Golf Capsules: Perry ties course record with 61 at Travelers

CROMWELL, Conn. - Kenny Perry shot a 61 to tie the course record and take a two-shot lead after the first round of the Travelers Championship on Thursday.

Perry, who has finished in the top-10 seven times at this tournament, shot a 29 on the front nine, and had no bogeys. He flirted with a 59, before making par on the final two holes.

"I was looking for that magical number," Perry said. "I thought I could do it today. It was definitely in the back of my head. I was definitely trying to get it done."

Over 100 golfers shot under par, taking advantage of light winds and the soft greens left by the same rains that plagued the U.S. Open.

Charles Warren and Paul Goydos each shot 7-under par 63s to tie for second place. They also played bogey-free rounds. Goydos had birdies on three of his final four holes, while Warren putted for birdie 16 times.

"Whoever the superintendent is has done an unbelievable job getting the golf course ready given the amount of rain you've had, Warren said. "So, I think there will be low rounds all week...I think 59 is a possibility."

Australian Greg Chalmers had eight birdies, six over his final eight holes, and finished tied at 6-under with Spencer Levin, Boo Weekley and Tag Ridings.

"Sometimes on this golf course, you get on a roll," Chalmers said.

Weekley started out on the 10th hole and birdied his first six.

"I wish I could have kept the string going," he said. "We hit a lot of good putts out there and hit a lot of good shots. We just made two mistakes."

Ridings had the shot of the day, acing the par-3, 11th hole. He used a 9-iron from 154 yards out, to give the tournament its first hole-in-one since 2007, when both Craig Perks and Bo Van Pelt accomplished the feat.

"There is not a bit of wind out there," Ridings said. "The greens are firmer than anticipated but they are still soft, so they're really just perfect scoring conditions."

U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover was among nine golfers tied at 5 under.

But the day belonged to Perry, who has one other 61 in his career, at the 2003 Colonial.

On Thursday, he was 7 under after 10 holes, and said that's when he began the think about a sub-60 round, something that's only been accomplished three times on the PGA Tour.

"I thought, with the eagle holes coming up...I really felt I had a shot at it," he said.

Perry is making his 21st appearance at the tournament and is a fan favorite. Chants of "Let's go Kenny," greeted him on the back nine, and spectators erupted at the 15th hole when Perry made the 3-foot birdie putt that put him at 9-under par.

Perry is the fifth player to post a 61 at TPC River Highlands, joining Kirk Triplett (2000), Phil Mickelson (2001), Scott Verplank (2001) and Brad Faxon (2005) in the record book.

"It's definitely the best I've played since the Masters," said Perry, who finished second in Augusta in a playoff with champion Angel Cabrera and Chad Campbell. "My iron game has been off. My putting has been pitiful. And so, today, it kind of all came together."

Henry eagles first hole, Ridings aces No. 11

CROMWELL, Conn. - Some players and caddies wore green ribbons Thursday at the Travelers Championship to show support for fellow tour player Ken Green, who was seriously injured in a fatal RV accident on June 9.

That same accident claimed the life of Green's brother, Bill, and Ken Green's girlfriend, Jeanne Hodgin.

Other players and caddies wore black ribbons in the opening round in support of fellow pro Chris Smith, whose wife, Beth, was killed in an automobile accident last Sunday. Smith's daughter, Abigail, 16, and son, Cameron, 12, were critically injured in that accident and remain hospitalized in Indiana.

That weekend, Skip Kendall's mother, Shirley, died from injuries suffered in a car accident a week earlier.

It has been a rough year tour players, who have also been dealing with the cancer diagnosis of Phil Mickelson's wife, Amy.

"I'm sure there have been some things that the media doesn't know about, too," said Paul Goydos, whose ex-wife, Wendy, died in January from a drug overdose. "But, I think we're very lucky. With my particular situation, you've got 200 players out here. It's really an extended family."

Goydos, of Long Beach, Calif., said he's received support from players, event organizers, caddies and fans, and he said the other golfers know they will get a similar lift.

"It's a great group of people who come together in tough times."

