, R Bolas, * T Eakin.

80 -- R Hast, H Reid, C Panton-Lewis, L Percival, * E Duggleby.

81 -- E Rundle, * S Sharp, E Farquharson-Black.

82 -- C Duffy.

83 -- M Wright, * M Sutton, S Maynor.

88 -- A Johns.

* Six players will complete their rounds this morning.