NEWS » major, Woods was keeping his head down. "Just keep grind

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Amy Yang took the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia lead, Michelle Wie had her best score in more than a year, and Lydia Ko had to fight to get back to even par in her first event since firing her caddie.Yang shot an 8-under 63 -- one off her own course record -- in hot and humid conditions Thursday for a two-stroke lead over American Marina Alex. The 27-year-old South Korean player birdied all four par-3 holes at TPC Kuala Lumpur.Simple, just keep it simple, Yang said. And try to get as much shade as I can.Wie opened with a 66, breaking 70 for only the fourth time in 68 rounds this year. Winless in 57 tournaments since the 2014 U.S. Womens Open, she is coming off a season-best 10th-place tie last week in China in the Blue Bay LPGA.I just had fun out there today, said Wie, who was paired with Alex. I love playing with Marina. Shes a really good friend of mine and she was playing great today, and just kind of feeding off each others energy.The top-ranked Ko birdied the par-5 18th for a 71. She had a double-bogey on the par-4 second.Really clumsy double, Ko said. I hit a great drive, and then I just leaked a shot in the water. The rest of the day I was just trying to fight back and put myself in position under par. And I got back into good position, and I hit it in the water again. So that wasnt good. But obviously to finish up the round with a birdie on 18 was good. To bring it back to even, I think it could have been much worse.The 19-year-old New Zealander fired Jason Hamilton, the Australian who caddied for her since late 2014, and is using Malaysias Sargunan Suntharaj this week. Hamilton shifted to Ha Na Jang and helped the South Korean player open with a score of 69.Chinas Shanshan Feng, the 2014 winner, was at 66 along with Wie, Norways Suzann Pettersen, American Mo Martin, Spains Azahara Munoz and South Koreas Jenny Shin.Feng had 10 birdies, watery double-bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 and a bogey. The women are playing TPC Kuala Lumpurs East Course, a week after Justin Thomas successfully defended his title on the West Course in the PGA Tours CIMB Classic.Yang birdied Nos. 15-17 and nearly made it four in a row on the par-4 18th, only to see her 5-footer graze the right edge. That left her a stroke short of the course record she set in 2013.On the par-3s, she hit to a foot on the fifth, 20 feet on the seventh, and 7 feet on Nos. 15 and 17. She had 22 putts.My putting was good, Yang said. Just happy to shoot a bogey-free round.She has five top three-finishes this season. Both her LPGA Tour victories have come in Asia, the first in 2013 in South Korea and the second last year in Thailand.I do enjoy Southeast Asia, Yang said. Id rather play in this weather than cold weather.Wie returned to play last week at Blue Bay after a four-week break.Really just kept my body right, Wie said. Just really took time off and really tried to get healthy again. I did a lot of rehab and just practiced and tried to play a lot.She also opened with a 66 last year. The American struggled after that in 2015, closing with a 76 to tie for 42nd.Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn, grouped with Ko and fifth-ranked Brooke Henderson, had a 68. The 20-year-old Thai star has a tour-high five victories and leads the money list and the Race to CME Globe and player of the year standings. She was third Sunday in China.Stacy Lewis shot a 70 in her first event since mid-September. Winless in 60 starts since June 2014, the 11-time tour champion had a triple-bogey on the par-4 11th. She has 11 runner-up finishes during the drought.Henderson also had a 70. The 19-year-old Canadian is playing for the fifth straight week in Asia and plans to make it six in a row next week in Japan in the Asia finale.Defending champion Jessica Korda shot 71. She was second in China. Cheap Kevin Durant Shoes . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. Kevin Durant Shoes Free Shipping . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. https://www.kevindurantshoescheap.com/ . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. Wholesale Kevin Durant Shoes . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Kevin Durant Shoes For Sale .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. ARDMORE, Pa. -- Phil Mickelson made his first birdie on his last putt. Billy Horschel never missed a green. It was all they could do to barely break par against Merion, which is turning out to be the real star of this U.S. Open. Nearly half the field did not finish the second round when it was suspended by darkness. Moments after the horn sounded to stop play, Mickelson opted to finish his round and drilled a 20-foot birdie putt for a 2-over 72. That gave him a share of the clubhouse lead with Horschel, who made it as easy as possible by hitting every green in regulation for a 67. They were at 1-under 139. With play resuming Saturday morning, it was becoming clear that this U.S. Open might be up for grabs until the very end. Tiger Woods, who grimaced with every shot out of the rough because of pain in his left elbow, was at 3-over 143 and still very much in the game. "I dont know how anyone is going to separate too far from the field," Mickelson said. "There might be a hot round tomorrow, and they might get a hot round on Sunday, but unlikely to be the same player." No one was hotter than Horschel, playing in his first U.S. Open since he was a 19-year-old in college. Nothing is tougher than Merion, the little course in the tony suburbs of Philadelphia that even in rain-softened conditions is showing plenty of might. And to think there was chatter at the start of the week about the potential for the first 62 in major championship history. "Perhaps next time you guys will believe when we say its really not that easy, that its really not that easy," Geoff Ogilvy said after a 70. That put him at 4-over 144, which gave him and dozens of others a legitimate shot going into the weekend. Luke Donald (72), Justin Rose (69) and Steve Stricker (69) were at even-par 140. The surprise were a pair of amateurs -- Michael Kim of Cal and Cheng-Tsung Pan of Taiwan. They were 2 under for their round and among those who didnt finish. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., is 5 over through 10 holes. His second round included a birdie, two bogeys, and a double-bogey before play was halted. