Shanghai, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. McDowells last victory on the European Tour came at the Alstom Open de France earlier this year, while his latest PGA Tour win was at the 2013 RBC Heritage. Obviously the course played fairly difficult today, said McDowell. The wind direction had switched completely from practice, some of the game plan had switched a little bit and some of the holes were playing pretty long. A big key to this golf course is driving the ball well and I drove it very well today. I think I missed only one fairway, which is very important. The greens are in fantastic shape and I actually putted very well U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Chris Kirk, Tim Clark and Tommy Fleetwood are tied for second at 3-under 69 at Sheshan International Golf Club. Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Adam Scott, Hyung-sung Kim, Bill Haas, Jordan Spieth, JB Holmes, Henrik Stenson, Jaco Van Zyl and Dawie Van Der Walt are all deadlocked at 2-under 70. McDowell, beginning his first round on the back nine, stormed out of the gate to grab the early lead and he never let go despite a couple miscues down the stretch. The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland quickly got into red numbers with a birdie on the par-4 first. Following a pair of pars on 11 and 12, McDowell drained four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 13, with a par coming on 15. After making the turn at 5-under with a par on 18, McDowell kept going strong with another par on one followed by a pair of gains on two and three. At 7- under through 12 holes, McDowell finally began to slow down as he dropped his first shot on the par-4 fourth. After a trio of pars from No. 5, McDowell bogeyed his second hole at eight, dropping him back to minus-5. He finished with a par at No. 9 to end there. Seven-under par through 12 holes was a beautiful start, and alghouth I dropped a couple coming in, all in all Im very, very pleased with 5-under par on what I thought was a reasonably tricky day, McDowell said. This is as tough off the tee as I think Ive ever seen this golf course. Kaymer, also playing the back nine first, made the turn at minus-1 after making birdies on 13 and 16 to go along with a bogey on 17. Kaymers second bogey on one dropped him back to even par, but birdies on two and five had him back in red numbers. Kaymer made his third bogey on six, but a pair of birdies on seven and eight got Kaymer to minus-3. He rounded out his day with a par on No. 9. Fowler started off with two straight pars on 10 and 11 followed by another gain on 14. Fowler traded a bogey on 17 for a birdie on 18 to make the turn at minus-3. Birdies on two and eight were canceled out by bogeys on four and seven as Fowler finished his day tied for second at 3-under. Snedeker had a solid front nine with birdies on two and seven. He dropped two shots on the back nine at 12 and 15, but gains on 14, 16 and 18 were good enough to put Snedeker at minus-3 through one round. Kirk made his move up the leaderboard on his first nine with birdies on 10, 14, 16 and 18 to go along with a bogey on 17. Kirk played his final nine at even par with a gain on six and a bogey on five. Fleetwood made the turn at minus-1 following birdies on two and five along with a bogey on six. Fleetwood fell back to even par after a bogey on 10, but he finished strong with three birdies in a four-hole stretch from 13. Clark started off hot with three straight birdies from two, but bogeys on five and seven gave two of those shots back. Another birdie on nine was canceled out by a bogey on 10. Clark then made three birdies in four holes from 13. He also bogeyed 15. NOTES: Of the 80 players to tee off on Thursday, only 27 of them finished the first round under par ... McDowell has 10 top-10 finishes on the European Tour this year, including his win at the Open de France ... McDowells only other victory in Asia came at The Championship at Laguna National in 2008 ... Kevin Stadler and Graham DeLaet both withdrew during their first rounds. Adrian Sanchez Jersey . "Ive still got it," Seattles ace said with a sly grin. Riding that fastball carrying a little more zip, Hernandez took a shutout bid into the ninth inning as the Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Wednesday night. On the verge of a brilliant shutout and first complete game since Aug. Adam Eaton Nationals Jersey . The Henry Burris-led squad finished second in the East Division before advancing to the Grey Cup where they ultimately fell to the home field advantage wielding Saskatchewan Roughriders. https://www.cheapnationals.com/417r-kurt-suzuki-jersey-nationals.html . The Blueshirts hope to stay alive once again when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins in Sundays Game 6 battle at Madison Square Garden. Matt Adams Jersey . Follow all the action live on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto, TSN Radio 690 in Montreal, TSN Radio 1260 in Edmonton