RIDING A GOOD SHOT

A hole-in-one on the 154-yard 11th hole helped Tag Ridings of Roanoke, Texas, to a first-round 64 at the Travelers Championship.

"It's been awhile since I've had one of those," said Ridings, who used a 9-iron to hole his ace, the first on the course since 2007, just the fifth ace on that hole, and the 11th hole-in-one in an opening round of the Connecticut tournament.

"I'd been a little apprehensive on some of my iron shots starting off the day. So, two holes earlier, I decided to free it up, and it was perfect, I guess. I talked myself into loosening up on that swing, and it worked."

GREAT START

Connecticut native J.J. Henry couldn't have asked for a better start in his bid to win his second title at TPC River Highlands in three years.

He shot an eagle his first hole of the opening round of the Travelers Championship on Thursday. Unfortunately, almost no one saw the hometown favorite hole his 114-yard chip shot. Henry teed off at 7:21 in the morning.

"It was a heck of a start, that's for sure," said Henry, who is from Fairfield, about an hour's drive from the course. "I hit a perfect (309-yard) drive on the first hole and then knocked a gap wedge in there. It took one bounce and hopped in the hole for a nice little two."

Henry added two birdies and, without a bogey on his card, finished at four-under 66. John Merrick, teeing off less than an hour after Henry, eagled the same hole en route to a five-under 65.

MELTDOWN

Spencer Levin of Elk Grove, Calif., was one good tee shot away from tying for the early first-day lead until his drive on the 18th found the rough, only inches from a fairway bunker.

When Levin hit his approach shot, he raced up the fairway and jumped into the air to follow the flight of the ball. When it landed in a greenside bunker, Levin leaned over and threw his club at the ground in disgust.

FED CUP?

Sergio Garcia was hearing it from soccer fans Thursday, who razzed him about the U.S. team's win over his native Spain in the Confederation Cup semifinals.

Garcia said he only noticed the heckling once, after he hit a shot into the water on the 17th hole.

"But, it doesn't bother me," Garcia said. "I'm happy for the U.S. that they won. I think that they played very good. Spain had great chances, and unfortunately the U.S. defense was very good."

Friend, Bradshaw tied for lead at W.Va. Open

WHEELING, W.Va. - David Bradshaw's anticipated takeover didn't happen and Chris McGinnis' lead didn't hold up, bringing the likelihood of a free-for-all on the final day of the West Virginia Open.

Morgantown's Bob Friend shot a 2-under-par 69 Thursday to move into a tie for the lead with Bradshaw at even par with many others in close pursuit at Wheeling's Oglebay Park.

"That's what I wanted to do today," Friend said. "I knew I could shoot something in the 60s to put myself back in the game."

Friend, director of golf operations at Pikewood National Golf Club in Morgantown, finished second in 2005 and 2007, the latter occurring at Morgantown's Lakeview Resort when Bradshaw won the last of his three Open titles.

Friend and Bradshaw were paired in that round and will be together again on Thursday on the Palmer Course.

The final round could be considered a chase among champions.

Among the 10 players within four shots of the lead including 2001 Open winner Jonathan Clark and two-time champion John Ross, both at 2 over; and five-time champion Brad Westfall and two-time state Amateur winner Tim Fisher, both at 3 over.

First, they'll have to catch Friend and Bradshaw.

Friend played on the PGA Tour for five years, finishing runner-up to Billy Andrade at the 1998 Canadian Open. He played for nine years on the precursors to the Nationwide Tour, winning the 1991 Fort Wayne Open.

With half the field playing the difficult Robert Trent Jones-designed layout, Friend took advantage of his turn on the shorter Palmer Course. Bradshaw couldn't.

Bradshaw birdied four of the five par 5s but went 4 over on the par 3s and shot 71.

"Ideally I would have shot four or five under the first two rounds," Bradshaw said. "I just have to pick it up a little bit, but I'm still in good shape."

Marshall golfer Bosten Miller, Bridgeport's Justin Caroli and Concord golf coach Darcy Donaldson were within 1 shot of the lead. Miller's 4-under 67 on the Palmer Course included six birdies and an eagle despite a string of three bogeys on the back nine.

