Mallon on Path to U.S. Open Lead

Meg Mallon’s caddie suggested a detour Thursday, and she took a new road to four-under-par 68 and a one-shot road in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Gurnee, Ill.

While playing the 406-yard 14th hole at Merit Club during a practice round, Mallon found the water on the boomerang-like dogleg. Then she found sand.

Then caddie John Killeen found a path though the 13th fairway, and Mallon used it Thursday in making an easy par what proved to be the toughest hole on the course. The par-four 14th yielded a stroke average of 4.48.

“I’m interested to see what the USGA does to this,” Mallon said.

Karrie Webb and Shani Waugh were at 69. Juli Inkster, trying to become the first player to successfully defend two majors in the same year, bogeyed her final hole and finished with a 70.

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Taking advantage of near-perfect conditions, Esteban Toledo shot an eight-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead over Brian Gay and Canada’s Glen Hnatiuk after the first round of the B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y. Toledo, who has missed the cut in four of his last five tournaments, had nine nine birdies, four of them in a row, over the 6,974-yard En-Joie Golf Club course. . . . When Arnold Palmer, 70, tees off today in the Senior PGA Tour’s Instinet Classic at Princeton, N.J., it will mark his 1,000th PGA Tour-Senior PGA Tour event. Palmer joins Miller Barber, Gay Brewer and Dave Eichelberger as the only men to play in 1,000 events.