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PALM DESERT, Calif. - Grace Park capped an almost flawless round by rolling in a 25-foot birdie putt for a 10-under 62 Thursday that gave her a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Samsung World Championship.

Scores were low on the opening day, with Park's the best in the tournament's 24-year history.

Park won her first major title, the Kraft Nabisco, earlier this year in nearby Rancho Mirage.

"I'm a desert kind of girl, I guess," she said, laughing.

Catriona Matthew had a 64, while three-time champion Annika Sorenstam was tied at 66 with defending champion Sophie Gustafson, Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr.

Amateur Michelle Wie played with Sorenstam and shot a 74.

WORLD MATCH PLAY: U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen was the only winner on a rainy opening day Thursday in England, beating Jeff Maggert by a record 12 and 11.

Seven of the eight matches were suspended by darkness with the players still on the course, including defending champion Ernie Els.

PGA: Rookie Jason Dufner shot a 7-under 65 Thursday to match his best round of the year and take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro.

NBA

EXHIBITION: Playing in his hometown of Shanghai, China, Yao Ming had the jitters.

He missed his first two shots and allowed Brad Miller to score against him repeatedly early.

Soon, though, Yao settled down, finishing with 14 points to lead the Houston Rockets to an 88-86 win over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday in the first exhibition game played in China.

"I didn't play a great game. I was really nervous in the first half. It was almost like the feeling I had playing in my first NBA game," Yao said. "I felt suffocated and I just wanted to find an exit."

In addition to leading the Rockets in scoring, Yao grabbed seven rebounds. The teams will play another exhibition game Sunday in Beijing.

Soccer

U.S. MEN: Wednesday night's 6-0 victory over Panama clinched first place for the Americans in their World Cup qualifying group, putting them in next year's six-team regional finals. At least three of those teams will be headed to Germany in 2006.

The U.S. team now can treat next month's final group game in against Jamaica in Columbus as a mere tuneup.

Leading 1-0 at halftime, the United States put Panama away in historic fashion. Eddie Johnson, making just his second appearance for the national team, became the first player in U.S. team history ever to score a hat trick as a substitute.

Entering in the 67th minute, Johnson netted in the 70th, 84th and 87th. The last U.S. hat trick in qualifying was by Peter Millar in 1968 against Bermuda.

"It was one of those games where everything went right for me," said the 20-year-old forward.

Local colleges

NKU: The Northern Kentucky University men's basketball team is picked to finish third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll released Thursday.

The GLVC coaches selected defending NCAA Division II national runner-up Southern Indiana as the preseason favorite.

Kentucky Wesleyan was picked second, but the Panthers have been barred from postseason play.

NKU posted a 16-15 record last season.

• The NKU women's team has been selected to finish fourth in the GLVC.

Bellarmine and Indianapolis each received 86 points to top the poll. Defending champion Quincy is third.