GOLF ROUNDUP Kirk leads at Sea Island

Rookie Park leads LPGA event

LPGA rookie Sung Hyun Park took a big first step toward sweeping all the season awards, and possibly picking up a $1 million bonus. Park made a pair of birdies over the closing stretch at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla., on Thursday for a 5-under 67, leaving the 24-year-old from South Korea one shot behind after the opening round of the CME Group Tour Championship. Peiyun Chien of Taiwan and Sarah Jane Smith of Australia opened with bogey-free rounds of 66 to share the lead in a warm breeze. Park had decent separation from the other four players who only have to win the final LPGA Tour event of the year to capture the CME Race to the Globe and its $1 million bonus. As for the entire 74-player field, it was plenty crowded at the top. That includes Lydia Ko, the first of a record five players who have been No. 1 this year. Ko, who has gone 34 starts over 16 months on the LPGA Tour since her last victory, drilled a 3-wood onto the green at the par-5 17th and made the 15-foot eagle putt, then holed a bunker shot for par on the final hole for a 67. Of the top seven players on the leaderboard, Park is the only LPGA Tour winner this season. "Nothing different from my usual play," Park said. "I think I started off with a really good feel, a lot of good shots and some good putts. There is a little bit of bounce on the greens, but I think I can play well in the next rounds."

At stake for Park is a chance to become the first rookie since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to win all the major awards. Chris Kirk holed an 18-foot putt for eagle on his final hole for a 9-under 63 and a one-shot lead in the RSM Classic in Georgia.

Kirk played the par 5s on the Plantation Course at Sea Island Golf Club in 5 under.

"I kind of hit my putter on the fringe a little bit and I wasn't sure it was going to get there, but that was just kind of the day that it was," Kirk said. "Even when I thought it wasn't quite going to work out, it still went in the middle of the hole."

The seven lowest scores of the opening round came on the Plantation Course during a picturesque afternoon on the Golden Isles. Sporting a University of Georgia hat Thursday, Kirk won at Sea Island four years ago for the second of his four PGA Tour victories.

"It's a big Georgia territory out here on St. Simons," Kirk said. "Hopefully, my hat will bring me some luck the rest of the week."

The tournament is the final PGA Tour event of the calendar year, and Kirk is sorting out equipment changes.