and TEAM 1410 on Friday at 3pm et/Noon pt. Raudy Read Jersey . It will then be back to business once the puck drops as the two clubs battle for key points in their respective playoff races. Watch the game live on TSN Canadiens and listen on TSN Radio 690 starting at 7:30pm et.MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact face a tough task this weekend as they try and turn their season around. Bottom-of-the-table Montreal (1-4-6) welcomes Major League Soccers hottest team, the streaking New England Revolution, to Saputo Stadium on Saturday, and the encounter comes at a bad time for the Impact. Catch all the action on TSN2 and TSN 690 starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. Montreals season-long woes are seemingly without remedy. The team is racking up the league-lows: they have seven points from 11 games, own a minus-13 goal differential, and have scored just four times on home soil. The Revolution (7-2-3), meanwhile, are riding a five-game win streak, their longest since 2005. A victory against the Impact would tie the club record for most consecutive wins. Sitting pretty atop the Eastern Conference standings, the Revs are four points clear of second-place Sporting KC with a game in hand. The team is also unbeaten in its last seven games, outscoring its opponents 16-5 over that stretch. New England scored five goals in two of its last three contests. But the red-hot Revs arent getting complacent. Midfielder Chris Tierney knows the Impacts unfavourable position at the bottom of the standings could make them more dangerous. "Montreal, theyre a good team. Its the same team that put together a really solid run last year," he told the teams website from Foxborough, Mass., on Thursday. "Theyve got plenty of dangerous players and were going to have to go to their place, which is a tough place to play." Tierney is one of eight Revolution players to have scored during the clubs five-game winning stretch. He scored his first goal of the season in New Englands 5-3 road romp over Philadelphia on May 17. "Were not expecting to go there and win 5-0," he said of Saturdays matchup. "Its going to be a tough game for us and were going to have to have our best stuff to come out with a result." And some of New Englands best stuff during the streak is coming courtesy of two young forwards. Diego Fagundez, 19, and rookie Patrick Mullins, 22, have combined for eight goals and three assists in the last five games. In contrast, the entire Impact squad have only scored nine times during the season. "Mullins and I are working very well with each other," Uruguayan-born Fagundez told the teams website last weekend. "We are moving off the ball wwell and are making good runs.dddddddddddd As long as we keep playing like this, more goals will come." In New Englands last contest, Fagundez scored the winner in the 77th minute of a 2-1 home victory over D.C. United. Mullins netted the opening goal and became only the second rookie in MLS history to score in four consecutive games. "(Mullins) has a great awareness of where he needs to be, where the ball is," Revolution coach Jay Heaps told reporters after that game. "You have to have a knack for it. Hes done it his whole life and hes just now finding hes good enough to do it at this level." The rookie will look to take advantage of a Montreal back-line that concedes a league-worst two goals per game, and that gave up four on the road to the Colorado Rapids in their last MLS outing. The defensive four might get a boost from Matteo Ferraris return from injury. Ferrari injured his calf in a pre-game warmup last month, and hasnt played since Apr. 26. His return is still questionable for Saturday. Montreal will also be looking to build on a solid mid-week performance on the road versus Toronto FC in the Amway Canadian Championship final. Justin Mapp scored a beautiful left-footed strike from just outside the 18-yard box in the 73rd minute to give the Impact a 1-1 draw and a much-need away goal. "Thats the kind of thing that can change the season really quickly," said defender Heath Pearce from Montreal on Tuesday, before the cup tie. "It can bring a whole other dynamic to whats been a difficult season so far. Weve been facing adversity the whole season, from the start." The return leg of the Canadian Championship goes June 4 at Saputo Stadium, where the Impact will look to defend their Voyageurs Cup, and claim the title for the third time. Aggregate score will determine who will represent Canada in the next CONCACAF Champions League. Notes: Striker Jack McInerney has scored four times against New England in nine career appearances, including three game winners in 2012 and 2013. … New England has never lost at Saputo Stadium (2-0). … The Revs are unbeaten when scoring first (6-0) and when leading at halftime (3-0). … Montreals recent acquisition Issey Nakajima-Farran will likely make his Saputo Stadium debut versus the Revs. … The Impact and Revolution will face off twice more this season. ' ' '