Curtis swings to top of PGA leaderboard
Potomac, Md. – Ben Curtis is still searching for the elusive victory that proves his 2003 British Open title wasn’t a flash in the pan. A career-best round at the Booz Allen Classic might have him on his way.
Curtis shot a 9-under-par 62 on Thursday, topping a lackluster field in the first round of an anticlimactic tournament following the U.S. Open. He took advantage of the impeccable conditions at a TPC at Avenel course that looked especially inviting after last week’s brutal challenge at Winged Foot.
“After playing last week, the fairways look like they are 80 yards wide,” said Curtis, who was one shot off the course record. “The greens look huge, so you just kind of free-swing.”
Curtis led Jeff Gove by one shot and Jose Coceres by two, with Steve Flesch and Will MacKenzie three back.
The field’s top player in the world ranking is No. 23 Padraig Harrington, who trails by eight after shooting a 1-under 70.
GOLF
Shi Hyun Ahn leads Rochester LPGA
Shi Hyun Ahn bested the swirling winds and opened with a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over rookie Brittany Lang in the Rochester LPGA in Pittsford, N.Y.
“I think I can say I’m a good player against the wind,” the South Korean said of her bogey-free round.
Lang, 20, a runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Open a year ago at Cherry Hills, twice chipped in from off the green but picked up two bogeys along with eight birdies.
Soo Young Moon was third with a 67, one better than Korean compatriot Gloria Park. Defending champion Lorena Ochoa, who comes in with two victories and five second-place finishes, carded a 70. Ochoa tops the money list with $1,155,454, almost $35,000 more than resurgent Karrie Webb of Australia, who shot 74.
Thomas Bjorn shot an 8-under 65 for a two-shot lead in the first round of the Johnnie Walker Championship in Gleneagles, Scotland. Bjorn led Paul Casey, Andres Romero and Andrew McLardy, who all had 67s.
U.S. Open runner-up Colin Montgomerie bogeyed the last hole for a 68. His third shot sailed over the green into a bunker. He needed three more shots, reliving his last-hole error at the U.S. Open. Montgomerie said it was hard to get ready for the tournament.
“Every shot I hit, I thought about the last one I hit (at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot),” he said. “If I never win a major, that will remain with me.”
OLYMPICS
Three cities vying for 2014 Games
The International Olympic Committee executive board pared the field for the 2014 Winter Games to three finalists – Salzburg, Austria; Pyeongchang, South Korea; and Sochi, Russia.
Eliminated from the race were Almaty, Kazakhstan; Borjomi, Georgia; Jaca, Spain; and Sofia, Bulgaria.
Salzburg finished first in the IOC’s technical ratings and is the clear early front-runner.
While the cut was made by the Olympics’ 15-member ruling body, the full 100-plus IOC assembly will select the host city in Guatemala City on July 4, 2007.
New York and Boston have been awarded the U.S. marathon trials for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The men’s trials will be held in New York on Nov. 2 or 3, 2007, USA Track & Field announced. The race will be separate from the New York Marathon, scheduled for Nov. 4. The women’s competition will be held in Boston on April 20, 2008, the day before the Boston Marathon.
COLLEGES
Duke lacrosse player’s bond reduced
A judge in Durham, N.C., reduced the bond of a Duke University lacrosse player charged with rape to $100,000, and the prosecutor said he had turned over hundreds of additional pages of evidence to defense lawyers.
The family of sophomore Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., had posted a $400,000 bond after their son was charged in April with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. The two other players facing the same charges – Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., and David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md. – remain free on $400,000 bond.
A trial isn’t expected to begin before spring 2007 in the case, which began when a stripper told police she was raped by three men at a March 13 team party.
Nebraska and Tennessee agreed to a home-and-home football series in 2016 and 2017.
TENNIS
McEnroe to play ATP doubles in fall
John McEnroe, 47, will return to the ATP doubles circuit in October, teaming with Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman at the Stockholm Open. McEnroe’s entry continues an improbable doubles comeback that started in February, when he and Bjorkman won the SAP Open doubles title in San Jose, Calif.
Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand has been added to Wimbledon’s seeded players list – at No. 29 – after Nicolas Kiefer’s injury withdrawal. The draw for Wimbledon, which begins Monday, will be held today.
