NAPLES, Fla. -- Lydia Ko didnt look any different in her first LPGA Tour event as a pro. The 16-year-old wore a golf shirt promoting golf in New Zealand, untucked over white shorts, her bookish glasses under the cap, and nothing about her demeanour that indicates so much as a pulse. She didnt feel any differently, either. Not after a double bogey on the third hole, missing what amounts to a tap-in that gave her a three-putt bogey on the seventh hole, or any of the four birdies that followed in her round of 1-under 71 in the LPGA Titleholders. "Just normal," Ko said. "I didnt feel too odd or special or slow or whatever today. That actually surprised me. I thought I would be much more nervous. And actually, one of the good things was I wasnt thinking about any money or related stuff. I just tried to play my game, which was obviously very helpful." It was a slow start and a strong finish, quite the opposite of Sandra Gal, who made six birdies on the opening six holes and wound up with an 8-under 64. Gal had a one-shot lead over Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Canada, who made six birdies on the back nine at Tiburon Golf Club for a 65. The LPGA Tour grouped players for the opening round of its season-ending tournament with a theme. The top three players in the world and on the LPGA money list -- Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen and Stacy Lewis -- were in the final group. Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr were in the same group. They have combined for 84 victories on the LPGA Tour, although Kerr found another theme -- "$47 million," she told her colleagues, referring to career earnings (its actually closer to $45 million, but whos counting?) In between were Ko, Michelle Wie and Jessica Korda. Not since Wie has there been so much attention on a teenager making her pro debut. Wie played with Korda when she turned pro. Wie couldnt help but think of that day in October 2005 at Bighorn Golf Club -- about two weeks after she turned 16 -- when she started shaking after being announced on the first tee, hit a thin 3-wood and threw her hands in the air in mock celebration when it found the fairway. "There were definitely flashbacks to when I hit," Wie said. "She played great today. She looked calm -- a lot calmer than I looked." Ko can only hope for a better outcome. Wie tied for fourth in her pro debut, but she didnt get the $53,126 because LPGA Tour officials determined she had taken a penalty drop in the wrong spot. She was disqualified for signing for the wrong score. Wie said she told Ko about her opening tee shot as a pro. The three of them walked together off the second tee, and the conversation between Ko and Wie turned to their first meeting with Phil Mickelson, and some of the amazing shots Lefty has hit. It was a relaxing atmosphere that could have turned dour if Ko had not kept her composure. Her round took a bad turn early on the third hole. Ko pulled her tee shot through a waste area of coquina pebbles and just into the pine straw. She tried to play a draw toward the right side of the green, but was distracted when her club clipped a branch at the top of her swing, and her foot slipped. She didnt get out of the waste area, and then took two more shots to reach the green and made a 4-footer for double bogey. "I think I was a bit too ambitious," she said. "A 7-iron down the right side would have given me more than an opportunity to make up-and-down for par." She turned a birdie chance into a shocking bogey on No. 7 with a three-putt from just inside 15 feet, missing a 2-footer for par when she tried to jam it into the back of the hole. That put her at 3-over through seven holes, as Gal was making birdie on the other side of the course on every hole. "My birdie on 8 definitely helped," she said. "It kind of came in from the back of the hole, which was quite interesting. I thought I had missed it. I gave myself opportunities, and par is sometimes good. All I can do is just set up birdie putts, and then some will go in and some wont." They were dropping for Gal. She shot to the top of the leaderboard, settled into a string of pars, and then had a big finish. Unlike the teenager, Gal was thinking about money, or at least the breakdown. The prize distribution from the $2 million purse is heavy at the top -- $700,000 for first place, while second place pays just over $139,000 and third place is about $100,000. "I thought this tournament was a little different than the other ones, so I thought, Im just going to be really aggressive and just go for everything, because really all you want to do is win here," Gal said. "Any other place it doesnt really matter that much. So thats kind of the mindset I had and I think that really helped me, and I just kept rolling in putts. So that was kind of fun." Soccer Jerseys China . 