Stricker in control at Senior Players

Steve Stricker topped the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship leader board at 5 under with a hole to play when the first round was suspended for the day because of lightning and rain.

Stricker, who was coming off a victory two weeks ago in the U.S. Senior Open at Norte Dame, had a holein-one on the par-3, 184yard seventh hole at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

Play was suspended at 11:55 a.m. CDT and called for the day at 4:05 p.m. after just over an inch of rain soaked the course. Stricker was in the middle of the 18th fairway, facing a 140-yard shot on the par-4 hole, when play was stopped. He was set to resume play at 6 a.m. Friday.

Paul Goydos was second at 2 under after five holes.

In other news:

• Roberto Diaz shot a 9-under-par 62 to take the first-round lead in the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill. Playing in the final group of the day off the first tee, the 32-year-old Mexican player birdied four of the first five holes, eagled the par-5 10th and birdied three of the last five in the bogey-free round at TPC Deere Run. He took the lead with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th. Adam Long and Russell Henley were two strokes behind.

• Alena Sharp of Canada and Youngin Chun of South Korea share the Marathon Classic lead at 7-under 64 and are a stroke ahead of Stacy Lewis and three others at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. Sharp, 38, winless on the LPGA Tour, had eight birdies and a bogey. Chun, 19, also seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, had a bogey-free round.

• Matt Kuchar shot an 8-under 63 to share the lead with three players at the Scottish Open in North Berwick. Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, the highest-ranked players in the field, opened with 67s. Kuchar, who has two previous top-four finishes at the Scottish Open, made two eagles on his first nine and ran off four birdies in five holes to reach 9 under before bogeying his last hole of the day, the par-3 ninth. Kuchar was joined atop the leader board by Romain Wattel, Nino Bertasio and Edoardo Molinari.