LET TOUR:Cork's Claire Coughlan added a level-par 72 to her opening 71 to lie four shots off the lead at the halfway stage of the LET Final Qualifying School at La Cala Resort in Spain.
Finland's Hanna Leena Solonen is one shot clear of the field on five under par after adding a 69 to her opening 70, while Norway's Lill Kristin Saether, who fired a best of the day five-under-par 67, is in second place.
Coughlan's round included two birdies and two bogeys, while Martina Gillen's hopes of securing her tour card took a severe blow when she covered the inward journey in seven-over-par having turned an impressive two under.
Two triple bogeys on the 12th and 15th saw her slip to joint 49th place. Hazel Kavanagh improved by two shots on her opening 77 and lies in joint 57th place on eight-over-par 152.
SENIORS TOUR: David Merriman defeated Emilio Rodriguez on the second play-off hole to claim the top spot at the Seniors Tour Qualifying School finals at the Pinta Course, Pestana Golf Resort, Portugal.
The top six players won full cards, while the next 11, including Northern Ireland's Michael Wolseley, received conditional cards.
Merriman and Rodriguez finished on 275, while Wolseley claimed the last of the 11 places with a final round of 70 for a total of 285. John Cutis missed out after a final round of 75 left him in 25th place.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Nick Dougherty carded a seven-under-par 65 at the Australian Masters at Huntingdale but had to settle for second spot after round one.
Australian amateur Aaron Pike equalled the course record with an eight-under 64 to eclipse his English rival.
Local journeyman Peter Wilson finished level with Dougherty, with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin just one shot behind in the event, co-sanctioned by the European and Australasian Tours.
Gary Murphy leads the Irish trio in the event on two-over-par 74, with Damien McGrane two shots back on 76 and Peter Lawrie on 77.
The highlights of Pike's round were an eagle at his opening hole, the short par-five 10th, and a snaking downhill 20-foot putt for birdie at the last.
Spain's Carl Suneson is the lone European in a group of six players on four-under which includes two-time Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley.
Pre-tournament favourite Stuart Appleby is 11 shots off the pace after his three-over 75.
GRAND SLAM:World number one Tiger Woods fired a bogey-free six-under 66 to retain his PGA Grand Slam of Golf title.
The 30-year-old American, who ended the 36-hole competition at Hawaii's Poipu Beach on eight under, has now won the event seven times in eight starts.
Woods began day two three shots adrift of overnight leader Jim Furyk but ended it two ahead of his fellow American.
US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy (two under) and Canadian Mike Weir (one over) were third and fourth in the four-man tournament.
JAPAN TOUR: Michelle Wie's attempts to compete with the men suffered another blow when she slumped to a nine-over-par 81 in the first round of the Casio Open in Japan.
Starting at the 10th, Wie had a run of five bogeys in six holes from the 12th to turn in 41. Her performance improved only marginally on her second nine, which saw her drop a further four shots.
"I don't think it was pressure," said Wie, who is playing in her 12th event against the men but has made only one cut.
"I don't think I was playing that badly. My long game put a lot of pressure on my short game."
Wie finished the opening day next but last in the 102-strong field - 15 shots behind Volvo Masters champion Jeev Milkha Singh.
