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. 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. 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. Cheap Rams Jerseys . These teams will see plenty of each other in the next few weeks as three of the Canucks next nine games are against the Wild (after today they meet February 9th in Minnesota and again February 16th at Rogers Arena). Wholesale Rams Jerseys . In the late match, Shinji Okazaki scored two goals to pace Mainz to a 3-2 victory at Werder Bremen. Goals from Milan Badelj, Maximilian Beister and Hakan Calhanoglu ended Hamburgs two-match losing run and kept Hannover winless in seven games. http://www.cheapramsjerseyselite.com/ .com) - The Grand Slam season will get underway Monday at the Australian Open in Melbourne, where a new champion will be crowned this year. Cheap Rams Jerseys Authentic . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota (5): He was calm, poised, and looked comfortable all game. Cheap Los Angeles Rams Jerseys . Terms of the contract were not disclosed by the club. Clemons spent his first five NFL seasons with the Miami Dolphins, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2009 draft out of Clemson. OTTAWA -- Antoine Vermette scored three times -- including the overtime winner -- for the Phoenix Coyotes in a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon. Vermette found a loose puck in front of Senators goalie Craig Anderson and pushed it through to the back of the net at 2:23. He now had three goals against his former team in five games. Radim Vrbata also scored for the Coyotes (19-10-6), who halted a three-game losing streak. Marc Methot, Kyle Turris, and Zach Smith had goals in a losing effort for Ottawa (14-17-7). The Senators have now lost three straight. Both goaltenders, Anderson for the Senators and Mike Smith for the Coyotes, saw plenty of action as Ottawa outshot Phoenix 40-38. Smith made solid back-to-back saves pad saves on Turris and Clarke MacArthur two minutes in overtime to keep the game going. The second, on MacArthur, Smith was on his stomach and just stretched his right leg out enough to get his toe on the puck. Seconds later Vermette scored the winner Vermettes second goal tied the game with just 2:13 to play in the third period and forced the overtime session. While on the power play the Coyotes were aided with two horrible clearing attempts by the Senators and eventually Vermette took a pass from David Moss and deposited the puck into an emppty net behind a fallen Anderson.dddddddddddd. Ottawa was on the positive side of a 2-0 score early in the second period. Fresh from the penalty box, Zack Smith got a long pass from Eric Gryba and skated in on a partial break from centre ice and beat Mike Smith high to the stick side at 3:10. The lead was short lived though as the Coyotes scored twice in a little more than three minutes, including once on the power play, to tie the game. Vermette scored his first goal when he beat Anderson from the slot at 5:28. Vrbata then scored on the power play at 8:47 when he moved in from the point and beat Anderson short side with a shot that barely made it past teammate Martin Hanzal. Methot then gave the Senators the lead back with his goal at 14:51. Notes: Patrick Wiercioch, Joe Corvo and Mika Zibanejad were scratches for the Senators Saturday while the Coyotes elected to sit David Rundblad, David Schlemko, Paul Bissonnette and Jeff HalpernaSaturdays game was the first time Phoenix played in Ottawa since Oct. 26, 2010 when they lost 5-2aSenators defenceman Cody Ceci turned 20 on SaturdayaErik Karlsson of the Senators, lead NHL defenceman in scoring with 34 pointsaThe Phoenix Coyotes are the only NHL club this season the hasnt scored a short-handed goal. ' ' '