Johnson in contention at John Deere

LOS ANGELES — Zach Johnson lived up to his stature as the top-ranked player in the field, firing 65 to seize a share of the clubhouse lead after the first round of the weather-hit John Deere Classic. The American, who won this PGA Tour event in 2012, is tied with Ryan Moore and Patrick Rodgers atop the leaderboard of the John Deere, which was interrupted by Thursday’s mid-round rain delay. Johnson and the others are at six-under while Andrew Loupe was at eight-under but with four holes to go before the finish of his opening round. Johnson got hot at the end of his bogey-free round, birdieing four of the final five holes. It was the 12th time he played a John Deere round without a bogey, extending his tournament record. “There was not many mistakes, and if I did get in trouble, I kind of got myself out of it in pretty, I’d say, consistent, in a good way,” Johnson said. The world No. 22, Johnson is one of just two players ranked in the top 50 competing this week. Kevin Na, ranked 34th, was two-under through 12 holes. Tom Gillis is also at six-under through 16 holes. Gillis came in second in the John Deere Classic last year, losing in a playoff to Jordan Spieth, who decided to skip this week’s event. Nearly half of the field failed to complete the opening round in the next-to-last USPGA Tour event of the season ahead of the FedExCup playoffs. Singh takes US Senior Open lead In Ohio, Vijay Singh rebounded from a bad shot on the 17th to birdie the final hole Thursday and take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the US Senior Open. Still playing full-time on the PGA Tour at age 53, the big Fijian shot a 4-under 66 on a hot and humid afternoon at Scioto Country Club, the suburban Columbus course where Jack Nicklaus learned to play. Singh pushed his tee shot right and bogeyed the par-3 17th. On the par-4 18th, he hit his second shot to 4 feet. The three-time major champion hit 13 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens. Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jeff Gallagher, Michael Allen, Gene Sauers and Glen Day shot 68. Singh is winless in nine career starts on the 50-and-over tour Singh finished second this year in the PGA Tour’s Quicken Loans National in June, but missed the cut at the British Open and the PGA Championship. He said the dry, hard course at Scioto was a tough test. The hot, dry conditions aren’t supposed to last, with rain forecast Friday and Saturday. Defending champion Jeff Maggert had a 70. He won last year at Del Paso in California. John Daly also shot 70. Bernhard Langer opened with a 73.