In Brief

GOLF

Jones, Watson share lead after first round of Zurich Classic

Matt Jones holed out from 60 feet on his final hole for a 6-under-par 66 and a share of the first-round lead with Bubba Watson in the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La.

Watson, the winner at Torrey Pines in January, eagled the par-5 11th and had six birdies and two bogeys. Jones had eight birdies and two bogeys.

Joe Durant, Tommy Gainey, Carl Pettersson, John Rollins, Nick O'Hern and David Duval opened with 67s.

Luke Donald, a playoff loser last week at Hilton Head in a bid to jump from No. 3 to No. 1 in the world, shot a 68 to match Matt Bettencourt, Webb Simpson, Jason Dufner, Charles Howell and 2002 winner K.J. Choi. Hilton Head winner Brandt Snedeker opened with a 77.

Also: Top-ranked Lee Westwood finished the first round of the Ballantine's Championship at Seoul, South Korea, with a double bogey, falling six shots behind leader Damien McGrane.

Westwood, who won the Asian Tour's Indonesian Masters last week to regain the No. 1 world ranking, appeared distracted by spectators taking photographs. Twice in the last three holes he backed off shots because of clicking noises, dropping three shots in the process.

Grace Park and Song-Hee Kim shot 5-under 67s at Mobile, Ala., to share the first-round lead in the Avnet LPGA Classic, the tour's only event in a six-week stretch.

Retired golf star Lorena Ochoa is expecting her first child.

The 29-year-old from Mexico and former No. 1 player, announced the news on Twitter in English and Spanish: "I am very happy to share with everybody that we are expecting a baby!"

UNLV

Rebels guard Marshall to have surgery today to remove cyst

Sophomore guard Anthony Marshall will undergo surgery today to remove a cyst from his left wrist.

"It should be routine. I'm not too worried about it," said Marshall, who expects to be out of action for about a month.

Marshall started 27 of 33 games last year and averaged just under 10 points per game.

Also: J.J. O'Brien, a 6-foot-7-inch swingman who is transferring from Utah after his freshman year, is visiting UNLV this weekend.

The UNLV women's tennis team defeated Colorado State 4-0 in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Championships in Fort Collins, Colo.

Behind easy victories by the doubles teams of Nives Pavlovic and Aleksandra Josifoska, and Lucia Batta and Anna Maskaljun, the 38th-ranked Rebels quickly earned the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead.

Pavlovic, Maskaljun and Batta earned singles victories for the top-seeded Rebels, who face Texas Christian today.

The Rebels softball team (22-17 overall, 4-4 MWC) knocked off Utah 8-4 in Salt Lake City.

UNLV jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead with two runs in each of the first two innings and extended its lead to five with a run in the fifth.

Utah fought back with four scores in the bottom of the sixth before the Rebels added three insurance runs in the seventh to seal the win.

miscellaneous

Williams sisters not quite ready to commit to return to tennis

Serena and Venus Williams aren't ready to tell the world when they will return to the tennis tour.

The sisters, who own a combined 20 Grand Slam singles titles, declined to say when they will compete next. Both have been sidelined for months. The next major tournament, the French Open, begins May 22.

Venus said they "definitely want to be there," adding they are taking things "week by week, evaluating, and the good part is we both get better every week."

Venus hasn't played since January because of a hip injury. Serena has been out since July with a series of physical problems.

Also: Las Vegan Michael Hunter advanced to the semifinals in the 201-pound division of the national Golden Gloves tournament in Indianapolis, scoring a third-round stoppage of Jake Sahleney of Detroit.

Hunter, who will face Indiana's James Shorter in today's semis, had scored a third-round stoppage of Buffalo's Terry Carter on Wednesday before defeating Sahleney.

Swimmer Jessica Hardy, who missed the Beijing Olympics because of a doping violation, has been cleared for the London Games after the International Olympic Committee informed her she would not be subject to a contentious rule that threatened her eligibility.

Brazilian doctors say U.S. volleyball player Stacy Sykora is improving after sustaining head injuries in a bus crash earlier this month.

The 33-year-old Sykora was a member of the U.S. team that won the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, her third Olympics. She had been playing for Volei Futuro in the Brazilian league.