Justin Rose (65) leads at Bay Hill

Justin Rose started out as another guy in Tiger Woods’ group Thursday at Bay Hill. He wound up in the lead.

Rose put on a clinic with the putter and ran off four straight birdies late in his round for a seven-under-par 65, giving him a two-shot lead after the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Fla.

Woods had two sloppy bogeys from greenside bunkers and didn’t hit it as well as he did when he won at Doral two weeks ago. But he made enough key par saves and manhandled the par fives to scratch out a 69, a reasonable start as he tries to win Bay Hill for the eighth time.

“If you had said I would shoot a 65 on the range this morning, I would have probably said, ‘How many holes have I played?’ And that didn’t change much,” Rose said. “The first five, six holes out there were a grind.”

John Huh had a chance to catch him late in the afternoon, but needing a birdie on the final hole, he found a fairway bunker on No. 9 and took bogey for a 67. John Rollins and Brad Fritsch were at 68.

ETC.

Serena advances in Florida

Playing again at No. 1, Serena Williams routed Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 6-1, 6-1, in the second round of the Sony Open at Key Biscayne, Fla.

This is Williams’ first tournament since she regained the No. 1 ranking at the Qatar Open. Williams lost the Doha final to Victoria Azarenka but overtook her for the top ranking the week of Feb. 11.

Sloane Stephens was blanked in the first set but beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. Stephens is ranked 16th; she is the highest-ranked American after Williams.

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Haley Anderson of USC won the 500-yard freestyle for the second year in a row at the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships at the IU Natatorium/IUPUI Sports Complex in Indianapolis.

Anderson finished in 4 minutes 34.66 seconds, shy of the school record 4:34.48 she set last year. USC is in sixth place after the first day of competition. Georgia is first, and two-time defending champion California is fourth.

—Gary Klein

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The Tennessee Titans agreed to a one-year contract with safety Bernard Pollard, the second safety the team has added in free agency this off-season.

A seven-year veteran, Pollard spent the last two seasons with Baltimore. The 6-foot-1 Pollard also has played with Kansas City and Houston starting 85 of his 105 games with nine interceptions, nine sacks, 10 forced fumbles and seven recovered fumbles.

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Julia Mancuso raced to her record 16th title in the U.S. Alpine Championships at Squaw Valley, Calif., winning the giant slalom in her hometown.

The Olympic gold medalist beat World Cup slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin by 0.88 of a second in the opening event in the four-day competition at the 1960 Olympic mountain.

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Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium will be the site of the women’s 2015 World Cup final, the first time a championship game will be played on artificial turf.

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Former tennis star Jennifer Capriati has been charged after police said she punched her ex-boyfriend on Valentine’s Day while he was working out at a gym in North Palm Beach, Fla.

Palm Beach County court records show Capriati was charged by prosecutors Wednesday. She has been issued a summons to appear before a judge April 17 on stalking and battery charges, though she has not been arrested. No attorney for Capriati was listed.