GOLF/Lancome Trophy: It has always seemed fairly obvious that, despite Scottish claims to the contrary, golf originated in Holland. Centuries before something similar surfaced in Scotland the Dutch were playing kolf, or kolven, a game involving knocking a ball at a target with an implement in a shape curiously like a modern golf club.

Given that there were strong trade links between the countries the transfer of the Dutch pastime seems almost a certainty - until you examine the evidence of the present day.

Today's argument runs along the lines of: "If it was the Dutch who started golf, how come they can't play it now and, what's more, never have been able to play it? How many majors have they won, how many Ryder Cup players have they produced?"

The answers to the last two questions are, of course, nil and nil, which is something that Maarten Lafeber intends to rectify. The 27-year-old is the surprise leader, after 36 holes, of the Lancome Trophy at St Nom la Breteche, his 12-under-par 130 being two shots better than overnight leader Alex Cejka.

Lafeber was born in Eindhoven but the attraction of golf escaped him until the age of 16, which is practically middle-aged in today's terms and some 15 years and nine months after Tiger Woods allegedly first swung a club. But he was a quick developer, won the Dutch, Spanish and Swiss amateur championships and, on turning professional, won the Kenya Open in 1999.

Yesterday he had a second successive 65, a round that featured only one long putt, a 25-footer at the short third, and one-holed bunker shot for a birdie at the short 18th.

Afterwards he said: "It is the dream of every tour player to play in the Ryder Cup."

Asked if he believed his country was responsible for golf, he smiled and said: "Of course. It is in history, isn't it?"

That, of course, depends on which nation's history books you read.

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, the man who holed the putt that secured Europe's victory at The Belfry, Paul McGinley, was the highest-placed Irish player in Versailles, after he added a second round 69 to his opening 67. Des Smyth lay two shots further back after shotting a 68, while Graeme McDowell is on 140, after a 69 yesterday.

This week Sam Torrance was asked if he had recovered from the rigours of celebrating the Ryder Cup win, and he said: "You've got to stop first before you can recover." But not so much a seasoned professional as a boiled, baked and basted one, the Scot knows when it is time to go to work, and yesterday's 68 ensured he made the cut with his two-under total.

He made birdie at three of his last four holes and afterwards said: "Hey, a bit of weekend work," and added, in his best Glasgie accent, "Ye cannae keep a guid yin doon. I've not hit a ball for a month. I've been a wee bit busy."

Torrance will play the next two European Tour events, in Madrid and Italy, and then play in the Warburg Cup, a made-for-TV extravaganza for seniors in which he will face Curtis Strange, the US Ryder Cup captain.

"I won't mind losing to him this time," said Torrance.

Torrance's Ryder Cup captaincy is done with: that of Nick Faldo, if Faldo is to be believed, is to come. First, though, he wants to play in the 2004 team and on Thursday he putted his way to a 65. Yesterday produced a sharp reminder that, at the age of 45, consistency can be elusive. He had four bogeys in his outward half on his way to a 74.

Guardian Services

Details in SPORTS ROUND-UP

EDDIE POLLAND with face Denis O'Sullivan in a classic All-Ireland encounter in the semi-finals of the European Seniors Tour Matchplay Championship over the new Flamingos GC in southern Spain this morning.

Polland produced a dramatic fightback yesterday when he came from three down after three holes to defeat Spain's Antonio Garrido 3 and 2, and then watched as O'Sullivan booked his place in the semi-finals with a similar victory over England's Denis Durnian.

The other semi-final will pitch Jamaica's Delroy Cambridge against England's Nick Job. O'Sullivan also came from behind to defeat Durnian.

The former Irish Amateur champion, who played in eight Home Internationals and four European Championships, lost both the third and the fifth before starting his comeback with a birdie in the 495-yard par five sixth.

He also birdied the ninth to go into the back nine all square and then won the 490-yard par five 10th and the 165-yard par three 13th to go two up.

The match ended when O'Sullivan drove to the edge of the green on the 354-yard 16th to set up a winning birdie.