In Brief

May 9, 2008

Garcia tops leaderboard at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Sergio Garcia put together his third straight impressive round at The Players Championship. The first two gave him a runner-up finish last year. The 6-under 66 on Thursday was only a great start.

Garcia birdied all the par 5s and picked up a bonus birdie with a 50-foot putt on the 14th hole to build a two-shot lead on the frightening Stadium Course. It was a good step toward ending an 0-for-53 drought on the PGA Tour, the longest of his career.

Kenny Perry and Paul Goydos each had a 68 in the mild, morning breeze on a perfectly conditioned golf course. Sawgrass turned tricky, if not downright difficult, in the afternoon, and Ernie Els was among those who paid dearly.

Els was at 2 under until his wedge came up 20 feet short of the island green on the 17th, and he barely kept his third shot on land. He wound up with a triple bogey, and a 12-foot birdie on the final hole for a 72 didn't improve his spirits much.

� The booming drives were there, but more often than not, Michelle Wie didn't know where they were going in her first round on the LPGA Tour since February.

The best scores, as usual, belonged to just about everyone else -- a course record-tying 63 by Scotland's Mhairi McKay , and a potential battle looming between Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam in the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill.

Once the most heralded young player in the women's game, Wie managed just one birdie in a zig-zagging 4-over 75 on a soggy day.

� John Daly shot a 5-under 67 in the Italian Open, leaving him three strokes behind first-round leaders Ross McGowan and Marco Ruiz .

The 609th-ranked Daly had seven birdies and two bogeys. He hasn't finished in the top 10 in a tournament in three years.

� Kobe Bryant added another honor to go with his MVP award, becoming the only unanimous selection to the All-NBA team.

The Lakers star was voted to the first team for the third straight season and sixth time in his career. He led Los Angeles to the best record in the Western Conference and was presented with the MVP trophy Wednesday before helping the Lakers to a 120-110 victory over Utah in Game 2 of the conference semifinals.

Joining Bryant on the first team were New Orleans guard Chris Paul , who was three votes shy of being a unanimous pick, along with Boston's Kevin Garnett , Cleveland's LeBron James and Orlando center Dwight Howard .

� West Virginia University officials say basketball coach Bob Huggins was taken to a hospital in Charlotte, N.C., for precautionary reasons after tripping on an airport tarmac and hitting his head on the pavement. Athletics director Ed Pastilong says Huggins had a bump on his head, and never lost consciousness. Pastilong says Huggins and other athletic department staff flew to Charlotte on Thursday morning for a Mountaineer Athletic Club event. After Huggins got off the plane, he was checking his cell phone messages when he tripped over a cone and hit his head.