Romero Shares Lead at Senior British Open

Eduardo Romero opened his seniors career with a three-under-par 69 Thursday and shared the first-round lead at the Senior British Open at Portrush, Northern Ireland.

Don Pooley, John Chillas of Scotland and Jim Rhodes also had 69s, with defending champion Tom Watson six strokes back at 75 despite an eagle on the second hole.

“I don’t feel 50, I feel 35,” said Romero, who will continue on the regular PGA European tour.

“I’m very strong,” he said. “I’m still hitting it 310 yards with the drivers. It’s unbelievable. I am very happy with my opening round.”

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Karen Stupples shot a six-under 66 to take a one-shot lead over Laura Davies and Annika Sorenstam after the second round of the Evian Masters at Evian, France. Stupples is at 10 under overall.

Sorenstam finished with a 69, and Davies, the leader after the first round, eagled the 18th hole for a 71.

Teen phenom Michelle Wie shot her second straight one-under 71 and was tied for 26th.

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Eight golfers shot five-under 65s and were tied for the lead at the U.S. Bank Championship, formerly known as the Greater Milwaukee Open.

The eight golfers are Danny Briggs, Todd Fischer, Bo Van Pelt, Brett Quigley, Patrick Sheehan, Brian Kortan, Robert Gamez and Olin Browne.

The Honda Classic in 2000 had the only other eight-way tie for first after one round, according to the PGA Tour, which began keeping such statistics in 1970.

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Jane Park of Rancho Cucamonga advanced to the semifinals of the 56th U.S. Girls’ Junior championship in Fort Worth with two victories in match play. Esther Choe of La Quinta and Selanee Henderson of Apple Valley lost in the quarterfinals.

In the 57th U.S. Junior Amateur boys’ championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Sihwan Kim of Fullerton advanced to the quarterfinals today with two match-play victories.

Kyle Takesue of Cerritos and Seann Harlingten of Rancho Mirage lost their matches.

Tennis

Andy Roddick overcame blisters on his right hand, a pair of tough challenges and his second rain delay in as many nights to move into the quarterfinals of the RCA tournament at Indianapolis.

First, the world’s second-ranked player got past qualifier Michel Kratochvil in a rain-suspended match that began Wednesday night. He then waited out a three-hour rain delay before defeating 15th-seeded Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in a night match.

Top-seeded Rainer Schuettler and French Open champion Gaston Gaudio reached the quarterfinals of the Generali Open at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Amanda Fink of Calabasas and Sarah Fansler of Laguna Niguel advanced to the quarterfinals of the USTA National Clay Court girls’ 18-and-under division championship with victories in Memphis, Tenn.

Miscellany

Rachelle Kunkel won her third straight women’s one-meter springboard title at the U.S. national diving championships at Mission Viejo.

Troy Dumais, seeking his third straight national title in the men’s three-meter springboard, led Chris Colwill, 659.73 to 549.84, after the semifinal round.

The Columbus Crew won the rights to 17-year-old U.S. youth national team midfielder Danny Szetela through a lottery.

A day after cutting Eddie George, the Tennessee Titans signed running back Antowain Smith, New England’s leading rusher the last three seasons.

Point guard Keyon Dooling signed a one-year contract with the Miami Heat.

Lauren Jackson scored 25 points to lead the Storm to a 59-54 WNBA win over the Indiana Fever in front of 8,579 at Seattle.... Katie Smith scored 27 points to lead the Minnesota Lynx to a 68-52 win over the Connecticut Sun in front of 7,118 at Uncasville, Conn.... Rookie Diana Taurasi had 22 points and eight rebounds to lead Phoenix to a 71-69 win over the Monarchs in front of 7,021 at Sacramento.... Center Ruth Riley of the Detroit Shock was added to the women’s Olympic team.

Heavyweight James Toney will return to the ring on Sept. 23 to face former cruiserweight Rydell Booker at the Pechanga Resort in Temecula.