Steve Stricker has opened with an 8-under 63 in the Deutsche Bank Championship to build a two-shot lead among early starters in the US PGA Tour's second playoff event. Stricker birdied his first two holes Friday and never let up. He missed only two fairways and only once came close to making bogey on the TPC Boston. He was a runner-up last week at The Barclays. Among those at 65 were Masters champion Angel Cabrera, Scott Verplank and Justin Leonard. Tiger Woods didn't hit anything particularly well and shot a 70 thanks to a long birdie putt on his 17th hole. He played with Stricker for the second straight week. Aiken upstages stars In Switzerland, South African Thomas Aiken, chasing his first victory on the tour, moved into a one-shot lead after the European Masters second round Friday. Aiken shot a seven-under-par 64 for a 10-under tally of 132 to upstage the European players who are starting the year-long Ryder Cup qualifying campaign here. Two Ryder Cup hopefuls were in second place on 133, Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain (68) and Briton Bradley Dredge (65). Aiken did not have a full tour card at the start of the season but upped his game to take fourth place in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his home country last December. Since then he has recorded six more top-10 finishes including eighth place in the British Open and seventh in the WGC-CA Championship. Jimenez, 45, is hoping to become the oldest European to play in the Ryder Cup since the Britain and Ireland side was changed into a European one in 1979. Welshman Dredge is looking to make his debut in the biennial team event against the US, on home soil. Angelo Que of the Philippines (65) shared third place, two off the pace, with Britons Ross McGowan (67), Simon Dyson (71) and Irishman Paul McGinley (68). Que is the leading Asian Tour player in the first tournament in Europe to be co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour. Nine of his fellow tour players out of the 35 who are competing made the cut. Rory McIlroy, trying to take over at the top of the money-list this week, harmed his cause by driving out of bounds late in a round of 71 that left him six shots off the lead. Fellow Briton Lee Westwood (67), looking to overtake McIlroy in third place on the money-list, drew level with the Northern Irishman on 138. Rawson off to quick start In Calgary, Australia's Anna Rawson shot a seven-under 64 to take the first-round lead over Suzann Pettersen Thursday at the LPGA's Canadian Women's Open. World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and Amanda Blumenherst were another stroke behind at five-under 66, while Japanese star Momoko Ueda led a four-way tie at 67. American Michelle Wie stumbled to an opening round 76. Rawson rolled in four birdies and two bogeys and posted a 33 on the front nine. It was on the back nine where she really got going, making birdie on five holes and shooting a 31. Her previous best career low was a 65 in the final round of the State Farm Classic in June.
