Woods breaks par in 1st round, trails rookie

Tiger Woods discovered how tough Innisbrook can be in a swirling wind, and he was up to the task.

Woods smacked his hands into an oak as he let loose of the club during a bold escape from the trees, came within inches of an ace on the next hole, and was among 27 players to break par Thursday at the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Canadian rookie Corey Conners, who got into the field as an alternate not long after he failed to get through Monday qualifying, didn’t make a bogey until his final hole at No. 9 and shot a 4- under 67.

That gave him a oneshot lead over Nick Watney, Whee Kim and Kelly Kraft. Only three other players, including former PGA champion Jimmy Walker, broke 70.

Woods made five birdies to counter his mistakes in his round of 70, the first time he broke par in the opening round of a PGA Tour event since his 64 in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015. He is playing his fourth PGA Tour event since returning from fusion surgery on his lower back, his fourth surgery since the spring of 2014.

“I enjoy when par is a good score. It’s a reward,” Woods said of Innisbrook. “There are some tournaments when about four holes, if you don’t make a birdie, you feel like you’re behind. Today, made a couple of birdies, all of a sudden puts me fourth, fifth, right away. That’s how hard it is.”

It was for everybody, especially Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.

Spieth, who won at Innisbrook in 2015, didn’t make a birdie after the par- 5 opening hole and shot a 76. Only six other players had a higher score. McIlroy, who like Woods was making his debut in this event, played in the morning and shot a 74.

Henrik Stenson, who played with Spieth and Woods, also shot a 74.

Morning or afternoon, it didn’t matter, as Innisbrook produced the highest average score for the opening round — 72.86 — of the 23 courses used this season.

Walker (69) and past Innisbrook champion Luke Donald ( 70) managed to go bogey- free, a rarity on a day like this. Also at 70 were Justin Rose, Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Steve Stricker, who won last week on the PGA Tour Champions.

Tennis

WILLIAMS WINS IN RETURN » Serena Williams won her firstmatch in her comeback at the BNP Paribas Open after a 14-month layoff for the birth of her first child.

The 23-time major winner beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-3 in the first round.

“It was incredible,” Williams said on court after the 1 -hourmatch. “It’s been over a year and a kid later and I get to go home to her now, and I’mexcited about that.”

With new husband and Reddit co- found Alexis Ohanian looking on, Williams played from behind until breaking Diyas in the 11th game of the first set. Diyas netted a forehand and Williams yelled, “Come on!” as the crowd cheered.

Williams served a love game capped by a 100mph ace in her first service game. She had break points in the first and fifth games but couldn’t convert. She started hitting harder and her familiar grunting returned when she tied the set 5-all.

Diyas and Williams traded service breaks early in the second set. Williams then broke her opponent again en route to winning the final five games. She smiled as she walked to the net, and her family gave her a standing ovation.

Williams has been away since winning the 2017 Australian Open early in her pregnancy. She gave birth to daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. sixmonths ago.

Ohanian bought four billboards along Interstate 10 outside Palm Springs in tribute to his wife. The fourth billboard shows a photo of Williams and their daughter with the phrase “G.M.O. A.T” greatestmother of all time and is signed by Alexis Sr. and Jr. KING: LET THE MEN PLAY BEST- OF-3 INMAJORS»

Billie Jean King would like to see men playing best- of- 3- set matches at Grand Slam tournaments.

The tennis great, who fought for equal rights and equal prize money in her playing days, said men and women should play the same amount of sets at major tournaments like they do on the ATP and WTA tours.

“Personal ly, I don’t want the men playing five sets anymore. I think it takes too much out of them,” King said at a WTA Finals event in Singapore, timed to coincide with International Women’s Day.

Men play best- of- 5 sets at the four Grand Slam tournaments, but play best- of- 3 elsewhere. Women have played bestof- 5 matches in the past, but that has been rare.

Baseball

ROYALS RE- SIGN MOUSTAKAS » Mike Moustakas is staying with the Kansas City Royals in a surprising turn dictated by a historically slow free-agent market

ansas City agreed to a one- year contract that guarantees the third baseman $ 6.5 million, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The deal could be worth up to $ 22.7 million over two seasons, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

The 29- year- old infielder turned down a $ 17.4 million, one- year qualifying offer from the Royals in November. But he found the interest of many other teams dimmed because a deal would have required compensation such as a loss of draft picks and/or international signing bonus allotment.

NFL

LEAGUE PROBES COMBINE QUESTIONS TO LSU’S GUICE»

The NFL is investigating whether questions asked to LSU running back Derrius Guice at the combine were inappropriate.

Guice, projected as one of the top running backs in this draft, told Sirius XM Radio that one team asked if he was gay and another club asked if his mother “sells herself.”

While not confirming that it had evidence yet that such questions were asked of Guice, the league released a statement Thursday deploring any such queries. Before each combine, where all 32 teams interview prospects, the league sends guidance to the clubs about specific language to be avoided in questioning. MIAMI’S LANDRY SIGNS FRANCHISE TAG»

Jarvis Landry is under contract with the Miami Dolphins, easing the path to a potential trade.

The three- time Pro Bowl receiver signed his $ 16 mi l l ion, one- year franchise tag Thursday, a person familiar with the situation said. He made $ 894,000 last season, when he led the NFL with 112 catches.

Sled dog racing

NORWEGIAN S LEAD AT HALFWAY MARK

Mushers from Norway were in the top two spots as teams make their way to the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome.

The winner is expected early next week.

Joar Ulsom continues to be the race leader. Late Wednesday, he pocketed $ 3,000 in gold nuggets for being the first musher to reach the halfway point when he pulled into the ghost town of Iditarod, Alaska.

Norwegian Lars Monsen is in second place, followed by three Alaskans.

In third is Larry Daugherty, a radiation oncologist who summited Mount Everest after running last year’s Iditarod. Rounding out the top five are fourtime champion Jeff King and the defending champ, Mitch Seavey.

Soccer

AMERICAN MORGAN PICKED TO WOMEN’S WORLD XI

U.S. national soccer team striker and former Cal star Alex Morgan and Brazil forward Marta were among the players chosen for the FIFPro Women’s World XI, released to coincide with International Women’s Day.

Goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl of Sweden was joined by defenders Nilla Fischer of Sweden, Lucy Bronze of England, Irene Paredes of Spain and Wendie Renard of France. Midfielder Dzsenifer Maroszan of Germany, Camille Abily of France, Pernille Harder of Denmark and Lieke Martens of the Netherlands round out the 11.

Motor sports

VETTEL SETS TRACK RECORD

Sebastian Vettel broke the unofficial track record at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona in Formula One preseason testing.

Vettel pushed his Ferrari to a lap of 1 minute, 17.644 seconds. That bettered Daniel Ricciardo’s effort of 1:18.047 set Wednesday.