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Stitched Soccer Jerseys .ca presents a week long look at some of the teams and stories that will shape the up coming campaign.Despite a stunning late-season collapse that cost the Toronto Maple Leafs a playoff spot, general manager Dave Nonis believes Randy Carlyle is still the right man to lead the club. The Maple Leafs handed their embattled head coach a two-year contract extension on Thursday, while at the same time announcing that assistants Dave Farrish, Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon will not be back. "It was important for us to make it clear that Randy has the support needed to move forward," Nonis said on a conference call. "He has done a lot of good things for us and we expect him to continue that with some new assistants." There had been rampant speculation that Carlyle would pay with his job after a disastrous end to the most recent campaign saw Toronto tumble out of post-season contention thanks to an embarrassing 2-12-0 finish. Instead, Nonis and new Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan gassed Carlyles staff in hopes that some new voices can help the 58-year-old get the most out of Torontos underachieving roster. "If youve seen it being done before with most of the same players, or a lot of the same players, and with that coach leading that group, I know it can happen," said Nonis. "I know it has happened with this group before. I know that (Carlyle) has reached them before, reached them at times this year. "For me its not that were guessing whether or not he can have success or he can get through to them. Weve seen it. I know that its there and we feel he is the guy that can get through to this group." Carlyle -- who led the Maple Leafs to their first playoff appearance since 2004 in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season -- had Toronto sitting second in the Atlantic Division this year before the wheels fell off in mid-March. "We feel that this group can continue to grow into a higher level of a hockey club," said Carlyle. "We just have to find and continue to push for a little bit more from the individuals and we are going to do everything we possibly can to change some of the things that are happening with our group." Despite calls from fans and media alike in Toronto for Carlyles dismissal, Nonis said he wasnt swayed by how the decision might play in the hockey-mad city. "If youre worried about optics in this market, its going to be a disaster," said Nonis. "I think you have to make a decision based on what you think is the best decision for the organization, and this in our minds was clearly the best option. "He was a guy we believe can get the job done for us. Whether optics are that its the wrong thing to do or not doesnt really matter to us. If youre looking at trying to please people, youre probably going to make some poor decisions." The Maple Leafs started the 2013-14 season on a 10-4-0 run, but Carlyle worried at the time that his team was getting away with sloppy play in the defensive zone. Going into and coming out of the Olympic break, the Leafs were rolling despitte being badly outshot on most nights.dddddddddddd When they beat the Kings in Los Angeles on March 13, they were in second place in the division. But starting goaltender Jonathan Bernier aggravated a groin injury that night, and though it was not considered serious at the time it proved to be devastating. James Reimer lost five straight and was pulled March 23 against the New Jersey Devils before Bernier returned and lost three more. The final night of that losing streak, March 29 against the Detroit Red Wings, was effectively the death knell for Torontos playoff hopes. "This hockey club has proven at times to be able to compete to a higher level," said Carlyle. "The consistency of our compete in our defensive zone coverage was the area of concern right from the opening month of the season. We harped on it, harped on it, harped on it, yet we were winning with it." Nonis made it clear that it was managements decision to clean out the assistant coaches. Carlyle had worked with Farrish since their days with the Anaheim Ducks, winning a Stanley Cup together in 2007. "Its a tough day and those are tough ones," said Carlyle, who also played junior hockey with Farrish. "The game of hockey is a great game, but the business side of hockey is an awful one. This is an awful day in our life, for our relationship between Dave Farrish and myself." Nonis said that Carlyle would be consulted on the new assistant coaches, but added the decisions will be a collaborative effort. Carlyle led Toronto to the playoffs last spring, but that run ended in disaster when the Leafs lost to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals after blowing a three-goal, third-period lead in Game 7. "I think that we showed for periods as a group last year and the year before that what the team is capable of it -- that we have the ability to compete with top teams," said Nonis. "Why we got away from that at times, I think thats something were going to focus on over the course of the summer to put some answers there." Carlyle replaced the fired Ron Wilson in March of 2012, months after the Leafs previous coach signed a new contract extension. He went 6-9-3 to finish out that season and then 26-17-5 in 2013 season. In parts of three seasons with Toronto, the Sudbury, Ont., native has a combined record of 70-62-16. Nonis said its easy to blame a coaching staff and management when things go south, but added that the players also have to take a lot of the responsibility for a season that went off the rails so dramatically. "Our players have to be committed to do the things we did the year before that made us successful. The blame has to be spread around all of us," he said. "I think that were going to come back in the fall and the players are going to know that this coaching staff is committed to doing the things that we need done to be successful and they are going to have to perform." ' ' '