Watson ties for second in opening

Tom Watson credited skillful iron play for his efficient four-under-par 66 in the opening round of the Senior Players Championship at Timonium, Md.

It was his putter, however, that set the tone.

Watson saved par with an eight-footer on the first hole Thursday, then dropped in a 25-foot downhill birdie putt on No. 2. He made his only bogey on 13 and finished tied with Jay Haas in second place behind unheralded Lonnie Nielsen, who had eight birdies and three bogeys in an up-and-down 65.

Sandy Lyle shot a 67, and four golfers, including Bob Tway and Dan Forsman, were tied for fifth at 68.

Watson stepped back into prominence in July when he finished second in the British Open. That proved he still had the talent to compete with golfers half his age, but the 60-year-old still hasn’t won on the Champions Tour this season.

Rookie Leif Olson shot a six-under 66 to tie Tim Petrovic for the first-round lead at the Turning Stone Resort Championship at Verona, N.Y.

The opening round of the first event of the Fall Series was rainy and cold, but Olson, a 28-year-old native of Denver, found it to his liking. He had never held or shared the lead after any round on the PGA Tour and has made only four of 17 cuts this year.

Scotland’s Janice Moodie shot a bogey-free eight-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over 14-year-old Alexis Thompson in the Navistar LPGA Classic at Prattville, Ala., with Michelle Wie and top-ranked Lorena Ochoa two strokes back.

BASKETBALL

Catchings leads Fever to victory

Tamika Catchings fell one rebound shy of the first triple-double in WNBA finals history, and the Indiana Fever beat the host Phoenix Mercury, 93-84, to square the best-of-five series, 1-1.

Catchings had 19 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to help the Fever steal home-court advantage in the series with the next two games in Indianapolis, beginning with Game 3 on Sunday.

The WNBA defensive player of the year for the third time, Catchings also harassed league most valuable player Diana Taurasi into a seven-for-22 shooting night. Taurasi finished with 20 points.

Highly touted California freshman guard Tierra Rogers will not play for the Golden Bears women’s team after being diagnosed this week with a rare heart condition and having a defibrillator implanted Thursday.

Cal said Rogers’ condition was discovered as the result of a Sept. 21 workout in which she had trouble breathing and later collapsed at Haas Pavilion.

ETC.

Nike denies having deal with Vick

Nike said it does not have a “contractual relationship” with Michael Vick, a day after the quarterback’s agent announced a deal with the manufacturer.

In a statement, Nike said it has “agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike.”

On Wednesday, Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick, announced the Philadelphia Eagles player had a new deal with Nike during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium.

Principe declined to comment Thursday.

Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won a three-tiebreaker match against Ernests Gulbis, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), to advance to the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open at Bangkok.