Steve Stricker birdied his first two holes, and Tiger Woods could see what was coming. Walking to the next tee yesterday at the TPC Boston, Woods said to his caddie, "He's going to shoot 62."

Woods' instincts were off by one. Stricker shot 63.

With superb command of his driver and his typical dose of great putting, Stricker ran off five straight birdies and only once came close to a bogey to share the first-round lead with Jim Furyk in the Deutsche Bank Championship at Norton, Mass.

Furyk, without a victory in more than two years, shot his 8-under 63 in the afternoon. He had five birdies in his opening six holes, settled in for a diet of pars, then closed with consecutive birdies for his lowest round of the year.

They were two shots clear of a group that included Masters champion Angel Cabrera, Justin Leonard, Retief Goosen and Scott Verplank, who had dinner with Stricker on Thursday night and had a minor bout of food poisoning.

Stricker felt fine, and played even better.

"To get off to a birdie-birdie start just kind of got the day started in the right direction," Stricker said.

In a reversal, it was Woods who had the best seat for a great round. The world's No. 1 player hit ordinary shots to the green, hit one tee shot into the bushes for a penalty shot and failed to convert five birdie chances he had inside 12 feet. He wound up with a 70.

"I didn't really do much of anything positive today," Woods said. "I didn't feel good over any shot today. Didn't drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn't make any putts. Other than that, it was a good day."

SLUMAN TOPS FIRST TEE OPEN

Defending champion Jeff Sluman shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 at Del Monte Golf Course to take a one-stroke lead over Loren Roberts and Olin Browne in the Champions Tour's Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, Calif.

Sluman has five top-10 finishes this season, but hasn't won since his Walmart victory last year. He won six times on the PGA Tour.

Browne and Roberts shot 66s at Del Monte. Tom Kite, who also played at Del Monte, and Mark O'Meara, who had the low score at Pebble Beach, had 67s. Tom Watson, celebrating his 60th birthday, opened with a 70 at Del Monte.

AIKEN SHOOTS INTO OMEGA LEAD

South Africa's Thomas Aiken shot a 7-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Omega European Masters, the first event in the 12-month European Ryder Cup points race.

Aiken had a 10-under 132 total at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Course in Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland.

Wales' Bradley Dredge (65), the 2006 winner, was a stroke back along with Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez (68) at 133.

TRACK AND FIELD

BOLT CRUISES; 3 SHARE JACKPOT

Under black clouds on a damp day, Usain Bolt was brilliant as ever. Once again, it was as if he were racing alone.

The Jamaican ran the fourth fastest 200 meters in history yesterday to upstage Yelena Isinbayeva, Sanya Richards and Kenenisa Bekele, who split a $1 million jackpot for winning their events in all six Golden League meets this season.

Because of a wet track and cold conditions at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, Bolt never got close to the world record of 19.19 seconds he set in Berlin last month, finishing in 19.57.

"I felt wonderful," Bolt said. "I was fatigued in the last 20-30 meters. But the crowd gave me that extra push. I was very surprised by the energy they gave me."

In the long shadow of Bolt, the three other stars each claimed a check for $333,333.

World 400 champion Richards led her entire race and set the season's leading time of 48.83 seconds to claim the prize.

Pole vaulter Isinbayeva needed only to clear 15 feet, 5 inches to beat Poland's Monika Pyrek on a countback, while world and Olympic 5,000 champion Bekele held off fellow Ethiopian Imane Merga, winning in 12 minutes, 55.31 seconds.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

MEMPHIS TO APPEAL RULING

The University of Memphis filed notice yesterday of its intent to appeal the NCAA's ruling forcing the school to vacate all 38 wins from the Tigers' historic 2007-08 season that ended in the national championship game.

Memphis officials are upset the NCAA clearinghouse cleared a player believed to be NBA star Derrick Rose to play. The committee on infractions later ruled the player ineligible after a testing service invalidated his SAT score, prompting the penalties.

That is the only finding by the NCAA's committee on infractions that Memphis is appealing. School officials say the punishments of vacating that season from the books along with all the banners and the $615,000 in NCAA tournament revenue is excessive.