Fowler 1 shot back in China

Rikard Karlberg made his World Golf Championships debut with an 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Rickie Fowler in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai on a soggy Sheshan International course.

The course was soaked with 5 inches of rain last weekend and most of the opening round was played in a light rain.

Fowler, in his first competitive round since the Ryder Cup, holed a 15foot birdie putt on his final hole for a 65 that had him thinking about an HSBC sweep. He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, his only victory this year.

Fowler was efficient on the par 5s, reaching two of them in two shots for eagle chances and leaving a simple up-anddown on the 14th hole for another birdie. He also chipped in from just off the green on the 17th.

“It’s always nice to start with 7 under,” Fowler said. “I knew with the soft conditions it was going to be very scorable if you drove it in the fairways, and I was able to do that.”

Dustin Johnson hit only seven fairways and finished with only one birdie in a round of 74. Russell Knox played in the group with Fowler and Paul Casey, and they combined to make 16 birdies and an eagle. Knox, Daniel Berger and Hideki Matsuyama were at 66, while Casey joined Bill Haas and Francesco Molinari were at 65.

PGATour: KevinStreelman shot a 9-under 63 in nearly ideal conditions to take the first-round lead in the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. The 37year- old Streelman had 10 birdies, including eight in an 11-hole stretch, at Jackson Country Club.

LPGA Tour: Amy Yang took the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia lead, and Michelle Wie had her best score in more than a year. Lydia Ko had to fight to get back to even par in her first event since firing her caddie. Yang shot an 8-under 63 — one off her own course record — in hot and humid conditions in at TPC Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for a two-stroke lead. Wie opened with a 66, breaking 70 for only the fourth time in 68 rounds this year.

Champions Tour: Bernhard Langer has a left knee injury that could force him to withdraw from the PowerShares QQQ Championship, the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs event at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. “I’mnot sure I’ll be able to play, but I’ll make that call at noon when my tee time is,” Langer said. “I can’t transfer my weight. I can’t put any pressure on my left knee.”