CHARLOTTE, N.C.
– Michael Phelps picked up right where he left off in Beijing. Two races. Two wins. The world’s greatest swimmer left everyone – and everything – in his wake last night at his first meet since a triumphant Olympics. That nine-month layoff No problem. That photo of him using a marijuana pipe Time to let that one go, too. None of it seemed to matter when Phelps dove in for two events less than an hour apart at the Charlotte UltraSwim. He started with a victory in the 200-meter freestyle in 1:46. In the 100 butterfly, Phelps swam the outward lap in 24.6 and made the return in 27.1 for a total time of 51.72. Coach Bob Bowman, usually Phelps’ harshest critic, was downright giddy when he saw the times. He figured Phelps would be doing well to swim the 200 free in around 1:48. In the fly, Bowman calculated that both laps were exactly 0.6 seconds faster than what he did to win the gold medal in Beijing. SAN ANTONIO – Paul Goydos followed his opening 7-under 63 with a 65 to reach 12-under 128 in the Texas Open yesterday on the La Cantera Golf Club course – three strokes ahead of three-time champion Justin Leonard and four others. It’s the biggest lead Goydos, 44, has had on the PGA Tour. Leonard, tied with Goydos after the first round, shot a 68 to join Scott Sterling (63), John Mallinger (64), Mathias Gronberg (65) and Ted Purdy (67) at 9 under. CLIFTON, N.J. – Brittany Lincicome shot a 3-under 69 and took a two-shot lead over Suzann Pettersen and Ji Young Oh after two rounds of the LPGA Sybase Classic. Lincicome’s 11-under total on the Upper Montclair Country Club was the lowest 36-hole total on a par-72 course on the LPGA Tour this year. First-round leader Helen Alfredsson, coming off a career-best 62, ballooned to a 76. Forsman birdies way to one-shot lead HOOVER, Ala. – Dan Forsman made three consecutive birdies on both the front and back nines, shooting 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Regions Charity Classic. Forsman began his first run of birdies at No. 2, then followed with a trio beginning at No. 14, to post his lowest first-round score of the year on the Champions Tour. Keith Fergus, Larry Mize and Hal Sutton all shot 6-under 66 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Ross Bridge. In other golf news: MADRID – Roger Federer’s dominance of Andy Roddick carried over to their first meeting on clay, defeating the American 7-5, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1 to reach the Madrid Open semifinals. Federer improved his record to 18-2 against the sixth-ranked Roddick. Top-ranked Dinara Safina reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alona Bondarenko. In other tennis news: