Golf Capsules: Johnson, Day atop leaderboard in Boston

NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Zach Johnson and Jason Day beat up on the course and beat the weather at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

For Tiger Woods, it was the other way around.

Johnson strengthened his Ryder Cup case Friday by rolling in putts from everywhere in easy scoring conditions ahead of Hurricane Earl, giving him an 8-under 63 and a share of the lead with Day.

Woods had two bogeys in four holes when the first patch of rain arrived, and it didn’t get much better. He had two more bogeys and was in last place until he fought back for a 72, leaving him three shots below the projected cut. If he doesn’t make the cut Saturday, Woods will not advance to defend his title next week outside Chicago.

"I’m going to have to shoot something good tomorrow, hopefully move up a little bit," Woods said. "Obviously, get off to a better start than I did today."

Scoring was so ideal that Johnson and Day had a 63 and still only had a one-shot lead — over eight players. That group included Ryder Cup hopeful Ryan Palmer, Rory McIlroy and Geoff Ogilvy, who had the best score of anyone in the afternoon.

That they finished the first round was a bonus considering the Earl forecast. More surprising was that the wind never arrived, and late starters only had to cope with the nuisance of an occasional shower.

"It had the potential to be the most lopsided draw in history," Ogilvy said, noting that gusts upward of 50 mph were expected. "It was way better than we assumed it was going to be."

The outer bands of Earl began arriving right after Johnson and Day finished. But after a 1½-hour rain delay, there was little more than a breeze along with a few bursts of rain, none long enough that Woods ever put on a rain jacket.

Woods’ problem was putting his tee shots into the short grass — he missed eight of 14 fairways — and not converting enough putts. He officially entered the BMW Championship next week, a formality, and now has to finish inside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings. Woods started the week in 65th place.

Phil Mickelson, with his 10th chance to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world, opened with a 69.

Getting to the third round of the playoffs is not an issue for Johnson. His hopes this week start with the Ryder Cup, knowing that Corey Pavin will announce his four captain’s picks on Tuesday in New York.

Most players believe Johnson is in good shape to get one of the picks, and opening with a 63 certainly didn’t hurt.

"It would be an honor, and I want to get on that team very, very bad," Johnson said. "But you can justify the case for a number of guys. I’m not concerned about it. I’m going to let things fall where they fall. I feel like if I keep performing decent, then I’ll have a pretty good chance."

Day, the 36-hole leader last week at The Barclays, shot 30 on the back nine.

Defending champion Steve Stricker, who has an outside shot to go to No. 1 in the world this week, was in the group at 65. Matt Kuchar, who won last week at The Barclays and leads the FedEx Cup standings, was in the group at 66.

One thing was clear under a gray sky south of Boston — the early starters had an advantage. Of the 27 players who shot 66 or better, only seven of those rounds came in the afternoon. Even in conditions that were calm and dry, players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairway. The tour had to do that in case the first round was not completed Friday and the course became saturated.

Combine that with the shorter tees and accessible pins, and birdies were easy to find.

"There’s a lot of deep scores out there," Day said. "It was out there today. Hopefully, this thing can blow through and not hit us too hard. But I’ll probably try and put his round behind me and just focus on the next round."

What makes Johnson so appealing as a captain’s pick is his short game, and that was evident Friday.

He chipped in from behind the 10th green for birdie on his opening hole, made a 30-foot birdie on the 11th, and his day got even better when he holed a 35-foot birdie on the 17th over a knob on the green. He made two birdies on the par 5s with his wedge game and hit his best shot on the par-3 eighth, a 6-iron to about 6 feet.

"This is probably the easiest this golf course can play," Johnson said. "So I’m not taking anything for granted right now. I’m excited about the remainder of the week."

Woods hit driver more times Friday than he did all last week at Ridgewood, and all but one of his missed fairways were to the left. He had to pitch out sideways on the 15th and scrambled just to make bogey.

He turned it around with consecutive birdies on the 17th and 18th, but lost three good chances on his front nine.

"I just didn’t have it today," Woods said. "I wasn’t really doing what I was supposed to be doing out there swing-wise, and then wasn’t releasing the blade out there and was dragging it a little bit. It was a bad day all round."

Notebook: Furyk makes sure he gets to course on time

NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Jim Furyk made sure he had two alarms to make his tee time Friday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, his cell phone and a wake-up call from the hotel.

Then the power went out.

