Rookie Thompson sets pace at Mystic Rock

FARMINGTON, Pennsylvania, Sep 15 (Reuters) PGA Tour rookie Nicholas Thompson capitalised on a hot start to earn a two-shot lead in the first round of the 84 Lumber Classic.

On a day when Hawaiian teenager Michelle Wie posted a vaguely respectable 77, American Thompson plundered six birdies in the first seven holes before posting an eight-under-par 64 on the rain-softened Mystic Rock course at Nemacolin Resort.

''I can't say much bad about the round,'' the Florida-born 23-year-old Thompson told reporters after matching his best score on the PGA Tour yesterday. ''I hit one poor shot and had two three-putts.'' Americans Will McKenzie, Greg Kraft, Robert Gamez, Ted Purdy and Ben Curtis and South African Rory Sabbatini were in a tie for second on six-under 66. Fiji's Vijay Singh, the highest-ranked player in the field, shot 71.

Heavy overnight rain left the course vulnerable and Thompson took advantage of the benign conditions, missing just one fairway and needing only 25 putts, a welcome performance from a man who ranks a lowly 181st on the PGA Tour money list.

After his hot start, he had three-putt bogeys at the eighth and ninth holes before roaring back on the inward half, picking up three birdies, one bogey and an eagle at the par-five 16th.

''The rain softened up the greens,'' said Thompson, a member of last year's victorious US Walker Cup team. ''It was like throwing darts. If you got the right distance, it was going to stop right in there.'' McKenzie, who won last month's Reno-Tahoe Open played in the same week as the elite WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, acknowledged that his maiden PGA Tour victory did not come against the best of fields.

''Every PGA Tour event is special, but I wasn't playing against the greatest players in the world,'' he said. ''I'd like to get an 84 Lumber, or something a little bigger, and that will start to validate my career a little bit.

''I'm in a great little spot in my career right now. I've always just grinded away, nobody knows me (but) hopefully it's time for me to just keep going forward.

Conditions became even easier in the afternoon, when the wind dropped, but nobody seriously threatened to catch Thompson, whose best finish this year was a tie for sixth at the BC Open, played the same week as the British Open.

It was a mixed bag for the five members of the American Ryder Cup team in action, with Scott Verplank and David Toms shooting 70, Chad Campbell 71, Chris DiMarco 74 and Brett Wetterich 75.

Reuters VJ VP0650