LET TOUR: Nora Angehrn of Switzerland held a two-stroke lead after yesterday's first round of the Northern Ireland Ladies Open at Hilton Templepatrick GC, Belfast. Only seven players were under par, with six on one-under.
Angehrn's 69 gave her the lead over France's Patricia Beliard, Australians Leah Hart and Sarah Kemp, South Africa's Ashleigh Simon, Italy's Sophie Sandolo and Libby Smith from the United States.
A further 10 players were a shot back on 72, including 19-year-old amateur Danielle McVeigh from Northern Ireland and 18-year-old Kiran Matharu from England.
Rebecca Coakley posted a 74 while Claire Coughlan, who eagled the third hole, shot 75 and Martina Gillen 78.
CHALLENGE TOUR: David Higgins and Michael Hoey are the only remaining Irishmen in the field after the cut at the European Challenge Tour's Oceanico Developments Pro-Am Challenge in Manchester.
The Waterville man added a one-under 69 to his opening 66 at the Marriot Worsley Park Hotel and Country Club to move to five under for the tournament - eight shots behind leader Michael Lorenzo-Vera of France.
Hoey, meanwhile, made the two-under cut with nothing to spare after a second consecutive 69.
Damien Mooney (level par), Stephen Browne (four over) and Michael McGeady (eight over) all made an early exit from the €150,000 event.
US PGA: World number four Adam Scott matched the lowest score of his career to vault to the clubhouse lead during the second round at the Memorial tournament in Ohio.
Scott flirted with the magical 59 before settling for a 10-under-par 62 in perfect scoring conditions on a calm morning at Muirfield Village.
Scott posted a 12-under 132 halfway total, one stroke ahead of Rod Pampling (68) and three clear of Ryan Moore (69), with half the field back in the clubhouse. Tiger Woods was 10 strokes behind after a 72.
TOUR NEWS: Controversy, never a stranger to the career of Michelle Wie, turned into downright calamity yesterday amid suggestions that the game's most famous prodigy feigned an injury during an LPGA Tour event to avoid falling victim to the rule under which players who shoot a round of 88 or worse are banned from the women's tour for the rest of the season.
Wie was 14 over par with two holes to play when she withdrew, citing her injured wrist. Two more bogeys and she would have fallen foul of Rule 88, one of the tour's more obscure stipulations.
"Shooting 88 is not what I think about. That's not what I do," she said when asked if the possibility of being banned for the season had influenced her decision.
