Shanshan Feng leads in rain-delayed US Women's Open

Shanshan Feng had her best round in the U.S. Women's Open, and the first-round lead.

Afternoon rain and lightning forced officials to suspend play for more than two hours Thursday in the biggest event in women's golf, and play was stopped because of darkness with 39 players still on the course. They will return early Friday to complete the round at Trump National Golf Course.

The weather was the only hitch for the players and the USGA, which took a lot of criticism for failing to move the $5 million event to another course after comments by President Donald Trump about women.

Despite fears of protests, Day 1 was uneventful.

There were no demonstrators. The golf was excellent and Feng was outstanding, shooting a 6-under 66 in a tournament in which she has rarely played well in her 10 seasons as a professional in the United States. It marked the first time the 27-year-old from China broke 70 in 42 Open rounds.

Amy Yang of South Korea, who has had two seconds, a third and a fourth in this event in the last five years, was a shot behind.

Lydia Ko of New Zealand played in the same threesome with Feng and was tied for third at 68 with top-ranked So Yeon Ryu of South Korea.

Carlota Ciganda also was 4 under with a hole left. She would have to eagle the par-5 18th to get a share of the lead.

Former Open winner Cristie Kerr, who played with back spasms, and Megan Khang were the best U.S. finishers at 69.

Feng, who has never finished better than fourth in the Open (2012), started her round on the 10th hole and played the back side in 5 under, rolling in five birdies. She added another at No. 1 and then parred her last eight holes.

"I started the round very great," said Feng, who lipped out on two birdie putts on her final nine. "I mean I had three birdies in the first four holes and then after that I mean I just felt so comfortable about everything."

Feng had to push it to get to Trump National. She played in a tournament in China that was run by her sponsor last week and her flight to Beijing was delayed. She did not arrive in New Jersey until around noon Monday, and did more sleeping than playing over the next three days.

Everything worked out Thursday.

"I just had a great day so hopefully the next three days that I can perform well also and let's see what happens," said Feng, who has a win and three other top-10 finishes this season.

Feng was the hottest player on the tour at the end of last year, winning her last two starts and finishing eighth or better in her final seven events. She won the major LPGA Championship in 2012 for the first of her seven LPGA Tour titles.

Yang had six birdies and a bogey in her round. She took advantage of the back nine, playing it in 4 under.

The 27-year-old who now calls Orlando, Florida, home, refused to say this would be the year she won the Open.

"I'll keep trying," she said. "I'm playing good, you know, played good lately and I'm hitting the ball solid and making some putts, you know. I'm going to do same things, you know, next three days and see what happened."

Ko, who had the lead going into the final round last year, was tied with Feng at 6 under after 13 holes. She bogeyed her 14th and then the last.

Ryu, the only two-time winner on the tour this year, had four birdies. Kerr had five birdies and two bogeys.

Canada's Brooke Henderson, ranked No. 8, and In Gee Chun, who won this event two years ago, were in a group at 70, one shot ahead of No. 3 Lexi Thompson and former No. 1 Stacy Lewis.

Amateur Rachel Heck, the 15-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, who is the youngster player in the field, also was at 3 under with five holes to play.

Defending champion Brittany Lang had a 72 in a round where the players who teed off in the morning had the better conditions.

Michelle Wie had a 73. She was bothered by neck issues in the afternoon that required treatment on the course after the delay.

Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn shot 79, and seventh-ranked, two-time Open champion Inbee Park had a 77.

Howell, Schniederjans shoot 63 to share John Deere lead

Charles Howell III and Ollie Schniederjans each shot 8-under 63 to share the first-round lead in the John Deere Classic.

Playing alongside local favorite Zach Johnson, Howell birdied seven his first nine holes and added a birdie on No. 7 in his morning round at rain-softened TPC Deere Run. The two-time PGA Tour winner lost a playoff to Kyle Stanley two weeks ago in the Quicken Loans National.

"This morning without traffic, they were rolling like carpet," Howell said. "This morning was absolutely the best scoring we'll see all week, which would also lead me to believe that tomorrow morning you're going to see some low scores as well. Here, it's about minimizing bogeys as much as you can and take advantage of the holes that you need to."

