July 15, 2006	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 18, 1427

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SILVIS (Illinois), July 14: American Zach Johnson birdied the last five holes to grab a share of the first-round lead as main attraction Michelle Wie struggled at the Classic in Silvis, Illinois on Thursday.

Johnson, who signed for a seven-under-par 64, set the pace with compatriot J.P. Hayes, Swede Daniel Chopra and Australia's John Senden while Hawaiian teenager Wie battled to a 77.

Three were players were still out on the course when play was suspended for the day in fading light, thick fog having delayed the morning start by more than two hours.

Aiming to become the first woman to make a PGA Tour cut in 61 years, Wie posted a double-bogey, six bogeys and two birdies to match the fourth worst score of the day.

Fellow American Mike Springer propped up the bottom of the leaderboard with a dismal 80 while compatriots Bob May, who lost a playoff to Tiger Woods for the 2000 PGA Championship, and Mike Sposa, who was later disqualified, returned 78s.

Ryder Cup hopeful Johnson, who played a practice round with Wie on Tuesday, made a quiet start after teeing off on the 10th with an outward nine of level-par 36.

The 30-year-old then caught fire, picking up shots at the first and second before reeling off five birdies in a row from the par-four fifth.

Johnson, who lies 23rd in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, is chasing his second PGA Tour title after making his breakthrough at the 2004 BellSouth Classic.

Hayes produced seven birdies in a blemish-free display, Senden picked up nine shots after running up a double-bogey six on his second hole and Chopra joined them at seven under by eagling the par-five 17th.

Wie, who missed the cut by two strokes at last year's John Deere Classic, was watched by a gallery of 2,000 when she finally teed off at the par-five 10th after the fog delay.

A wayward drive at the 11th cost her a ball and a double-bogey six and she then went bogey-birdie-bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey before reaching the turn in four-over 40.

Despite playing much more settled golf over her homeward nine, she also dropped at the first and eighth to finish well down the leaderboard.

Americans Joe Ogilvie and Kris Cox fired 65s to share fifth place with Japan's Daisuke Maruyama, one of Wie's playing partners for the first two rounds, a further stroke back in a group of six.

Defending champion Sean O'Hair opened with a 69 while fellow American Chris DiMarco, recovering from the death of his mother last week, launched his bid for extra Ryder Cup points with a 70.

Winless on the PGA Tour since 2002, DiMarco has struggled this season after injuring his ribs while skiing in March.

With most of the game's top players already in Europe to prepare for next week's British Open, world number 22 DiMarco is the highest-ranked player in the field.

First round scores

64 - J.P. Hayes, Zach Johnson, John Senden , Daniel Chopra

65 - Joe Ogilvie, Kris Cox

66 - John Huston, David McKenzie, Michael Connell, Daisuke Maruyama, B.J. Staten, Jason Schultz

67 - Paul Azinger, Bubba Watson, Ryan Palmer, Matt Gogel, Steve Jones, Jason Gore, John Riegger, Charles Warren, Dean Wilson, Billy Hurley, Henrik Bjornstad

68 - Nathan Green, Brendan Jones, Stephen Leaney

69 - Jose Coceres, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Alex Cejka , Jon Mills, Richard S. Johnson, Camilo Villegas

70 - Mathias Gronberg , Steve Elkington, Ryuji Imada, Tjaart van der Walt

71 - Shigeki Maruyama, Justin Rose, Arjun Atwal, Jason Day

73 - John E. Morgan, Greg Chalmers

74 - Ian Leggatt, Scott Hend

75 - Hidemichi Tanaka, Craig Parry

76 - Phil Tataurangi

77 - Carlos Franco, Michelle Wie

Scottish Open scores

LOCH LOMOND: Leading scores after the first round of the 2.4-million-pound Scottish Open on Thursday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 71):

65 - Johan Edfors (SWE), David Drysdale

66 - Darren Clarke (NIR), Miles Tunnicliff

67 - Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP), Andrew Butterfield, David Bransdon (AUS), Raymond Russell

68 - Jyoti Randhawa (IND), Steven O'Hara, Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), Damien McGrane, Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Garry Houston, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Luke Donald, Carl Pettersson (SWE), Jamie Donaldson, Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Wade Ormsby (AUS), Hale Irwin (USA), Barry Lane

69 - David Howell, Gary Clark, Simon Khan, Tom Lehman (USA), Marcel Siem (GER), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP), Tim Clark (RSA), Gregory Havret (FRA), Jonathan Lomas, Paul McGinley, Paul Broadhurst, Lee Westwood, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), Bradley Dredge70 - Mark Foster, Scott Henderson, Stephen Gallacher, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Retief Goosen (RSA), Ian Poulter, Paul Lawrie, Richard Sterne (RSA), David Lynn, Steven Jeppesen (SWE), James Kingston (RSA), Robert-Jan Derksen (NED), Simon Dyson, Ernie Els (RSA), Jason McCreadie, Simon Wakefield, Daniel Vancsik (ARG), Jamie Spence, Peter O'Malley (AUS), David Carter, Richard Finch, David Griffiths, James Kingston (RSA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Sam Little, James McCreadie.