HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — Four birdies on her flawless back nine during Thursday’s first round of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship gave Lorena Ochoa a 3-under-par 69, leaving her three shots behind Lorie Kane and Emily Bastel as she tries to become the fourth woman to win three consecutive majors.
“Today was important just not to get away too far from the leaders, and that’s why I’m so happy that I did,” Ochoa said. “Three-under for the first day of a major is good.”
Lindsey Wright had a 67, followed by a group at 68 that included Nicole Castrale. Annika Sorenstam was at 70.
• Boo Weekley shot a 5-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Stanford St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn. He closed with a birdie on No. 18 to move a stroke ahead of Tommy Armour III.
Weekley needed 28 putts and got started by rolling in a 20-footer on No. 1. “Pretty good putt. Good thing the hole got in the way,” he said.
Johnson leads U.S. gymnastics championships
BOSTON — Reigning world champion Shawn Johnson showed she’s still the one to beat, taking a solid lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships with a score of 63.450.
Nastia Liukin, who is expected to challenge Johnson all the way through Beijing, was second after posting a 17.05 on uneven bars.
Parcells wants Taylor on roster
MIAMI — Finally ending his silence about the much-ballyhooed topic, Miami Dolphins football operations czar Bill Parcells said he wants six-time Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor on his team.
“Why wouldn’t you want one of the very best players?” Parcells said. “Of course I want him here.”
Parcells added most of the Taylor-related stories — while contending they aren’t entirely factual — didn’t bother him, either.
“I’ve learned that the more you stir it, the worse it stinks,” he said.
• Erie County (N.Y.) District Attorney Frank Clark calls Bills running back Marshawn Lynch the “principal suspect” in an alleged hit-and-run accident, saying the player was inside his vehicle when it struck and injured a pedestrian.
• Former NFL linebacker Steve Foley was charged with a felony after his pit bulls bit a woman and killed her puppy in Richmond, Texas.
• A convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him was found shot to death in his home. Early Thursday morning, Plano, Texas, police made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead. Police said both had been shot to death.
Footnotes.
After 20 seasons in the NHL and 13 with the Carolina Hurricanes, defenseman Glen Wesley announced his retirement. The team then gave the defenseman a job in the front office and pledged to retire his No. 2 jersey.
• Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield faces losing his 54,000-square-foot suburban Atlanta home — which features 109 rooms, 17 bathrooms, three kitchens and a bowling alley — to foreclosure, joining Jose Canseco among former athletes struggling to pay mortgages. The Associated Press