"I'm just trying to play like I did today," said Miller, who will join Friend and Bradshaw in the final group. "I got on the bogey train out there if I can (finish) like I did today I think I'll be all right."

One of those out of contention is McGinnis, who shot 11-over 82 on the Jones Course. He held his own for a while, parring the first seven holes. But he unraveled after that with six bogeys and two double-bogeys on the back nine and is seven shots behind the leaders.

This year's winning score could be the highest in two decades. The latest time a champion did not shoot even par or better was in 1985, when Buddy Cook shot 1-over at the Guyan Golf and Country Club in Huntington. Bradshaw's winning score in 2007 was 1 under.

Sandra Gal leads by one at LPGA in Rochester

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Germany's Sandra Gal kept loose over a game of chess during a rain delay and shot an 8-under 64 Thursday to lead Jiyai Shin by one stroke before darkness suspended first-round play at the Wegmans LPGA.

An afternoon storm packing hail, lightning and torrential rain interrupted the tournament for three hours at the tree-lined Locust Hill course in suburban Rochester. Poor light then ended play at 8:37 p.m. with 30 players unable to finish their round.

Becky Lucidi was in third place at 6 under through 15 holes. Kristy McPherson and Michele Redman were tied for fourth place with 5-under 67s. Tiger Woods' 18-year-old niece, Cheyenne, carded a 75 in her pro-tour debut, which came courtesy of a sponsor exemption.

The 24-year-old Gal, in her second year on tour, finished with a 15-foot birdie putt for a career-best round. Her best finish was a tie for fifth at last month's LPGA Corning Classic.

"This year I think I'm improving every month and, yeah, it's just a way up there," Gal said. "Sometimes it doesn't go quick and you got to take one step at a time."

Starting on the back nine, Gal ran up five consecutive birdies before play was suspended. She said she joked with her caddy, then played chess with her father, Jan.

"We're not done yet," she said. "I had a few checks there from him but I got out of it."

When play restarted, she two-putted for another birdie on No. 17 and sank an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 1.

"At first I thought, it's a pity we're stopping. But then I said, come on, it's just a new start, a fresh round, and see how low we can go."

"I just got something to eat and talked to a few people," said Shin, who picked up four birdies on her back nine. "I just felt really confident because my putter was very good today."

Shin picked up her first LPGA victory at the HSBC Women's Champions event in Singapore in early March and was runner-up behind Karrie Webb in the J Golf LPGA International three weeks later.

Tied for sixth at 68 were Diana D'Alessio, Morgan Pressel, Brandi Jackson, Haeji Kang and Stacy Lewis, who three-putted from 7 feet on No. 18. Michelle Wie was among a dozen players at 3-under.

Defending champion Eun-Hee Ji bogeyed nine of the first 14 holes and carded an 8-over 80.

Lewis, the former NCAA champion from Arkansas who tied for third at the U.S. Women's Open last summer, reached 6-under with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17, then missed a tap-in for bogey on the last hole.

"To throw one away like that, it makes me pretty mad," she said.

Woods, ranked 93rd among women collegiate golfers in the nation, finished with a bogey but was still bullish about making amends Friday.

"I gotta prove myself out here," she said with a smile strikingly similar to her famous uncle's. "So tomorrow I'll have to come back out and do a little better. My goal is to make the cut."

The $2 million tournament drew 18 of the season's top 20 money winners, including No. 1 Cristie Kerr, who shot 75. Absent is Lorena Ochoa, the world's top-ranked player, and Suzann Pettersen, who was runner-up here last June.

-- Ben Dobbin

Sindelar after that first seniors win

ENDICOTT, N.Y. - Joey Sindelar has accomplished a lot in his brief tenure on the Champions Tour: 11 top-10 finishes in 30 starts and more than $1.4 million in earnings since turning 50 just over a year ago.

One thing grates: No victories.

The next stop on tour is the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, which begins Friday at En-Joie Golf Club, which offers Sindelar as good a chance as any event for that breakthrough victory. He won twice here when the B.C. Open was a regular stop on the PGA Tour and nearly won a year ago as a Champions Tour rookie.