Furyk now is famous for his cell phone going dead, causing him to oversleep and miss his pro-am time last week at The Barclays, which made him ineligible to play the tournament. He dropped six spots to No. 9 in the FedEx Cup standings.

This time, there was no need to worry. He also had a third backup, with his wife promising to call him to make sure he was up. What bothered Furyk about the power going out was being unable to watch Ohio State’s football game.

"Right about kickoff time, the power went off at my hotel for about an hour," Furyk said after opening with a 66. "And I’m staring at my phone thinking ... ‘Do I need to save some battery?’ I can’t get a wake-up call and my phone is not working, so I was going to sleep. And I opened the drapes, because if it didn’t come back on, at least I’d see the sunlight."’

The power came back on in an hour, he watched Ohio State win and he woke up on time Friday.

Then, Furyk said he had one of his best rounds striking the ball — and his experiment with the belly putter went just fine.

"I knew I was going to go with it unless something funky happened," Furyk said. "I think I’ve still got some particulars to work out. Overall, my speed was very good. I was a little nervous about some of the longer putts, and I was able to knock it up there close and get some good two-putts."

He said he could have done better inside 10 feet, but he’s at the start of the learning curve.

"It’s the first day of the tournament, and I’ll get some experience with it," Furyk said.

The best news of all? He tees off Saturday afternoon at the earliest and can sleep as long as he wants.

WORKING OVERTIME: Rain delays caused by Hurricane Earl can made it tough on TV.

For starters, NBC Sports golf producer Tommy Roy recorded the final hour of morning action Friday to have something to show in case there were delays in the afternoon. But it really gets sticky for Keith Blachly.

Blachly manages the technical aspect of NBC’s coverage. Because of high wind anticipated overnight, Blachly and his staff have decided to tear down at the end of the day all the announcer booths and green bunting that shields the scaffolding. Plus, cameras that typically are left on the course will be brought into the broadcast compound.

Blachly will have to put everything back together and in position Saturday morning.

GLOVER’S DAY: Someone mentioned to Lucas Glover after he opened with a 70 that if not for bad luck, there would be none at all.

Glover somehow managed a wry grin.

He was going along nicely at 3 under until his tee shot wound up in a divot on the 14th hole. That wouldn’t be a problem under lift, clean and place — except this was in the first cut of rough. Trying to dig out the shock, Glover suffered a stinger in his right hand, and he was clenching it the rest of the round.

From the middle of the 15th fairway, his first iron shot after the stinger, he flinched before digging into the turf and caught only the top half of the ball, sending it low and over the green for a bogey. On the par-5 18th, his ball was headed for the bunker, meaning he would have to lay up. Instead, it found a thick bush in the bunker, and he had to take a one-shot penalty to remove it. He hit his next shot into the hazard and had to scramble for a bogey.

After signing his card, it only got worse.

An official with a clipboard broke the bad news — Glover had been selected for drug testing.

BEST BALL: The top three players in the FedEx Cup standings, playing in the same group, combined to shoot 16-under par. Steve Stricker led the way with a 66, and he said it’s easy for everyone in the group to feed off the good vibes from so many birdies.

No need telling that to the group of Zach Johnson, Jason Day and Ryan Palmer. They combined to shoot 23-under par.

Asked if he had ever been in a group with such low scoring, Johnson thought back to his days on the mini-tours, "but it was not remotely on a golf course of this magnitude."

"I think we had some bogeys, too, so that was pretty impressive all around," Johnson said.

If they had played a better ball, the group score would have been 57. The only holes none of them birdied were Nos. 4, 6, 14 and 16.

-- Doug Ferguson

Champions

Calcavecchia surges into lead with 64

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Mark Calcavecchia shot an 8-under 64 on Friday at Del Monte to take a two-stroke lead over Tom Pernice Jr. in the Champions Tour's First Tee Open.

Jimenez shoots 61 for lead at European Masters

CRANS-SUR-SIERRE, Switzerland (AP) — Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a 10-under 61 Friday to take a three-stroke lead after the second round of the European Masters.

The 46-year-old Spaniard had two eagles to produce the lowest score of his 28-year professional career in the build up to his fourth Ryder Cup appearance at Celtic Manor next month.

It also lowered the course record from the 62 shot by Eduardo Romero in 2000.

Jimenez didn’t shoot below par on the final three holes at the Crans-Sur-Sierre. One birdie would have made him the 13th player on the European Tour to shoot 60; two birdies would have made him the first to shoot 59.

