Becky Brewerton shot a 5-under 67 for a share of the first-round lead at the Evian Masters on Thursday, and Michelle Wie rescued a disappointing opening round with two late birdies. South Korean duo Na Yeon Choi and In-Kyung Kim tied Brewerton for the lead in windy and overcast conditions that forced play to be suspended for one hour because of late-afternoon thunder. Kim hit an eagle on the 11th hole, while Choi had three birdies on both the front and back nine and only one bogey. Wie struggled initially with bogeys on No. 3, 6 and 13 before birdies on the last two for a 73. Defending champion Helen Alfredsson of Sweden, chasing her fourth title at Evian, sank four birdies to finish at 2-under 70. Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, teeing off with Alfredsson and Marianne Skarpnord of Norway, double-bogeyed her opening hole and then had bogeys on 16 and 18 to finish an inconsistent day at a sluggish 3 over. Wendy Ward of the US hit a 68 to stay in touch with the leaders. South Korea's Ji Young Oh, English golfer Karen Stupples, and Karen Icher of France also hit rounds of 68 to join Ward at one behind. Slattery leads Masters In Sweden, England's Lee Slattery was first off the tee at the Swedish Masters on Thursday and then tamed the monster Barseback course to take a one-shot lead in the first round. Slattery, still seeking a maiden European Tour win and who lost his tour card in 2007, fired a six under par 67 on the imposing 7,665-yard course, the longest in European Tour history. The Englishman is a shot ahead of Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez. Australian Brett Rumford joined Slattery on six under, but then ran up a closing triple bogey seven after losing his first drive and being forced to chop out of the trees with his second. Joint third are Argentina's Tano Goya, Spaniards Pablo Martin and Pablo Larrazabal and Swede Klas Eriksson. Watson 3 shots behind leader In England, four days after his heart-rending playoff defeat to Stewart Cink at Turnberry, Tom Watson shot a 3-under 67 on Thursday to begin his pursuit of a fourth Senior British Open title. The 59-year-old Watson, who almost became the oldest major champion at the British Open last weekend, was tied for sixth place, three shots behind leader Fred Funk. Funk was among the last finishers and birdied the last two holes for a 6-under 64, the lowest first-round score in the history of the championship. Funk had a two-shot lead ahead of countrymen Jay Haas and Loren Roberts, Des Smyth of Ireland and Christopher Williams of South Africa. Watson was another stroke back and tied with Tom Kite, Jerry Bruner, Greg Norman of Australia and Sam Torrance of Scotland. Bernhard Langer, leader of the Champions Tour standings after four wins this year, was back in the pack after a 72.
