Taylor goes on birdie run to lead in Vegas

Nick Taylor had to scramble for par on his opening two holes Thursday, and then he couldn’t miss in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Taylor ran off a six-hole stretch at 6-under par, including a drive on the 314-yard 14th hole at the TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas that stopped 5 feet away for eagle. He birdied all the par 5s, kept bogeys off his card and opened with an 8-under 63 for a one- shot lead over Brian Harman.

Phil Mickelson, who missed the cut last week at the Safe way Open in his season debut, had a 65 for his lowest round since late February.

“The first two holes, I actually hit pretty good drives. Had a little bit of mud on it, so the ball just kind of took off oddly,” Taylor said. “Was able to make two good par saves, and from there was able to hit a bunch of greens, make some putts.”

Mickelson, Brian Gay, Sam Ryder, Brian Stuard and Maverick McNealy were at 65.

Brooks Koepka, who had stem cell treatment on his left knee on Aug. 25 after the FedEx Cup ended, began his season by needing two birdies over the last four holes just to break par. The first No. 1 player in Las Vegas since Greg Norman in 1988, he opened with a 70. MEADOW LEADS VOLUNTEERS OF

AMERICA CLASSIC » Stephanie Meadow had five straight birdies on the front nine and shot an 8-under 63 in hot and humid conditions to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Volunteers of America Classic.

Seeking her first tour victory, the 27-year- old former University of Alabama player from Northern Ireland began the birdie run on the par-5 second and capped it on the par-5 sixth in mid-90- degree heat at Old American Golf Club in The Colony, Texas. Dori Carter and Amy Olson were tied for second at 65.

College basketball

GONZAGA PICKED TO WIN WCC, SAINT MARY’ S SECOND» Gonzaga (33- 4, 16- 0 WCC) is once again the preseason favorite to win its eighth straight West Coast Conference regular-season title in the annual poll of the WCC’s 10 head coaches.

Saint Mary’s (22-12, 11- 5) was picked second. The Gaels advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time since 2010 after upsetting No. 1 Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament title game. The Gaels return nearly 90 percent of their scoring from2018-19. Senior guard Jordan Ford represents the Gaels on the All-WCC preseason team after ranking second in the WCC in scoring last season (21.1). Junior forward Malik Fitts joins Ford on the squad after averaging 15.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in his first season in Moraga.

Santa Clara (16-15, 8-8) rounded out the top five, and USF (21-10, 9-7) was picked sixth.

Soccer

U.S. WOMEN BLANK SOUTH KOREA» Megan Rapinoe had two assists in her first national team game since the World Cup and the United States beat South Korea 2- 0 in Charlotte, North Carolina, for its 17th straight victory.

Coach Jill Ellis earned her 106th victory as coach of the United States, passing Tony DiCicco for most wins with the team. Allie Long and Mallory Pugh each scored in the team’s fifth straight shutout.

Track and field

GERMANY’S KAUL WINS DECATHLON BATTLE AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS » Germany’s Niklas Kaul survived a grueling final day to win the world championship decathlon gold in Doha, Qatar, after the event was blown wide open by a competition- ending injury to defending champion Kevin Mayer.

Even with French world record holder Mayer out of the way, itwas far from smooth sailing for Kaul on a roller- coaster day that saw a different name at the top the leader board after each of the five events.

But 21-year-old Kaul triumphed at the end, winning the final event, the 1,500meters, to record a score of 8,691 points and become the youngest ever world decathlon champion. Estonia’s Mai-cel Uibo took silver with 8,604, crossing the line in second place just as his wife Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas did an hour earlier in the 400 meters final.

• Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser destroyed the field and stunned Olympic champion Shanuae Miller-Uibo as she became the first Asian to win the women’s 400meters world title. The Nigerian-born Eid Naser, 21, surged past Miller- Uibo on the back straight to win in 48.14 seconds, the third fastest time in history.

• Spain’s Orlando Ortega has been awarded a bronze medal in the 110meters hurdles after organizers agreed he was obstructed when Jamaican Omar McLeod fell in the next lane on Wednesday.

Ortega, on course for a thirdplace finish at the time, came fifth and Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarge took bronze which the IAAF said he would keep.

Winter sports

OLYMPICS STAR KIM TAKES SEASON OFF FOR STUDIES » Snowboarder Chloe Kim will take the season off from competitions and training to concentrate on her classes at Princeton. She will be back in training in May, with plans to make it to the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

She made sure to tell her fans on her YouTube channel that this was in no way a retirement. Kim won halfpipe gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.

“This isn’t like, an ‘Oh-my-gosh, I’m retiring video,’ ” she said on a YouTube video.