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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Marsh leader at Senior Players


Michelle Wie celebrates putt at John Deere Classic. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press

Tom Watson shot a 66 Thursday morning in the first round of the Senior Players Championship, then said he wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his lead.

About an hour later, he did.

Graham Marsh took the lead with an 8-under-par 64 – bogeying 18 to miss tying the course record – at the Champions Tour’s second major at Dearborn, Mich.

“There would be days you could shoot a 64 and you’d walk off the golf course and say it’s the best round of golf you’ve ever played,” said Marsh, who hadn’t shot a 64 since 1999. “Today, I wouldn’t say that.

“Everything was in the golfer’s favor this morning. No wind. Perfect weather. Greens, superb condition. What more could you ask for?”

The field of 78 proved that, averaging 70.96, a first-round record at The TPC of Michigan.

Isao Aoki, Ron Streck and Watson were two shots off the lead, while Dana Quigley, Jim Ahern and Wayne Levi shot 67s and were three behind Marsh. Hale Irwin was in a pack of nine at 68.

Watson, who won eight majors on the PGA Tour, overcame his putting problems with accurate approach shots, leaving him 6 feet or closer on each of his seven birdies.

Streck seems to still have his stroke from tee to green, after becoming the first player to win a tournament on the PGA Tour, the Champions Tour and the Nationwide Tour by winning the Commerce Bank Championship last week.

Quigley endured a hip ailment well enough to put together a solid round, extending his playing streak to 264 consecutive events – 278 in a row when eligible.

PGA

Michelle Wie wants to do more than make history.

The 15-year-old shot 1-under 70 at the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill., keeping alive her hopes of being the first woman in 60 years to make a cut on the PGA Tour. She was on the right side of the line when she finished, but the cut had moved to 2 under at the end of the day.

“I’m not really thinking about the cut,” said Wie, who is tied for 73rd. “I’m only five shots behind (the early leaders), and if I put up three crazy rounds, who knows?”

Go ahead and dream big. It wasn’t so long ago the mere idea of a woman playing on the PGA Tour was farfetched.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the last woman to make a cut on the PGA Tour, at the 1945 Tucson Open, and it would be another 58 years before Annika Sorenstam teed it up at the 2003 Colonial. Suzy Whaley played at the Greater Hartford Open later that year; neither made the cut.

Hunter Mahan shot a 63 to take the lead, and J.L. Lewis is one stroke behind. Pullman’s Kirk Triplett is in a group of five at 65.

LPGA

Birdie Kim took a solid first step toward proving her stunning U.S. Women’s Open win wasn’t a fluke.

Kim, two weeks removed from her dramatic win at Cherry Hills, shot a 6-under 65 – her LPGA career low – to share the lead with Becky Morgan after the opening round of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic at Sylvania, Ohio.

Kim’s 65 was three shots less than her previous best on the tour.

She bogeyed her third hole of the day, then birdied seven of her final 13 holes. Six of the birdies didn’t require a putt longer than 6 feet.

Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum, Idaho, shot a 74.