August 20, 2008 01:43 am After a year away from the event, Bradford's Phil Miceli made up for lost time in the first round of the North Shore Amateur Golf Championship at Far Corner Golf Club. Miceli shot a tournament-record 65 and leads the field into today's championship round with a six-shot advantage. "It was probably the best tournament round I've ever shot," said Miceli, who made five birdies and eagled the 16th hole, to go with a dozen pars on the day. "The first five holes I had some birdie chances that I missed, but I knew there was a long way to go." The eagle on 16 was a bull's-eye with his sand wedge on the 340-yard par-4. "There are challenging holes and birdie holes (at Far Corner)," he said. "I was just out there looking to birdie those holes." Methuen's Ki Kwon stood in second with an opening 71. Mike Cole is a stroke behind at 72, and three-time champion Bob Avellino is still in the hunt after shooting 73. The low 40 scorers moved on today with the tee times starting at 8 a.m. The final group of Miceli, Kwon and Cole will be called to action at 9:45. "With this big of a lead, I'm just looking to make (today) a regular day of golf," said Miceli. AL: Pena, Aybar save Rays Willy Aybar broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run double, and Tampa Bay rallied past Los Angeles 4-2 for its ninth victory in 11 games. Angels starter Ervin Santana took a no-hit bid into the sixth and left with a 2-1 lead after allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. Carlos Pena drew a one-out walk from Darren Oliver, forcing in the tying run before Aybar singled. ... Johnny Damon allowed two balls to glance off his glove, including an eighth-inning drive by Marco Scutaro that became the go-ahead double for Toronto, which downed the Yankees. ... Grady Sizemore hit a three-run homer for Cleveland, which beat K.C, 9-4. ... Clayton Richard pitched six innings for his first major league win, and Nick Swisher and Jim Thome homered for Chicago in a 5-0 romp over the Mariners. ... Kevin Slowey had a career-high 12 strikeouts and Brian Buscher matched his career best with five RBIs as Minnesota whipped Oakland, 13-2. ... Matt Joyce homered twice, including a three-run shot in Detroit's nine-run seventh inning, and Armando Galarraga beat Texas, his former team, 11-3. NL: Mets rough up Braves Carlos Delgado hit a go-ahead double off the left-center fence to end the Mets' 3-for-42 slide with the bases loaded, and New York broke loose in the eighth inning to rally past Atlanta 7-3. ... Philadelphia's Jayson Werth hit a tiebreaking solo homer off Steven Shell (0-1), sending Washington to its 11th straight loss, 5-4. Jimmy Rollins got a mixed reaction from the crowd in his first home game since calling Philadelphia fans "frontrunners" last week in a television interview. ... Geoff Blum hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning for Houston, which tripped Milwaukee and Ben Sheets, 5-2. ... Rich Harden allowed two hits in seven innings, struck out 10 and bunted in the go-ahead run for his first career RBI to lead Chicago over the Reds, 5-0. ... Ian Snell threw seven scoreless innings to outpitch Braden Looper and lead Pittsburgh to a 4-1 win at St. Louis. Little League: Mill Creek takes thriller Faced with elimination from the Little League World Series for the second straight game, Mill Creek, Wash., came through in the clutch. Alex Jondal drove home Jason Todd on a deep single to left field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give Washington a thrilling 3-2 win to advance to the U.S. semifinals. ... Hagerstown, Md., beat Lake Charles, La., 6-4 but still got eliminated. Louisiana and Washington advanced on tiebreakers after matching Maryland with 2-1 records in Pool A. High school: Inspirational teen dies John Challis, 18, who inspired professional players with his battle against cancer, died at his parent's suburban Pittsburgh home yesterday. Challis made national headlines when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Pittsburgh Pirates game against the New York Yankees in June, leaving his home team a motivational message on their message board. "Have fun," he wrote to the Pirates. "It's the reason we play ball." The 5-foot-5, 93-pound teenager was diagnosed with terminal cancer when he was 16. He spoke candidly about his initial fear of death and then his determination to achieve his goals before succumbing to the cancer that had spread to his liver, lungs and other parts of his body. In April, Challis fulfilled a dream to play on his high school's baseball team, coming in as a pinch-hitter and drawing cheers — even from the opposition — when he hit a single into right field. NFL: Bengals bring back Henry With two Pro Bowl receivers hurt, the Bengals brought back troubled Chris Henry, a move that their coach had emphatically ruled out only a month earlier. The signing helps the team but raises questions about its commitment to holding players accountable for their actions. Henry must serve a four-game suspension from the NFL — his third such punishment — before he can fully rejoin the team. ... A day after he returned to the practice field, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is again dealing with a balky back. Hasselbeck left yesterday's practice after about 45 minutes when his back began to tighten up. He returned at the start of the afternoon session to do some stretching with the team, but walked off the field and back into the locker room. ... Buffalo Bills starting quarterback Trent Edwards sustained a deep bruise to his right quadriceps during practice, and it's unclear whether he'll return to practice this week. Tennis: Mauresmo hangs on Amelie Mauresmo dominated at times and struggled at others in a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2 victory over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the first round of the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament. Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic, who is 6-10, defeated 6-9 American John Isner 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 in the first meeting between two of the tallest players on the ATP Tour. ... Lleyton Hewitt withdrew from next week's U.S. Open after undergoing hip surgery.
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.