"Somehow, the fans motivate me into it here," said Sindelar, who lives less than an hour away in Horseheads, N.Y. "They really support me and I don't want to disappoint them."

Sindelar has given back to his upstate New York fans several times at En-Joie:

- In the 1985 B.C. Open, Sindelar aced the par-3 14th hole on the final round to pass leader Mike Reid, who bogeyed the hole in an amazing four-shot swing of momentum, and held on to beat Reid by one shot.

- Two years later with his father as his caddie, Sindelar beat Jeff Sluman by four shots to win the B.C. Open again.

- Last year, Sindelar holed a pitching wedge from 130 yards for eagle to tie for the second-round lead and was within one shot of the top entering the final hole before making double bogey and finishing fourth.

"This is as good as it gets for me," said Sindelar, who first played En-Joie as a teenager. "I had so much fun last year. It's fun being able to play in front of the people that supported me all the way from the beginning."

Sindelar would seem to be poised for that elusive win. His 69.77 scoring average this year ranks second on tour and he's fourth in earnings with $647,369.

But the field for the third edition of this event is deep with 19 of the top 25 Champions Tour money winners among 78 players scheduled to play for the $1.65 million purse.

Among those in the field are six other players who also have won at En-Joie: Fred Funk, the 1996 B.C. Open champion who has top-seven finishes in his last three Champions Tour events; Sluman, the 2001 B.C. Open champ and a two-time winner on the Champions Tour in 2008; 1995 B.C. Open winner Hal Sutton; 1984 B.C. Open winner Wayne Levi, who will be making his first start since undergoing double-bypass heart surgery in April; R.W. Eaks, the inaugural Dick's winner in 2007; and defending champion Eduardo Romero.

Count Romero as a friendly nemesis. Not only did Romero hold off a spirited challenge from Sindelar a year ago, his only top-10 finish this season was a victory in the Toshiba Classic in March, where he edged Sindelar by one shot.

"I'm feeling strong this week," said Romero, who played the rainy U.S. Open at Bethpage Black last weekend but missed the cut. "I'm very psyched to come here."

As befits his status as the tournament's goodwill ambassador, Sindelar will tee off in the final threesome on Friday, and he, too, is psyched.

"There is a certain advantage to having played somewhere 100 times versus three times," Sindelar said. "I would say there's certainly a little bit of an advantage, but I'm not going to bank on being the tournament winner. You still have to put the ball in the hole."

-- John Kekis

Rain hits first round at BMW International

MUNICH - Retief Goosen of South Africa shot an 8-under 64 to lead by two after the first round of the rainy BMW International Open on Thursday.

John Daly, who is trying to get his game in shape for the British Open at Turnberry next month, struggled on the first leg of a three-tournament European swing. He finished with a 2-over 74 at the European Tour event.

The first round scoring was unusually low for the tournament because three days of heavy rain produced soft, receptive greens that allowed more than half the field to break par.

Goosen attributed his low score at the waterlogged Golfclub Munchen Eichenried to lessons he learned last week when finishing in 16th place in similar damp conditions at the U.S. Open.

He described playing his approach shots from the fairways as "exactly the same," and after struggling on the greens at Bethpage Black, changed putters for the first time in eight years.

"I have been using the same putter since 2001," Goosen said after his bogey-free round. "I had a new one made up for me three years ago but I only tried it out in the pro-am on Wednesday for the first time.

"From the first hole where I hit the ball into three feet and made the putt for a birdie, everything started to go in."

Goosen needed a bit of luck on the 18th hole when a wayward shot was prevented from going into a lake by a TV tower. A free drop set up his final birdie.

England's Richard Finch was in second after a 6-under 66, a good sign for the Englishman after a run of poor performances. Nine others shot 67.

Paul McGinley overcame more than just weather during his round of 4-under 68.

As the Irishman was playing his approach to the seventh green, a woman carrying the player's handheld scoreboard slipped on a nearby bridge and broke her leg.

"She let out an awful scream," McGinley said. "And the sight of her broken bone sticking out at an angle from her ankle was the most sickening sight I have seen on a golf course."