Ross McGowan and Marco Ruiz shot 8-under 64s Thursday to share the lead at the Italian Open. John Daly is three strokes behind. The 609th-ranked Daly, who hasn't finished in the top 10 of a tournament in three years, rebounded from missing the cut at last week's Spanish Open with a 67. Daly started with six birdies and a bogey on his first 10 holes, then added another birdie and another bogey to finish the first round tied for 14th with nine others. “I moved the ball up in my stance and that was a good day,” said Daly, who underwent stomach surgery last month. “This is the healthiest I've been in more than a year – it was brutal with the pain and it's nice to have my swing back.” McGowan had eight birdies, one less than Ruiz, who bogeyed the 12th. Mark Foster, Marc Warren and Hennie Otto are one stroke behind the leaders, and eight golfers trail by two. Defending champion Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (72) is nine shots back. Thai teen matches Steel In Beijing, Thai teenager Chinnarat Phadungsil birdied the last three holes to join Malaysia's Iain Steel as co-leader after round one of the Pine Valley Beijing Open on Thursday. Chinnarat, 19, recorded a seven-under-par 65 at the par 72 Pine Valley layout to match Steel, the early pace-setter in the one-million-dollar event tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Chinese and Japanese tours. Australia's Tony Carolan was a stroke back in lone third while Korean youngster Bae Sang-moon, who won last year's SK Telecom Open, was joint fourth alongside Taiwan's Lin Keng-chi and Japanese trio Hiroyuki Fujita, Takao Nagomi and Masao Nakajima. Defending champion Gaurav Ghei of India has work to do after shooting 73 for tied 84th alongside alongside Chinese trailblazer Zhang Lian-wei. Chinnarat was thanking his lucky stars after nailing a series of 20-foot birdie putts on the wind-swept course. Immelman withdraws In Florida, Masters champion Trevor Immelman withdrew Thursday from The Players Championship because of an illness, leaving the PGA Tour's flagship event without the last two major champions. Tour officials did not have details on Immelman's illness, saying only he had already returned to Orlando. Since winning the Masters by three shots over Tiger Woods, Immelman has had a tough time. He has failed to break par in his last two tournaments, missing the cut at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the Wachovia Championship.
