Cauley, Dawson share lead

Bud Cauley has the same good vibes at Sea Island, even if the stakes are different this time.

The McGladrey Classic is where Cauley did well enough to secure his PGA Tour card, joining an elite list of players who went from college to a full tour card without going to Q-school. Now he’s after his first win, and Cauley took a big step Thursday by overpowering the course at St. Simons Island, Ga., for an eight-under-par 62.

It was his best score on the tour, and it gave him a share of the lead with Marco Dawson.

The McGladrey Classic is the penultimate PGA Tour event on the schedule that counts toward the money list.

Spain’s Alejandro Canizares and New Zealand’s Michael Hendry each shot seven-under 65 to share the first-round lead in the Perth International in Australia.

Canizares had seven birdies in a bogey-free round, and Hendry put together five birdies on his second nine in the event sanctioned by the European Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.

ETC.

Love will avoid hand surgery

The Minnesota Timberwolves received a bit of good news when doctors told All-Star Kevin Love that he wouldn’t need surgery on his broken right hand.

The bad news is they still have to figure out a way to replace his 26 points and 13 rebounds a game for the next six to eight weeks.

Love said in a statement that he broke his right hand while doing knuckle push-ups the day before in a pre-practice workout.

Venus Williams, playing her first tournament since the U.S. Open, defeated ninth-seeded Mona Barthel, 7-6 (4), 6-4, in the Luxembourg Open despite six double-faults and four service breaks by her German opponent.

Tomas Berdych reached the quarterfinals in the Stockholm Open with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp.

Berdych will next face Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny and remains in line to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur advanced to the Kremlin Cup quarterfinals at Moscow with straight-sets victories, and top-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov bowed out of the men’s event.

Janko Tipsarevic reached his 13th quarterfinal of the season by defeating Ernests Gulbis, 6-3, 6-4, in the Erste Bank Open at Vienna.

Tipsarevic will face Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in the quarterfinals. Bedene edged Donald Young of the United States, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 6-3.

Johan Bruyneel intends to fight charges he was a central figure in doping programs within Lance Armstrong’s teams, provided his defense hasn’t been “permanently prejudiced” by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s accusations.

Bruyneel, Armstrong’s former manager, was a key figure in USADA’s report on what it says was systematic doping on the American cycling teams he oversaw. Although Armstrong chose not to contest the USADA charges, Bruyneel is opting for arbitration.

Slater Martin, the Hall of Fame guard who won four NBA titles with the Minneapolis Lakers and one with the St. Louis Hawks, died Thursday. He was 86.

Martin died at a skilled nursing facility in Houston after a sudden illness, daughter-in-law Becky Martin said. She said he was admitted to the nursing home Monday.