Perry tied for lead at U.S. Senior Open
Golf: Kenny Perry shot a 3-under-par 67 on Thursday and is tied for the lead at the U.S. Senior Open, putting together a solid start in his bid for a second straight win in a senior major.
Perry, who won the Senior Players Championship two weeks ago at Fox Chapel, Pa., made five birdies against two bogeys at Omaha Country Club in Omaha, Neb. He has plenty of company atop a crowded leaderboard.
Michael Allen and Jay Don Blake also shot a 67 in the morning, and Gary Hallberg, Mark O’Meara, Tom Lehman and Fred Funk posted the same score in the afternoon. Kirk Triplett (former Pullman resident) shot a 70.
There had never been seven co-leaders after the first round at a U.S. Senior Open. The previous record was five in 1997.
• Johnson tied for lead at John Deere Classic: Defending champion Zach Johnson shot a 7-under 64 and is tied with Camilo Villegas for the lead after the opening round of the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill.
It was the 17th straight round in the 60s at TPC Deere Run for Johnson, who grew up roughly 100 miles away in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Matt Bettencourt made the field as a late alternate and shot a 6-under 65. He’s tied for second with Daniel Summerhays and Brendon de Jonge. Boo Weekley is among a pack of players at 5-under 66.
Three-time tournament champion Steve Stricker is at 4-under 67 heading into today’s second round.
• Stanford, Matthew lead Park by 2 at LPGA: Angela Stanford and Catriona Matthew shot 8-under 63s to share the first-round lead at the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Ontario.
Top-ranked Inbee Park is two strokes back and is trying to become the first golfer to win four straight LPGA Tour events since Lorena Ochoa in 2008.
Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.) shot a 70.
U.S. beats Canada at World Cup of Softball
Softball: Sara Nevins and Jessica Moore combined on a two-hitter, Valerie Arioto delivered a two-run single and the U.S. beat Canada 7-0 in six innings in the opening game of the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City.
Lauren Gibson added a two-run homer and scored three runs for the U.S., which has won the last six World Cups. The U.S. moved to 40-4 all time in the World Cup.
Whalen, Wright lead Lynx past Fever
WNBA: Lindsay Whalen had 23 points and Monica Wright added 22 points and nine rebounds as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Indiana Fever 69-62 in Indianapolis in a rematch of last season’s WNBA finals.
The Fever (4-8) made runs at the Lynx (10-3) but never managed to catch them. Fever starting guard Briann January (Lewis and Clark High) had seven points and four assists.
Man sues Pippen for ‘unjustified’ attack
Miscellany: Attorneys representing a man who said he was the victim of a “brutal and unjustified physical attack” by Scottie Pippen filed a $4 million lawsuit against the former NBA All-Star in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Los Angeles.
Camran Shafighi, 49, suffers from headaches, nausea, breathing difficulties and other ongoing medical issues as a result of an altercation involving the luxury car business owner and the former Chicago Bull great, said his attorney Lee Boyd.
She said the suit is an effort to compensate the Malibu area resident for those problems in addition to economic losses because he is unable to run his business.
“This has been pretty devastating to him,” Boyd said in an interview. “This was not the result of some drunken barroom brawl. This is a guy who wanted to take a picture with a cellphone.”
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives are continuing to investigate the alleged assault involving Pippen that took place June 23 at Nobu Malibu restaurant in the 22700 block of Pacific Coast Highway.
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said witnesses told deputies that the other man in the altercation with Pippen, whom he did not identify, appeared to be intoxicated.
But Shafighi’s attorney disputed that contention and said he only requested a picture for the 12-year-old son of his girlfriend. For his trouble, Boyd said Pippen knocked him to the ground with a single punch to the head and then kicked him on the ground while unconscious “in the head, chest and body.”
Pippen then left the scene in his Range Rover without alerting medical personnel about Shafighi’s medical condition or being interviewed about his role in the fight or assessed by deputies with regard to his blood-alcohol level, Boyd said.
• Jury sides with ex-Bengals cheerleader: A former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader won a defamation lawsuit against a gossip website in a case that has been watched by First Amendment experts around the country.
Sarah Jones wiped away tears after jurors in federal court in Covington, Ky., awarded her $338,000 in damages.
The jury found that posts about her on the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based website thedirty.com in 2009 were substantially false. The jury of eight women and two men also found website operator Nik Richie acted with malice or reckless disregard in posting the submissions he said were anonymous.
One post alleged Jones had sex with every Bengals player, and the other said she probably had two sexually transmitted diseases.
• Patriots’ Dennard accused of DUI: Alfonzo Dennard of the New England Patriots was arrested in Nebraska and accused of driving drunk in the state where he once starred as a defensive back.
Dennard’s arrest is his second in 15 months. He hasn’t yet served a 30-day jail sentence for assaulting a police officer outside a Lincoln, Neb., bar on Apr. 21, 2012.
Dennard, 24, was pulled over just before 2 a.m. Thursday and failed a field sobriety test, police said.
• Jury sides with America’s Cup challengers: An international jury has sided with America’s Cup challengers Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Luna Rossa in their arguments that regatta director Iain Murray overstepped his authority in making rules changes following the fatal capsize of a third challenger’s catamaran two months ago.
The two syndicates were particularly miffed about changes to winglets on the rudders of the high- performance boats, arguing that they were more about performance than safety.