Spieth, Palmer top duo

Jordan Spieth showed off his stellar short game. Ryan Palmer contributed momentum-saving par putts. They turned out to be quite the team yesterday in the Zurich Classic, the first official team event on the PGA Tour in 36 years.

Spieth hit a bump-and-run from 100 feet to a front pin to set up birdie on the par-5 11th, chipped in for birdie on the 14th and closed out their foursomes round with a 15-foot birdie for a 6-under-par 66 to share the lead with 18-year-old

Ryan Ruffels and Kyle Stanley in Avondale, La.

Nick Watney made a 60-foot eagle putt from well off the green at the par-5 18th as he and Charley Hoffman were among four teams at 67. Even in the tough alternate-shot format, benign conditions at the TPC Louisiana allowed for good scoring with 43 of the 80 teams breaking par, and 18 teams in the 60s. . . .

Lexi Thompson shot a 2-under 69 in her first LPGA Tour round since a rules violation cost her a likely victory in the first major tournament of the year, leaving her 4 strokes behind leader M.J. Hur in the North Texas LPGA Shootout in Irving, Texas.

Hur had a bogey-free 65 on a blustery, sunny day at Las Colinas Country Club. Ariya Jutanugarn and Michelle Wie were a stroke back along with Katherine Kirk,

Jennifer Song, Sung Hyun Park, Sandra Changkija and Marina Alex. Three weeks ago in the ANA Inspiration in California, Thompson was given a 4-shot penalty with six holes to play — 2 shots for replacing her golf ball in the right spot on the 17th green, and 2 more shots for signing an incorrect scorecard because it happened on Saturday and it wasn’t detected by a TV viewer until Sunday. She wound up losing in a playoff to So Yeon Ryu. ...

Alexander Levy shot a 9-under 63 to take a 1-stroke lead after the first round of the China Open in Beijing.

The Frenchman, who won the China Open in 2014, carded nine birdies in a bogey-free round at the Topwin Golf and Country Club to finish 1 stroke ahead of Pablo Larrazabal.

Levy is looking to become the first golfer to win the Volvo China Open twice and take his tally of European Tour wins to four.

Peter Hanson and James Morrison (both 67) were tied at 5-under with Raphael Jacquelin, Dean Burmester and George Coetzee.

Tennis: Sharapova rolls

Maria Sharapova won again to reach the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals while another major obstacle to a deep run departed in Stuttgart, Germany. Two-time defending champion

Angelique Kerber, who was against Sharapova receiving a wild card entry, was upset by Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-2, 7-5. Sharapova advanced earlier by beating fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1 in her second match after a 15-month doping ban. . . . Defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open while Andy Murray struggled to join him in Spain. Murray had his hands full getting past Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4.

Misc.: Museum for No. 42

Ground has been broken in New York City for the Jackie Robinson Museum after a 10-year wait caused by the Great Recession. Rachel Robinson, the wife of the trailblazing Hall of Famer, attended the ceremony in the SoHo section of Manhattan along with her daughter, Sharon, and baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. About $23.5 million has been raised to build the museum, now scheduled to open in spring 2019. . . .

WisePies Pizza & Salad, a pizza chain that won the coveted naming rights in 2014 for the home for the University of New Mexico’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, is dropping its name from the arena in Albuquerque, N.M. In a statement, the university said it recently asked the pizza chain to abandon its naming rights of The Pit pending a new agreement with another company. The name of the new sponsor has yet to be revealed. . . .

Stefan Kueng won a shortened Tour of Romandie stage that started on snow-lined roads, ended in chilling rain and left the top of the overall standings unchanged in Champery, Switzerland. . . .

Defense attorneys say a Lee County grand jury has declined to indict former Auburn tight end

Landon Rice on a rape charge in Auburn, Ala. The grand jury decided April 12 there wasn’t sufficient evidence against Rice. . . .

Manchester United held on following Marouane Fellaini’s late sending-off for headbutting Sergio Aguero to eke out a 0-0 draw at Manchester City in the English Premier League, keeping the race for Champions League qualification congested. . . .

Pat Kelleher, who oversees membership for USA Hockey, has been hired as the organization’s next executive director. He succeeds Dave

Ogrean, who is retiring after two separate stints on the job. . . .

Bennie Boatwright has withdrawn his name from the NBA draft and will return to Southern California for his junior year.