Elecmons Ecke » for arguing balls and strikes from the bench. ...

Shanghai, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. McDowells last victory on the European Tour came at the Alstom Open de France earlier this year, while his latest PGA Tour win was at the 2013 RBC Heritage. U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Chris Kirk, Tim Clark and Tommy Fleetwood are tied for second at 3-under 69 at Sheshan International Golf Club. Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Adam Scott, Hyung-sung Kim, Bill Haas, Jordan Spieth, JB Holmes, Henrik Stenson, Jaco Van Zyl and Dawie Van Der Walt are all deadlocked at 2-under 70. McDowell, beginning his first round on the back nine, stormed out of the gate to grab the early lead and he never let go despite a couple miscues down the stretch. The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland quickly got into red numbers with a birdie on the par-4 first. Following a pair of pars on 11 and 12, McDowell drained four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 13, with a par coming on 15. After making the turn at 5-under with a par on 18, McDowell kept going strong with another par on one followed by a pair of gains on two and three. At 7- under through 12 holes, McDowell finally began to slow down as he dropped his first shot on the par-4 fourth. After a trio of pars from No. 5, McDowell bogeyed his second hole at eight, dropping him back to minus-5. He finished with a par at No. 9 to end there. Kaymer, also playing the back nine first, made the turn at minus-1 after making birdies on 13 and 16 to go along with a bogey on 17. Kaymers second bogey on one dropped him back to even par, but birdies on two and five had him back in red numbers. Kaymer made his third bogey on six, but a pair of birdies on seven and eight got Kaymer to minus-3. He rounded out his day with a par on No. 9. Fowler started off with two straight pars on 10 and 11 followed by another gain on 14. Fowler traded a bogey on 17 for a birdie on 18 to make the turn at minus-3. Birdies on two and eight were canceled out by bogeys on four and seven as Fowler finished his day tied for second at 3-under. Snedeker had a solid front nine with birdies on two and seven. He dropped two shots on the back nine at 12 and 15, but gains on 14, 16 and 18 were good enough to put Snedeker at minus-3 through one round. Kirk made his move up the leaderboard on his first nine with birdies on 10, 14, 16 and 18 to go along with a bogey on 17. Kirk played his final nine at even par with a gain on six and a bogey on five. Fleetwood made the turn at minus-1 following birdies on two and five along with a bogey on six. Fleetwood fell back to even par after a bogey on 10, but he finished strong with three birdies in a four-hole stretch from 13. Clark started off hot with three straight birdies from two, but bogeys on five and seven gave two of those shots back. Another birdie on nine was canceled out by a bogey on 10. Clark then made three birdies in four holes from 13. He also bogeyed 15. NOTES: Of the 80 players to tee off on Thursday, only 27 of them finished the first round under par ... McDowell has 10 top-10 finishes on the European Tour this year, including his win at the Open de France ... McDowells only other victory in Asia came at The Championship at Laguna National in 2008 ... Kevin Stadler and Graham DeLaet both withdrew during their first rounds. Jorge Villafana Jersey . The Raptors have been outscored 88-66 in the opening quarter over a three-game span to begin the month of February. Their most recent loss, 109-101 in Sacramento on Wednesday, was eerily similar to Saturdays defeat at the hands of the Trail Blazers. Nick Rimando USA Jersey . -- Adrian Peterson takes a look around the league and sees big money flying everywhere. http://www.soccerusateamonline.com/Bill-Hamid-America-Jersey/ . LOUIS -- The St. Chris Wondolowski USA Jersey . HABS HEADED TO CONFERENCE FINAL The Montreal Canadiens scored early in Game Seven, built a lead and protected it well on their way to a 3-1 series-clinching win over the Boston Bruins. While this game or series isnt necessarily a referendum on the value of fourth lines, the Canadiens certainly benefitted from production lower down their forward depth chart. Matt Besler USA Jersey . