Early Sauers Gets the Birdies to Take Texas Open Lead at 64

Gene Sauers beat the heat and regained his putting stroke to take the first-round lead at the La Cantera Texas Open at San Antonio.

Teeing off in cool shadows just after 8 a.m. Thursday, well before the course was baked to 100 degrees, Sauers had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey for a course-record-tying 64 and a one-stroke lead over Mike Brisky.

Duffy Waldorf made two bogeys down the stretch to finish at 66, tied with Paul Goydos.

Lee Janzen (69), Jeff Maggert (70) and Tom Lehman are using the tournament as a tuneup for next week’s Ryder Cup.

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Nancy Harvey has never won an LPGA event, so she might not have known she was supposed to stick around after shooting a five-under 67 to tie Liselotte Neumann for the first-round lead of the Welch’s Championship at Canton, Mass.

Harvey went to nearby Stoughton to buy a discounted pair of running shoes to celebrate her recovery from four bogeys over the first seven holes.

Cristie Kerr, Colleen Walker, Dottie Pepper, Val Skinner and Cathy Johnston-Forbes were all one stroke behind at the 6,137-yard Blue Hill Country Club course.

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England’s Mark Roe shot a seven-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the British Masters at Coventry, England, although most of the attention was on the play of the eight European Ryder Cup players in the field.

Play was suspended by darkness with 78 players left on the course.

Of the three Ryder Cup players who finished, Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland had the best round, a 71. Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal shot a 72 and Ian Woosnam of Wales finished at 73.