THOMAS’ 9-UNDER 63 WORTH EARLY LEAD AT CJ CUP IN SOUTH KOREA

KOREA» Justin Thomas had JEJU, SOUTH two eagles on his front nine and finished with a sizzling 9-under-par 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, the first PGA Tour tournament played in South Korea.

Thomas started with a bogey at No. 10 but made amends with eagles on the par-5 12th and 18th holes and four consecutive birdies from Nos. 14-17 to turn in 29. He had three more birdies and a bogey that gave him a three-stroke cushion toward the end of the round.

Chez Reavie, Gavin Kyle Green, Scott Brown, Patrick Reed and Marc Leishman opened with 66s and were tied for second at 6-under.

Jason Day and fellow Australian Rod Pampling were at 4-under, one stroke ahead of Pat Perez, who was coming off a victory at last weekend’s CIMB Classic in Malaysia. Adam Scott shot a 72. His round contained four birdies and four bogeys.

• Eun-Hee Ji shot a 6-under 66 and held a three-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Tour’s Taiwan Championship.

Ji got off to a strong start with back-to-back birdies at the Miramar Golf Country Club, and added four more to finish the round clear of fellow South Korean Sei Young Kim, Megan Khang and Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand.

• A former Dallas-based food company executive who admitted feeding inside information to an influential Las Vegas gambler linked to golfer Phil Mickelson was sentenced in New York to two years in prison.