Leader Heinen makes bid for tour spot

SILVIS, Ill. -- Mike Heinen, trying to regain full PGA Tour membership, shot an 8-under-par 63 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Fred Funk in the John Deere Classic.

Heinen, the 1994 Shell Houston Open winner who has split the last two seasons between the PGA Tour and Buy.com Tour, had just 26 putts and one-putted eight greens on the TPC at Deere Run.

Defending champion David Gossett was three strokes back along with Tripp Isenhour and Robert Gomez. Spike McRoy, the B.C. Open winner last week, was another stroke back at 66 in a group that included Duffy Waldorf, Peter Jacobsen and Nolan Henke. Waldorf tied for 18th last week in the British Open.

Funk, second in the B.C. Open, had seven birdies in a bogey-free round. He opened the round with a 50-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole, and hit every fairway and green in regulation.

LPGA: Scotland's Kathryn Marshall and South Korea's Minny Yeo shot 3-under 68s to share the first-round lead in the Big Apple Classic at New Rochelle, N.Y.

Yeo had the best round of her LPGA Tour career after gaining a spot in the field Monday when countrywoman Se Ri Pak withdrew.

Kelli Kuehne, Sherri Steinhauer, Kris Tschetter and Silvia Cavalleri opened with 69s, and Karrie Webb was another stroke back in an 11-player group that included Meg Mallon and Beth Bauer.

Annika Sorenstam and Juli Inkster, ranked 1-2 on the money list, made their first starts since Inkster beat Sorenstam in the U.S. Women's Open on July 7. Sorenstam, the 1998 and 2000 winner, shot a 71, and Inkster had a 75 on the Wykagyl course.

PGA EUROPE: Germany's Tobias Dier matched the PGA European Tour record with a 10-under 60 to take a five-stroke lead in the Dutch Open at Hilversum, Netherlands.

Dier had 10 birdies in his bogey-free round, the 10th 60 in European tour history. England's David Gilford, Northern Ireland's Ronan Rafferty and Dutchman Chris van der Velde shot 65s.

England's Nick Faldo had a 68, South Africa's Retief Goosen was another stroke back at 69, and John Daly shot a 70. Defending champion Bernhard Langer of Germany was 11 strokes back after a 71.

SENIORS: Japan's Noboru Sugai shot a 4-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead over Scotland's Russell Weir after the first round of the Senior British Open at Newcastle, Northern Ireland.

-- From wire reports