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CONOVER Dan Forsman shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead Friday over Fred Funk, David Frost and Larry Mize after the first round of the Greater Hickory Classic.
Forsman had eight birdies and a bogey at Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Jones Course. He won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii in January for his third Champions Tour title.
Frost and Mize had bogey-free rounds, and Funk had four birdies and a closing eagle on the par-5 18th.
Reigning champion Mark Wiebe and Jay Don Blake shot 67. Wiebe had a hole-in-one on No. 3.
Tom Lehman, 69 points behind leader Bernhard Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, opened with a 68. Langer, the winner Sunday in the SAS Championship in Cary, had a 70.
Elsewhere
World Golf Final: Justin Rose beat European Ryder Cup teammate Lee Westwood by a stroke to win the eight-player World Golf Final in Belek, Turkey and earn a career-best $1.5 million.
Rose, ranked fifth, shot a 5-under 66 in the all-English final at the Antalya Club to finish 5-0 in the $5.2 million exhibition event. Rose birdied the opening hole on the Sultan Course and led the rest of the way against the fourth-ranked Westwood.
Westwood earned $1 million.
LPGA: Reigning champion Na Yeon Choi took a two-stroke lead in the LPGA Malaysia, shooting a 4-under 67 in hot and humid conditions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to reach 10 under.
The U.S. Women’s Open winner in July for her first major title, Choi was 11 under after birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. Choi, a South Korean, bogeyed the par-3 17th and closed with a par at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.
American Sydnee Michaels was second after a 65.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen shot a tournament-record 64 to match American Lizette Salas and Japan’s Momoko Ueda and Mika Miyazato at 7 under.
European Tour: England’s Ross Fisher shot a 4-under 67 in the second round of the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura, Portugal, to increase his lead to three strokes.
Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger were tied for second.
Wiesberger had a 65, and Gallacher shot a 70.
