Stadler opens with 64 at U.S. Senior Open

Craig Stadler shot a 7-under 64 on Thursday to match the U.S. Senior Open first-round record and held a one-shot lead over Tom Purtzer with seven others -- including Greg Norman and Tom Watson -- within another three shots.

Stadler birdied the first two holes and never let up, finishing with six birdies, an eagle and one bogey on the South Course at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio .

Purtzer, playing two groups behind Stadler, opened eagle-birdie and was off to a 65. Loren Roberts, playing in only his second seniors event, was alone in third at 66.

Coming off a fourth-place finish last week at another major, the Senior British Open, Stadler hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and needed 30 putts. He played the three par-5s in 4 under, eagling the 549-yard 6th. After his drive, he hit a 3-wood pin high and 18 feet away, then rolled in the putt.

On the next hole, a 425-yard par-4, he hit an 8-iron to 6 feet for the birdie that gave him the lead.

Bruce Fleischer was at 67, followed by the five at 68 including Norman and Watson.

Stadler's 64 tied the mark set by Fleischer in 2000 at Saucon Valley and matched in 2002 at Caves Valley by R.W. Eaks.

Stadler has seven top-10 finishes this year on the Champions Tour. Still splitting time on the PGA Tour -- which also includes his son Kevin -- he opened his year by tying for ninth at the Sony Open.

LPGA Tour

Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie had trouble with the strong wind and heavy rains at the Women's British Open in Southport, England. Jeong Jang sailed right through with a 4-under-par 68 and the first round lead.

Jang, a South Korean looking for her first win in 5 1/2 years on the LPGA Tour, had an eagle and four birdies at Royal Birkdale for a one-shot lead over 2000 champion Sophie Gustafson.

Sorenstam's 1-over 73 left her five shots back in her bid for a 10th major title and third of the season, while Wie shot a 75 on her first visit to this regular stop on the men's British Open rotation.

Rain battered the course so intently, that play had to be halted for almost an hour because one deluge left some of the greens flooded.

The delay forced play to be suspended because of darkness, with 30 players having to complete their first rounds Friday morning. Wie was 1 over and had just hit her tee shot at 11 when officials stopped play.

PGA Tour

Nick Watney shot an 8-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over Vijay Singh and Jason Bohn after the first round of the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich., leaving the leader seven strokes ahead of Tiger Woods.

The 24-year-old Watney has missed seven straight cuts, only breaking 70 once, after his season-best 11th-place finish at the Wachovia Championship.

Jim Furyk (66) and five others will begin Friday's second round two shots behind the unlikely leader.

Woods, playing for the first time since winning the British Open two weeks ago, finished at 71, his worst round at the Buick Open since his first in 1997, and ended his tournament-record tying streak of eight straight rounds in the 60s. Woods won here in 2002, then tied for second and third the past two years.

European PGA Tour

Marc Cayeux of Zimbabwe shot an 8-under-par 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the $1.92 million Scandinavian Masters in Stochholm, Sweden.

It's the first time the 27-year-old English-born Cayeux has been in the lead of a European Tour event. England's Barry Lane was a shot back.

Mark Hensby of Australia, who tied for fifth at the Masters in April and shared third last month at the U.S. Open, shot 65 and shared third with Sweden's Robert Karlsson.

-- From wire reports