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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Chirs Kirk, Billy Horschel share FedEx lead

After round one, Chris Kirk shares the Tour Championship lead. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

Golf Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel have little in common except a clean card of 4-under 66 at the Tour Championship in Atlanta and their chances at the biggest payoff in golf.

Kirk and Horschel, the top two seeds going into the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake, played in the final group and traded birdies – neither of them made a bogey – over four hours in steamy weather to share the lead.

They need only to win the Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.

Kirk is a 29-year-old who went to Georgia and plays golf without a pulse. Even when he chipped in from 80 feet on the 17th hole, he simply smiled and bowed his head before slapping hands with his caddie.

Horschel is a 27-year-old who went to Florida, brash enough to wear octopus prints on his pants in the final round at a U.S. Open, to flip his cap around backward and to pump his fist for routine pars.

Fathauer leads Web.com Tour Finals event: Derek Fathauer shot a bogey-free 8-under 63 to take the first-round lead in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, the third of four events in the Web.com Tour Finals.

Fathauer, 12th on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list to secure a 2014-15 PGA Tour card, birdied Nos. 15-17 and closed with a par on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio.

Andrew Loupe opened with a 64, and Blayne Barber shot 65.

Spokane’s Alex Prugh shot an even-par 71.

Harvey wins US Mid-Amateur: Scott Harvey won the U.S. Mid-Amateur to earn a spot in the Masters, beating Brad Nurski 6 and 5 in the 36-hole final.

The 36-year-old Harvey, a real estate property manager from Greensboro, North Carolina, had a 4-up lead after the morning round on Saucon Valley’s Old Course in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Kim makes history with lowest major score of 61: South Korean teen Hyo-Joo Kim made history with the lowest round in a LPGA major tournament, a faultless 10-under 61 to open the Evian Championship in Evian-Les-Bains, France.

According to the U.S. LPGA Tour, two women scored 62: Minea Blomqvist of Finland in the third round of the 2004 British Open, and Lorena Ochoa in the first round of the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship. In a men’s major, 63 is the lowest, and it has been achieved multiple times.

Kim takes a four-shot lead over veteran Karrie Webb into the second round.

• Shirley wins U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title: Margaret Shirley won the 2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, beating defending champion Julia Potter 5 and 3 in the title match.

Shirley defeated four-time champion Meghan Stasi 5 and 4 in her semifinal, winning holes 10 through 12 with pars to take a five-hole lead at Harbour Trees Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana.

Rangers coach presented with medal

MLB: As part of the Texas Rangers’ remembrance of the Sept. 11 attacks, bench coach Bobby Jones was formally presented with a military medal he earned in Vietnam.

The former Army corporal officially received the Bronze Star before Texas played the Los Angeles Angels. A colonel from the Army Corps of Engineers pinned the medal on the left side of Jones’ No. 5 jersey, and they saluted each other.

Jones served in Vietnam for 14 months as the artillery section chief in a howitzer battery.

Selig discusses domestic violence policy: Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said that the league and players’ union have previously discussed the idea of a blanket policy regarding domestic violence during collective bargaining, yet so far baseball has opted to handle any issue on a case-by-case basis.

Selig said he can’t remember the last domestic violence case involving a baseball player. Talks about a policy could come up again in the next collective bargaining, but Selig leaves office Jan. 25 and Rob Manfred takes over as commissioner.

A.L. wild-card game Sept. 30 begins playoff schedule: Major League Baseball is scheduled to begin the postseason with the A.L. wild-card game on Sept. 30.

MLB announced the N.L. playoffs will start with the wild-card game on Oct 1.

The regular season ends Sept. 28, and any tiebreakers would be played the next day.

Both A.L. division series openers are scheduled for Oct. 2. The N.L. division series openers will be Oct. 3.

The A.L. championship series begins Oct. 10 and the NLCS opens the next day.

The World Series is set to start on Oct. 21 at the home of the A.L. champion.

Stanton hit in face by pitch, will miss rest of season: Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton was struck by an 88 mph fastball from Mike Fiers of the Brewers at Milwaukee. He was driven off the field in an ambulance.

Marlins manager Mike Redmond said he expected Stanton would miss the rest of the season.

U.S. beats Lithuania to reach world final

Miscellany: James Harden and the U.S. sprinted into the championship game of the Basketball World Cup, riding a huge third quarter to a 96-68 victory over Lithuania in Barcelona, Spain.

Harden scored all of his 16 points in the lopsided third quarter of a near carbon copy of the Americans’ quarterfinal victory over Slovenia, when he awoke from a scoreless first half to help turn a close game into a blowout in a split second.

The Americans travel to Madrid to face France or Serbia on Sunday as they try to repeat as world champions.

They will arrive as even heavier favorites following Spain’s stunning loss to France in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The second-ranked Spanish were considered the team with the best chance – perhaps the only one – to beat the Americans.

Aru wins Vuelta’s 18th stage, Contador still leads: Fabio Aru of Italy surged to win cycling’s Spanish Vuelta’s hilly 18th stage, while Alberto Contador kept the leader’s red jersey with three stages remaining in Monte Castrove, Spain.

Chris Froome finished one second behind, gaining time overall, and Alejandro Valverde came third 13 seconds behind.

Froome, who charged up the category-2 Monte Castrove ascent with Aru just behind him, improved to second overall, 1 minute, 19 seconds behind Contador, having overtaken Valverde, who was third overall, 1:32 down.

Although Contador looked tired and conceded time to Froome, he appears totally recovered from the broken shin that forced him to retire from the Tour de France on July 15.

The race ends on Sunday after two more hilly stages and an individual time trial.