Joe Monte , a 16-year-old from Chantilly, shot a course-record-tying 6-under-par 64 yesterday to take the first-round lead at the U.S. Junior Amateur in Longmeadow, Mass.
Monte, who will be a junior at Chantilly High, had an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys at Longmeadow Country Club to tie the course record shared by five players, including Bobby Jones .
Monte bogeyed the third hole, but rebounded with a short birdie putt on the par-3 fourth. At the 315-yard, par-4 No. 5, he nearly had a hole-in-one and made eagle. He added five more birdies in the round.
John Powers of Bowling Green, Ohio, Chris Carlin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., and 2004 runner-up David Chung of Fayetteville, N.C., were tied for second after opening 66s.
The 156-player field will be trimmed to the top 64 after the second round of stroke play today. Match play begins tomorrow, and the championship culminates with a 36-hole final Saturday. . . .
Tiger Woods 's dominant British Open victory produced the highest overnight ratings for the tournament since 2000, the last time Woods won it.
ABC got a 5.0 rating with a 14 share for Sunday's final-round coverage of Woods's five-stroke victory at St. Andrews. It was a 9 percent improvement over last year's tournament, which was won by Todd Hamilton and got a 4.6 rating with a 13 share.
· SOFTBALL: In Oklahoma City, the U.S. softball team lost a tournament title game for the first time since 1997, falling, 3-1, to Japan in the championship of the inaugural World Cup of Softball.
The Americans, who won the gold medal at three straight Olympics, hadn't lost a title game since the final of the 1997 Superball in Ohio, which they lost 1-0 to Australia. It was also the second loss in a week for the U.S. team. The Americans dropped a 2-1 decision to Canada in their tournament opener, their first loss in international play since dropping a 6-1 decision to Japan at the U.S. Cup on July 4, 2002.
Mikiko Tanaka had a two-run single for Japan, the bronze medalist at the Athens Games, and Yukiko Ueno threw a three-hitter.
