US TOUR:Jim Furyk bolstered his Ryder Cup bid yesterday with a solid start to the Buick Open in Michigan, firing a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to share the lead with Brian Henninger at the Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club.
The world's second ranked golfer Phil Mickelson lies one shot behind the co-leaders after making a bogey-five on the final hole.
Dubliner Padraig Harrington had an encouraging start shooting a 67 to be just three off the pace in this warm-up event for next week's PGA Championship.
Americans John Cook, Kenny Perry, Steve Flesch, David Peoples, Briny Baird, Craig Perks, Canada's Ian Leggatt and France's Jean Van de Velde all shot 66.
In total, 88 golfers in the field of 156 finished below par on the 7,101-yard par-72 course. Furyk's goal this week, apart from joining the list of multiple winners in 2001, is to nail down a Ryder Cup spot to ensure his third appearance in the event.
He currently lies 11th in the standings, with only the top 10 qualifying automatically.
Curtis Strange, the United States captain, will add two wildcard selections to the team following next week's PGA Championship.
"I would definitely like to solidify a spot on the team and not have to rely on being picked as a wildcard," Furyk said.
"Qualifying for the team is going to be the focus for the next couple of weeks." Furyk knows how to play this course. He set the Buick Open record round score with a 62 in 1995.
"I like traditional courses," he said. "It's a course where you need to keep the ball in play and to take advantage of some of the par fives and the short par-fours." Henninger, who has been searching for his game, found big chunks of it at Warwick Hills. He hit 17 of 18 greens and 11 fairways, well above his average in both categories.
"It was really comfortable," said Henninger, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Wales Open: Sometimes, especially when you are bidding for the Ryder Cup, it never rains but it pours. Welsh rain may not be wetter than any other type but yesterday's relentless downpour at Celtic Manor not only led to the first round of the Wales Open being abandoned, it threatened to muck up VIP arrangements for today.
Certainly the red carpet being rolled out to greet the visiting Ryder Cup committee as this multi-million-pound resort 10 miles east of Cardiff tries to persuade these six men that this is the place for the match in 2009 is turning very sodden indeed.
"It's a great disappointment clearly," admitted the tournament chairman Andy Stanton. "We are making a major presentation and we're planning to fly the committee over the site by helicopter.
That will go ahead but everywhere looks better, and everyone feels better, when there is a bit of sun shining." At the moment the 2009 venue is a toss-up between Celtic Manor and one of several sites in Scotland.
Millions are being spent by everyone to try to persuade the committee that theirs is the place to hold it.
It is big bucks because the Ryder Cup is such a potent brand name that it now guarantees profits for years to a successful venue.
Boys' Internationals: England triumphed over Scotland to retain the trophy in the Boys Home Internationals at Moortown Golf Club yesterday, overwhelming the Scots by taking the first six singles games, finally losing only one to clinch victory by eleven points to four.
Ireland continued in the same rich vein of form they displayed in their tied match against England on Wednesday when they beat Wales by 101/2 points to four and a half.
Pro-Am: David Walker stormed over the Par 70 Tullamore course yesterday in 64 shots to take the overnight lead in the multi-sponsored pro-am tournament at the Co Offaly club.
Walker's six-under-par score gives him a one-stroke cushion going into today's final round of the £14,000 event.
The Foxrock head professional scored five birdies on the outward run to turn in 30 strokes.
He went six under after 10 holes before his first mistake when he missed the green at the short 12th hole.