Schniederjans birdied five of his last eight holes in his lowest round of the PGA Tour. The 24-year-old former Georgia Tech star earned a PGA Tour card last year through the Web.com Tour.

"I haven't had a great start really all year on the first round," Schniederjans said. "I have had some decent first rounds and good Fridays, but this is the first really goof round I've had on Thursday. It's nice to get off to a good start and hopefully keep it going."

Johnson was two strokes back at 65 along with Rory Sabbatini, Patrick Rodgers and Chad Campbell. Johnson, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, won the 2012 tournament.

"With this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday rain we had, it's one of those you feel like you got to keep the pedal down," Johnson said. "The course is still nice. I was surprised we didn't play it up today. I technically only had 1 1/2 mud balls probably, so that was pretty good considering."

He holed a 24-foot birdie putt on his second-to-last hole to get within two strokes.

"I'm very comfortable with this golf course, essentially any condition," Johnson said. "All that being said, you still have to execute. (Thursday) was one of those good days."

Howell and Schniederjans are coming off injuries.

"I had nine weeks off prior to the Quicken Loans with a rib injury, and it was my first injury — knock on wood — I've had in my career," said Howell, making his 11th at Deere Run. "I went to Quicken Loans quite honestly not prepared to play well. I had only been hitting balls for four or five days prior to that event. Expectations were extremely low and I played well."

Schniederjans has been fighting a pulled muscle in his back since Colonial in late May.

"It kind of lingered and I tried to play through it, and then ended up taking like 15 days off without hitting a ball and still is sort of there," Schniederjans. "Kind of have to have maintenance. ... It's been fine the last three weeks, but my game has been getting better as the days have gone on, too."

Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters making his first Quad Cities start in seven years, opened with a 69. Fifty-year-old Steve Stricker, the winner from 2009-11 at Deere Run, had a 73.

Defending champion Ryan Moore had a 74 in his return from a strained tendon in his left shoulder that sidelined him for five weeks.

The British Open is holding one spot for the leading player among the top five who is not already exempt next week at Royal Birkdale.

Mize shoots 64 for lead in Senior Players Championship

Larry Mize had such a good day, even his flubbed shots ended up being effective.

Mize birdied half the holes and shot an 8-under 64 on Thursday for a one-stroke lead over Bernhard Langer, Corey Pavin and Steve Flesch after the opening round of the Senior Players Championship.

Seeking his second win on the PGA Tour Champions, the 58-year-old Mize was 5 under after the front nine. He made his only bogey on the par-4 10th hole, but rebounded with birdies on 14, 15 and 16.

"On 15, I hit the 5-iron a little thin but got away with it. Missed it in the right spot and made the putt," Mize said. "That's what you've got to do when you have these rounds — miss it in the right spot at the right time. That's what I did today."

That kind of good fortune, along with a 50-foot putt for a birdie on the ninth hole, provided Mize with the second-best round of his PGA Tour Champions career.

Langer, the three-time defending champion, had a bogey-free round on the 7,196-yard Caves Valley Golf Course.

"I played very nicely, played smart, played well," he said.

The 59-year-old German has already won three events and $1.8 million this year, leaving little doubt that he's the player to beat this weekend.

"I don't know if words can do justice to what he's done to stay that focused, that on top of it," Mize said.

Mize won the 2010 Montreal Championship for his lone senior title. He won the 1987 Masters and three regular PGA Tour titles.

Pavin eagled the 372-yard, par-4 11th as part of a 5-under 31 on the back nine.

"Hit a 3-wood off the tee and had 120 yards in," he said. "One-bounced it in the hole."

Flesch gained entry to the tournament Wednesday after Bart Bryant withdrew. He took the last flight out of Cincinnati to play in his sixth tournament since he turned 50 on May 23.

Brandt Jobe and Scott Dunlap shot 66. Jobe was 8 under before pushing a 7-iron off the tee and into the water on No. 17. That led to a double bogey, and he bogeyed 18.

