By The Associated Press
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) - Phil Blackmar and Jeff Sluman shot 6-under 66s in breezy conditions Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Champions Tour's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
After winning the AT&T Championship last week in San Antonio to earn the last spot in the season finale, the 6-foot-7 Blackmar had six birdies in a bogey-free round at Sonoma Golf Club. Sluman was even par at the turn, then birdied three of his first four holes on the back nine, eagled the par-5 16th and birdied 17.
Eduardo Romero, the Toshiba Classic winner in March at Newport Beach, was a stroke back at 67, and John Cook and Brad Bryant opened with 68s.
Charles Schwab Cup points leader Loren Roberts had two eagles in a 70. Fred Funk, 165 points behind Roberts in second place in the race for the $1 million annuity, had a 71. Jay Haas, the 2008 points champion, also shot a 71, while Bernhard Langer, the only other player in contention for the points title, had a 72.
Langer is 348 points behind Roberts, and Haas is 602 back. The players will receive a point for every $500 earned, making a victory worth $442,000 and 884 points.
Volvo World Match Play Championship
CASARES, Spain (AP) - American Anthony Kim won two round-round robin matches in the Volvo World Match Play Championship, while fourth-ranked Paul Casey lost twice to drop out of contention for a semifinal spot.
Kim topped the Seve Ballesteros Group with four points after beating Casey and Retief Goosen, both 3 and 2, at Finca Cortesin Golf Club. Scott Strange beat Casey, returning from a rib injury, 1-up. Goosen beat Strange 1-up.
In the Mark McCormack Group, Oliver Wilson beat Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer, both 1-up, and Robert Allenby topped Kaymer 1-up and halved with Garcia.
In Gustaf Larson Group play, Angel Cabrera beat Rory McIlroy 3 and 2, and Simon Dyson held off Henrik Stenson 3 and 2. In the Assar Gabrielsson Group, Jeev Milkha Singh topped Lee Westwood 5 and 4, and Ross Fisher edged Camilo Villegas 1-up.
Singapore Open
SINGAPORE (AP) - England's Ian Poulter shot a 5-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over South Africa star Ernie Els and Taiwan's Chan Yih-shin during the suspended first round of the Singapore Open.
Play was halted by darkness following a three-hour suspension because of lightning on the Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong Course.
Second-ranked Phil Mickelson opened with a 69, while Padraig Harrington and Geoff Ogilvy were unable to finish the round. The tournament is sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.
Viking Classic
MADISON, Miss. (AP) - Play in the Viking Classic was postponed because of impending rain and wet conditions at Annandale Golf Club, pushing the event to a Monday finish.
Early morning rain soaked the already waterlogged course. The weather left pools of water on fairways and bogs of mud throughout the 7,199-yard layout.
The tournament is the fourth event in the PGA Tour's Fall Series.