Stricker takes lead in Barclays title defense
Steve Stricker is right at home at Ridgewood Country Club – and the top of The Barclays leaderboard.
A year after winning across the Hudson at Westchester Country Club, the Wisconsin player shot a 7-under-par 64 in perfect morning conditions Friday to take a three-stroke lead over Hunter Mahan in the FedEx Cup playoff opener at Paramus, N.J.
•Angela Park shot a 6-under 66 to take a one-stroke, first-round lead in the Safeway Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland.
Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum shot a 70 and Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 72.
•Mark Wiebe birdied four of his first five holes, then added two more on the back nine to shoot 67, giving him a share of the first-round lead with Scott Simpson at the Champions Tour Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.
•Georgia teammates Adam Mitchell and Patrick Reed advanced to the U.S. Amateur semifinals in Pinehurst, N.C.
Mitchell rallied to defeat Charlie Holland 2 and 1 in one quarterfinal, and Patrick Reed defeated Graham Hill 4 and 3 to reach today’s semifinal.
Basketball
Hennessy dies at 79
Larry Hennessy, an All-American at Villanova who played two seasons in the NBA, has died. He was 79.
Hennessy died Wednesday in Williamsburg, Va., according to a statement from the school.
Hennessy scored 1,737 points from 1950-53 at Villanova, which retired his No. 14 jersey.
•The Denver Nuggets re-signed restricted free agent J.R. Smith to a multiyear contract.
•The San Antonio Spurs have re-signed guard Michael Finley. Terms of the deal weren’t released.
•Nevada has lost one of its new recruits.
Wolf Pack Coach Mark Fox announced that incoming freshman Mark McLaughlin of Kenmore, Wash., will not be attending UNR this fall.
Fox said the 6-foot-5 guard and his family decided that was best because they still have no ruling on his academic status from the NCAA Eligibility Center.
Miscellany
Jones moved
Former U.S. track star Marion Jones has been moved from a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, and will serve the remainder of her sentence in San Antonio.
•Two wrestlers kicked off Nebraska’s team after appearing on a pornographic Web site broke NCAA rules twice in five months, athletic director Tom Osborne said.
Osborne made public a March incident in which Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan had been ruled ineligible for receiving an extra benefit.
•Pyro, winner of the Louisiana Derby and a Derby runner, is the 7-2 favorite today in a field of 12 at the 139th Travers Stakes at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
•Caroline Wozniacki moved into the finals of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament in New Haven, Conn., with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Alize Cornet. She will face the tournament’s top seed, Anna Chakvetadze, who beat Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. In the men’s draw, American Mardy Fish upset top-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-0, 1-6, 6-3. He will face sixth-seeded Marin Cilic, who beat Luka Gregorc 6-3, 6-3.