Friday, July 24, 2009
Associated Press
SUNNINGDALE, England — Four days after his heart-rending playoff defeat to Stewart Cink at Turnberry, Tom Watson shot a 3-under 67 Thursday to begin his pursuit of a fourth Senior British Open title.
The 59-year-old Watson, who almost became the oldest major champion at the British Open last weekend, was three shots behind leader Fred Funk.
Funk birdied five of his last eight holes, including holing a bunker shot at No. 17, for a 6-under 64 — the lowest opening round in the history of the championship.
“The first nine could have been three or four over, and the back could have been eight under,” said Funk.
Watson was another stroke back and tied with Tom Kite, Jerry Bruner, Greg Norman of Australia and Sam Torrance of Scotland.
Bernhard Langer, who has two Champions Tour wins this year, opened with a 72.
Canadian Open
OAKVILLE, Ontario — Kevin Na birdied the final five holes and nine of his last 12 for a 9-under 63 and a two-stroke lead over Retief Goosen, Scott Verplank and Joe Durant during the suspended first round.
After playing one hole in the morning, Na waited out a 7 1/2-hour rain delay in the tournament plagued by wet conditions for the second straight year.
Jimmy Walker was 6 under with four holes to go when play was suspended because of darkness. Mike Weir, trying to become the first Canadian to win the national championship since Pat Fletcher in 1954, opened with a 70.
Na closed his first nine, the back nine at Glen Abbey, with birdies on the par-5 16th and 18th, added birdies on Nos. 1 and 2, and birdied the final five for a front-nine 28. He matched the tournament record set by Vijay Singh on the same nine in the second round of his 2004 victory. Durant had a hole-in-one on the 147-yard seventh hole.
Evian Masters
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Becky Brewerton shot a 5-under 67 and was tied for the first-round lead, while Michelle Wie rescued a disappointing start with two late birdies.
The South Korean duo of Na Yeon Choi and In-Kyung Kim also shot 67s in windy and overcast conditions that forced play to be suspended for one hour because of late-afternoon thunder.
Kim’s round was highlighted by holing out with a 9-iron for eagle at the 11th, while Choi made three birdies on both the front and back nine and only one bogey.
Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, teeing off with Alfredsson and Marianne Skarpnord of Norway, double-bogeyed her opening hole and finished an inconsistent day at 3 over.
Wie bogeyed Nos. No. 3, 6 and 13 before birdies on the last two holes for a 73. She had plenty of players between her and the lead, including defending champion Helen Alfredsson of Sweden, who is chasing her fourth Evian title and had four birdies in her round of 70.
European Tour
LODDEKOPINGE, Sweden — Lee Slattery birdied the first four holes and shot 6-under 67 to take the first-round lead in the SAS Masters.
The 30-year-old Englishman made the turn at 5 under at Barseback Golf Club, then had to wait for an hour before continuing because of a thunderstorm warning. Slattery finished with seven birdies, playing in the first group early in the morning.
His only mishap came on the 12th, the shortest par-5 hole on the course where he made a bogey after hitting a tree.
Slattery, ranked 504th in the world, led Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina by one shot. Klas Eriksson of Sweden, Spaniards Pablo Larrazabal and Pablo Martin Benavides, and Tano Goya of Argentina were another shot back in third.
Henrik Stenson of Sweden, ranked seventh in the world and a member of Barseback, shot 73.