It was not for a lack of trying.

Jimenez’s 32-foot effort on the 16th green stopped two inches from the hole, a 15-footer at the 17th lipped out and at the 18th he holed a 4-footer just to save par.

Although low scores are not considered records when preferred lies are in operation at tournaments, European Tour and course officials agreed that Jimenez’s score will count as a personal best and a course record because the preferred lies rule was in effect on just one hole.

The tree-lined, par-4 sixth hole had preferred lies because of a damp and shaded fairway.

Jimenez said toward the end of his round, he was shooting for a record.

"I played pretty solid," he said. "And then had two eagles and after I hit my three wood to within two feet at the 14th. I thought a little bit about a 59.

"I was certainly trying for it with those putts at the 16th and 17th. And I was really pleased to play so well up here at Crans."

It was the eagle at the 14th that finally broke an Italian monopoly at the top of the leaderboard.

Earlier in the day, Edoardo Molinari had posted the clubhouse lead at 11-under after shooting a 65 and completing two rounds without a bogey.

He was later joined in the lead by 17-year-old Matteo Manasssero who needs a top-five finish on Sunday to secure his playing rights for 2011.

Manasssero reached 12 under with an eagle of his own when he chipped in from the back of the 15th green, but a dropped shot at the 17th and a 67 dropped back into a share of second place with Molinari.

A 4-under 67 from Finland’s Mikko Ilonen was good for fourth place at 10 under, one shot ahead of England’s Graeme Storm who shot a 68.

Among the players who did not survive the cut was 55-year-old Greg Norman, who was making his first appearance in a year after shoulder surgery. He missed the cut, set at 1 under, by nine shots after shooting two rounds of 75.

Nationwide

Tour’s title sponsorship to end in 2012

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Nationwide Insurance announced Friday it will end its title sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit when the contract expires in two years.

Instead, Nationwide will stay involved in golf starting in 2011 as the presenting sponsor of the Memorial Tournament, founded and hosted by Jack Nicklaus.

"We’ve been very, very happy for the last eight years with the Nationwide Tour, but when we have the opportunity to step up and present the Memorial, it was too good of an opportunity to pass (up)," said Jim Lyski, Nationwide executive vice president. "When you look at that, and you look at the inventory we have in golf, you reach diminishing returns when you keep adding and adding."

The company, based in nearby Columbus, Ohio, has been the title sponsor of the development tour for the past eight years.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said his tour was economically healthy and had survived a difficult financial climate, but would be looking to find a replacement sponsor for the Nationwide Tour.

"We’re virtually 100 percent sponsored for the next couple of years, but we have some things to do," Finchem said. "Of course, with this announcement we now need to concentrate on 2013-plus at a minimum for Nationwide Tour sponsorship. ... We don’t anticipate any issues. We just want to find a partner."

After Morgan Stanley dropped off as a presenting sponsor for the Memorial, Nationwide and the PGA Tour stop at Muirfield Village Golf Club seemed like a natural fit. The new agreement lasts six years.

Nicklaus tried to quash the perception that Nationwide had abandoned its tour for the Memorial Tournament.

"We didn’t want to step on Nationwide and the tour’s relationship, and I don’t think Nationwide or the tour wanted to step on that, either. We wanted to make sure that whatever happened was done in the right way," he said. "So we’ve spent a lot of time making sure it happened in the right way. We were absolutely delighted that Nationwide wanted to be involved here and wanted to be part and grow with us."

Nationwide CEO Steve Rasmussen said his company will help with the transition to a new sponsor for the tour.

"Frankly, we wanted to work together with Tim and his team to make sure we get an orderly process with what happens with the Nationwide Tour, because that’s an incredibly important thing for us," Rasmussen said. "It’s like one of your children and you want to see it doing well going forward."

In addition to sponsoring the tour, Nationwide also sponsors a stop on the tour, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course. The company is contracted to sponsor that event for the next two years. Beyond that, it will support the tournament but will not be a title sponsor.

Lyski said the company had to make some difficult decisions.

"The primary reason (for dropping the Nationwide Tour sponsorship) is that we wanted to get to an optimum spend level in the golf property, and we don’t think we need a tour and two tour stops to be able to do that," he said. "So we were just looking at what’s available and what made the most sense to spend down a little."

-- Rusty Miller

Amateur

Clemens ties for 18th at World Amateur golf event