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., are over the projected cut line of 7 over as it stands. Both sit at 9 over but have time to recover -- Hughes has played nine holes in his second round, while Hearn is through 10. Calgarys Ryan Yip is 11 over for the tournament through 16 holes, while Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., finished his second round at 16-over 157. The long day, brought on by storm delays on Thursday, began with cool conditions and patches of light rain that eventually gave way to sunshine. That led players to wonder how much tougher Merion will be once it starts to dry out. "Its not as easy as people think," defending champion Webb Simpson said after a 75 put him six shots behind the clubhouse lead. "I heard 15, 16 under floating around. And its going to be a normal U.S. Open winning score, I think." Horschel hit all 18 greens in regulation, a stellar achievement at a regular tour event, let alone the U.S. Open. It sent USGA officials searching for hours to find the last time anyone failed to miss a green in the toughest test in golf. Records of that detail only go back as far as 1989. That last documentation of someone doing that was Johnny Miller when he closed with a 63 at Oakmont to win in 1973. David Graham used his putter on every hole -- three from the fringe -- when he shot 67 to win the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion. "I didnt know I hit every green until I walked off 18," Horschel said. "Its a cool thing. But like I said, its not the first time Ive hit all 18 greens. Ive done it plenty of times in my career. Obviously, its at a U.S. Open, but I think the softness of the greens helped that." Pan played nine holes and was even par, along with Ian Poulter, who was plodding along in plaid at 1 under for his round through 14 holes. John Senden of Australia had a 71 and Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium shot 72 to finish at 1-over 141. Mickelson, equipped with a full night of rest after his cross-country trip Wednesday from his daughters eighth-grade graduation in San Diego, began with a three-putt bogey and appeared ready to pull away wiith a shot that nearly spun back into the hole at No.dddddddddddd 8. He missed the birdie putt from 4 feet. Then he hit a beautiful tee shot over the water to a dangerous front pin on the par-3 ninth to about 7 feet. He missed that one, too. Lefty three-putted from 20 feet on No. 12, and then flew a wedge over the green into a plugged lie for bogey on the par-3 13th. He kept battling until ending on a sweet note. With that birdie putt on his final hole, Mickelson was under par through 36 holes for the seventh time in the U.S. Open. The previous six times, he was a threat to win on Sunday. Mickelson has five silver medals as a runner-up, and all he wants is another chance. "I just like being in the mix," he said. "I think its fun having a chance heading into the weekend. The way I have control off the tee and as good as the putter is -- even though it didnt show today -- Im very excited about the opportunity this weekend." Horschel doesnt lack for confidence, even though the 26-year-old from Florida won for the first time on the PGA Tour just two months ago in New Orleans. He is an explosive player, capable of running off birdies without notice. For this championship that meant keeping the ball in play. His only bogey was on the 13th hole, the short par 3 and the easiest at Merion. "I was not in the zone, trust me," Horschel said. "This golf course, even though its soft, is still a tough golf course. I know what in the zone is for me. I dont get nervous, I just see the shot and go. And I saw the shot and I went with it, but I was still nervous with a lot of them. Your misses here can be bad if you miss in the wrong spot." Grahams great round won him the U.S. Open. Horschel still has a long way to go. Considering this packed leaderboard, it feels as though the tournament hasnt even started. For all his travails, Woods was only four shots behind. So was Rory McIlroy, who also had a 70. "It tests every aspect of your game," McIlroy said. "There were people talking about 62s and 63s at the start of the week and, I mean, I never saw that at all. I still think that something very little under par is going to win this week. If or if not that, around even par." Indeed, the real winner so far has been Merion. For such a short course -- it measured 6,901 yards from tee to wicker basket -- this century-old track had everyones attention. "You were convinced it was going to be scoring records and 62s and obnoxious scoring," Ogilvy said. "Did one player say that? Not many, anyway. The players said it was pretty hard, didnt they? Today was hard." Everything looked like a grind for Woods, who said he first hurt his left arm at The Players Championship -- he didnt say where or how -- when he won at the TPC Sawgrass a month ago. He dangled the arm and occasionally grimaced with shots out of the rough on No. 12, No. 4 and No. 8. He was more interested in his game, and that didnt cause him much pain at all. And even though he was halfway through his quest to end five years without a major, Woods was keeping his head down. "Just keep grinding," he said. "You just dont ever know what the winning score is going to be. You dont know if the guys are going to come back. We have a long way to go, and these conditions arent going to get any easier." TSN.ca will deliver live streaming of the 11th and 18th holes, along with a daily marquee group for all four rounds. TSN Digital platforms will also feature up-to-the-minute news, daily highlights, as well as Bob Weeks popular golf blog. Weeks will also answer fan questions on Twitter through @bobatscoregolf, while TSN.ca will feature tweets from Weeks, Jim Nelford, the USGA, and the official Twitter feed of the U.S. Open. All rounds are also available on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto and TEAM 1410 in Vancouver, and the third and final rounds can be heard on TSN Radio 690 in Montreal and TEAM 1200 in Ottawa. Upcoming U.S. Open coverage on TSN Saturday, June 15• 11am et - Third Round Preview Show • Noon et - Third Round • Midnight et - Third Round Highlight Show Sunday, June 16• 11am et - Final Round Preview Show • Noon et - Final Round • Midnight et - Final Round Highlight Show ' ' '