"You know what? I played good today. I'm not even going to be mad," Jobe said. "I made one bad swing and that was on 17. That's just golf. Didn't finish how I wanted to, but it was a good day and I'm in good shape."

Jobe was part of a prestigious threesome that included Langer and Kenny Perry.

"It's always sad to see when somebody plays so good and keeps hanging in there and had a great score going and then you blow it the last hole or two," Langer said. "It was tough to watch."

Perry shot a 73. He won the U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago in Massachusetts.

John Daly pleased the crowd with loud orange, black and white pants that featured the Baltimore Orioles logo. He shot a 70.

Fowler makes up for lost time at Scottish Open

Rickie Fowler skipped the defense of his Scottish Open title last year with a heavy heart.

He began making up for lost time on Thursday.

The American picked up where he left off in 2015 at the warmup event for the British Open, avoiding trouble and rolling in five birdies at Dundonald Links to shoot a 5-under 67 in the first round. He was in a six-way tie for second place, two shots behind Mikko Ilonen.

Fowler, who won the Scottish Open when it was held at Gullane, missed the 2016 tournament because of scheduling conflicts arising from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which clogged up the golfing calendar last summer.

"I would have loved to have been here," he said. "Coming off winning the year before, I love playing links golf and I love playing the week before a major. It was tough to miss it.

"I'm just glad to be back."

The highlight of a stress-free and well-managed round, when he only ran out of position once, was a left-to-right birdie putt at No. 4 that curled into the cup from 20 feet. That came in the midst of three straight birdies on his back nine as Fowler outplayed his partners Rory McIlroy (74) and Henrik Stenson (72) in the marquee group, continuing his consistent form this year.

Fowler has contended at both majors so far and has seven top-10 finishes this season.

Ilonen, the world No. 335 from Finland who arrived in Scotland on the back of four straight missed cuts, said he only made one bad swing in what he described as his best round of the season. He thinned his tee shot right at No. 8 — his second-to-last hole — using a rescue club, only to pull off a superb approach from the thick rough and salvage a par from 10 feet.

He had seven birdies in all — five of them coming in six holes from Nos. 1-6 — and was delighted that a decision to use a new set of irons this week paid off.

Ilonen is a five-time winner on the European Tour and has links pedigree, having won the British Amateur in 2000. His highest finish in 2017, however, was tied for 32nd in Dubai.

"I haven't been able to put two rounds together, never mind four," said Ilonen, who wasn't getting carried away.

Ilonen, an afternoon starter, was giving his post-round interviews just as rain began to fall for the first time in an opening round that featured a sometimes-fierce breeze off the Ayrshire coast in western Scotland.

Padraig Harrington battled through the rain to roll in a 25-yard par putt from off the 16th green and chip in from the back of No. 17 to complete a 67, joining Fowler, Ian Poulter, Paul Peterson, Callum Shinkwin and Andrew Dodt.

Harrington called his par at No. 16 a "minor miracle," having thought he'd lost his ball off the tee. It was found by a scorer in an unplayable lie, so Harrington took a penalty drop, hacked out and made the putt.

"Seven would have been a good score there," said Harrington, who won the British Open in 2008 on the last occasion it was held at Royal Birkdale — the venue for the major next week.

Reigning Open champion Stenson rebounded from a triple-bogey 7 on his first hole (No. 10) — after driving left into thick rough and needing three hacks to get the ball out — to shoot level par. He cut a frustrated figure on his back nine, chucking his club high into the air on his last hole after a weak approach.

Wedge play was McIlroy's undoing, too, on a day the out-of-form world No. 4 failed to shoot the consistent round he has seeking ahead of the Open. On his third and fourth holes, he was in the middle of the fairway and less than 100 yards out, yet fell short and right with his approaches — the latter into a burn to necessitate a drop for a double-bogey.

From 4 over after four holes, McIlroy recovered to 1 over after 16, with three of his four birdies coming via tap-ins on par fives.

McIlroy has missed the cut in two of his last three events, the U.S. Open and the Irish Open.