GOLF : Watson Has His Own Gem, Shoots a 65

The pitching line from Nolan Ryan’s no-hitter read: 16 strikeouts, 0 hits, 0 runs.

A day later, an assist was added.

“I drew inspiration from it,” said Tom Watson, a dedicated baseball fan who watched the last two innings of Ryan’s seventh no-hitter on television Wednesday night, then went out and took the first-round lead Thursday in the Byron Nelson Classic.

“Inspirational, great, wonderful,” Watson, 41, said about the 44-year-old Ryan’s seventh no-hitter. “In the locker room, everybody was talking about it, thinking about it. That’s inspiration.

“That’s what sports is all about. It just shows that in sports anything is possible,” Watson said after he shot a five-under-par 65 on the TPC at Las Colinas, about 10 miles away from the site of Ryan’s effort the night before.

Lanny Wadkins, Mark Wiebe and Emlyn Aubrey tied for second at 66.

Watson, making his first start since a near-miss in the Masters, made an eagle, six birdies and three bogeys--and some far-from-routine pars.

Watson is a six-time player of the year trying to break a four-season winless string.

A delay caused by thunderstorms left 27 players on the course when darkness came.