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep.NEW YORK -- David Price cant control the trade speculation. The opposing hitters, he can handle them just fine. Price came within one pitch of extending his remarkable strikeout streak, yet still did plenty to lead the resurgent Tampa Bay Rays over the New York Yankees 2-1 on a warm Tuesday night for their fourth straight victory. "Stay here, David," Rays manager Joe Maddon implored. James Loney hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning and the Rays matched their longest win string of the season. Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrigs team record for doubles as the Yankees equaled their worst skid this year with their fourth loss in a row. Price (7-7) struck out nine -- he fanned at least 10 in each of his previous five starts, and was trying to join Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat six straight times. "That wouldve been cool," Price said. The left-hander gave up four hits and was pulled after seven innings and 119 pitches. He fanned Francisco Cervelli for the second out in the bottom of the seventh, then got two strikes on both Yangervis Solarte and Brett Gardner, missed with a couple of close pitches and couldnt quite get strikeout No. 10. In 23 career starts against the Yankees, Price has never reached double digits in strikeouts. The Rays, who spent most of June with the worst record in the majors, have won six of seven. Their recent struggles had fueled talk that Tampa Bay might trade Price before the July 31 deadline. Price has said that the more the Rays win, the better chance he has of staying with his original club. "I just play ball," the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner said. "Thats my job." Jake McGee pitched a perfect eighth and Grant Balfour worked around a pair of walks in the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances. Maddon has gone to a closer-by-committee approach. He said he picked Balfour this time because of a bit of "karma" -- the manager saw the reliever walking his grandmother into the team hotel lobby earlier in the day. "True," Maddon said. Balfour said his grandmom, in her mid-80s, came from the familys home in Australia to see one game at Yankee Stadium. "Im sure she was happy I was able to get in tonight," Balfour said. New York (41-41) has dropped eight of 10. &quuot;The guys we have, theyve got to get it done.dddddddddddd Thats the bottom line," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "As I said, its not just a couple of guys going, its a number of guys." "No one is going to feel sorry for you," he said. "No one has a magic potion. You just have to grind it out." It was 1-all when Loney hit the first pitch of the sixth from Hiroki Kuroda (5-6) into the Yankees bullpen in right-centre field. His fifth home run of the season gave him 11 RBIs in 14 games. The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Matt Joyce and Evan Longoria opened with singles and, after Loney struck out, Logan Forsythe hit an RBI single. A wild throw on a rundown gave the Yankees a run in the bottom half. Jeter led off with his 534th career double and went to third on Jacoby Ellsburys single. Price trapped Ellsbury with a pickoff throw, but he was hit in the back by shortstop Ben Zobrists throw and Jeter scored. Zobrist is playing shortstop in place of regular starter Yunel Escobar, put on the disabled list before the game because of a sore right shoulder. NOTES: Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long was ejected in the sixth for arguing balls and strikes from the bench. ... Cervelli nearly tumbled over the dugout railing while catching Zobrists foul pop in the first. Maddon helped steady the backup catcher, who started in place of Brian McCann. In the ninth, McCann pinch hit and looked at strike three with a runner on first. After hitting just .221 with nine homers and 36 RBIs at the halfway mark, McCann said hes been "horrible" this season. An All-Star with Atlanta, he signed an $85 million, five-year deal with the Yankees. Girardi said it was just a regular day off for rest. "I believe hes going to hit," Girardi said. "At times, I think hes been a little anxious." ... Tampa Bay RF Kevin Kiermaier and a couple of Rays got into the World Cup spirit, dying their hair red, white and blue to support the U.S. soccer team. ... Rays RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-7, 4.14 ERA) starts against LHP Vidal Nuno (2-4, 5.42) in the series finale Wednesday afternoon. ... Johnson remains the last pitcher to strike out at least 10 in six consecutive starts. He did it in 2002 with Arizona. The record is eight in a row by Martinez in 1999 with Boston. ' ' '