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Toms Puts Back Problem Behind

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The Associated Press

Published: May 2, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - David Toms took the first-round lead in the Wachovia Championship, breaking out of a missed-cut, sore-back funk with a 5-under 67 Thursday.

Playing in the morning when the greens were still soft from the drenching rain earlier in the week, Toms made eight birdies, including a near ace at the 13th hole, to take a one-shot lead against Phil Mickelson and Jason Bohn.

It was a welcome change for the 2001 PGA Championship winner, whose last victory was more than two years ago. Swinging too hard two months ago at the Match Play Championship caused a disk problem to flare up. He followed that withdrawal with two missed cuts while on pain medication, shot an 80 in the final round of the Masters, and tied for 61st at the Verizon Heritage.

Mickelson, in his first tournament since the Masters, showed off his new, longer putter in shooting a 68. Mickelson hit 12 of 14 fairways and had only 26 putts with his 35-inch model. Mickelson switched from a 33 1/2 -inch putter because he said he has grown up to an inch after starting his fitness program that includes extensive stretching.

Bohn, like Toms and Mickelson, had an early tee time. He made six birdies in a satisfying round as he works his way back from stress fractures in his ribs suffered last year at the Memorial.

LPGA: Lorena Ochoa felt helpless as too many shots ballooned into relentless gusts that reached 36 mph, sending her to only her second round over par this year.

Stranger still was listening to her describe a 2-over 73 at the SemGroup Championship in Broken Arrow, Okla.

"I managed to finish with a good score," she said.

On a wind-blown day that yielded only four scores under par, Ochoa took some measure of satisfaction by not letting the leaders get too far away in her quest for a record-tying fifth consecutive victory on the LPGA Tour.

Hee Young Park held it together in Oklahoma's notorious wind with a 2-under 69, and Beth Bader also was 2 under as she finished up a tough day for everyone at Cedar Ridge.

Two other subpar rounds came from Ochoa's group - Paula Creamer and defending champion Mi Hyun Kim, each with 70s.

Ochoa couldn't match them on a day that Time magazine listed her as one of the 100 influential people in the world.

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