PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – Unheralded Roberto Castro shot a nine-under 63 to tie the course record and grab an early three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Zach Johnson in Thursday’s opening round of the Players Championship.

Staging a clinic with his irons to receptive greens, Castro, ranked 267th in the world, made seven birdies and an eagle to match the mark shared by Greg Norman and Fred Couples in his first competitive round on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – Winning the Masters was the ultimate high for Australian Adam Scott.

But after taking a few weeks off to bask in the glow of a cherished accomplishment, the 32-year-old Scott said on Wednesday it was time to come down from cloud nine and build on his legacy at the Players Championship starting on Thursday.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – Tiger Woods may get the red carpet treatment wherever he goes but that will be of little help to the world number one at TPC Sawgrass, site of this week’s Players Championship.

Woods won his only Players title in 15 starts in 2001 and in addition to a field that includes the world’s top 30 golfers, and 38 of the top 40, there is the diabolical Pete Dye layout that has frustrated contenders for four decades.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major League Baseball broke the color line in 1947 when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the transition to racial diversity was not easy.

Sixty-six years later, with the NBA’s Jason Collins breaking another barrier in major U.S. pro sports leagues by becoming the first male competitor to publicly reveal he is gay, MLB will have to overcome earlier prejudices that led homosexuals to stay in the closet.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – It might be the last Celtics stand for the tandem of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett but they showed their class and determination as Boston humbled the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Age, a lack of depth on the roster and the strains of the National Basketball Association salary cap have put the Boston future of Garnett and Pierce in doubt but the gritty veterans refuse to go out quietly this postseason.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The boxer who pummeled opponents with his words as well as with his fast fists rarely talks these days, and his dazzling footwork is a memory frozen on video tape and in the minds of millions of admirers.

But the spirit and sparkle in 71-year-old Muhammad Ali’s eyes live on through a 30-year struggle against the effects of Parkinson’s disease, which has stricken about one million in the United States and six million worldwide.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A bevy of beefy linemen are expected to command the spotlight usually reserved for quarterbacks when the National Football League (NFL) Draft kicks off with first-round selections on Thursday.

At the annual NFL Draft, the cornerstone of building winning teams in the enormously popular professional league, the last four No. 1 picks, and 12 of the last 15, have been quarterbacks.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Knicks turned up the defensive pressure in the second half once again to shut down the Boston Celtics and take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series on Tuesday.

Trailing the visitors 48-42 at intermission, the Knicks outscored Boston 32-11 in the third quarter and limited them to 12 points in the fourth for an 87-71 victory.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A gifted scorer, Carmelo Anthony has always had the talent to put the ball in the basket but rarely has he been able to put his team deep into the playoffs.

The pressure is on the Knicks forward with the bruising inside moves and delicate outside touch to prove himself in the postseason and help erase more than a decade of playoff failures for New York.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The bitter New York-Boston sports rivalry, dating back nearly 100 years, observed a momentary truce before the start of Saturday’s NBA playoffs opener between the New York Knicks and the visiting Boston Celtics.

The teams came together in solidarity over the Boston Marathon bombing attacks and their aftermath as players addressed the Madison Square Garden crowd before tip-off.