The rest of the Golf news in brief
Moriarty slips back to sixth in France
EUROPEAN TOUR:England's Robert Dinwiddie fired a superb six-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead over Austria's Martin Wiegele heading into the third round of the Saint-Omer Open presented by Neuflize OBC.
Dinwiddie, the current Challenge Tour leader, is trying to win a place on the European Tour next season and admitted it was difficult keeping the importance of the tournament from his mind.
Dinwiddle said: “You try to downplay the importance. Really you’ve just got to treat it like any other event, and just try to hit the best shot you can every time. I’m really happy with a 65.”
Ireland’s Colm Moriarty, who topped the leaderboard alongside Wiegele overnight, hit a disappointing two-over-par 73 to finish in joint sixth position, three shots adrift of Dinwiddie’s lead.
EUROPEAN SENIORS:It might not quite be classed as local knowledge just yet, but a growing awareness and an appreciation of links golf helped American Mike Cunning into the lead after the first round of the Wales Seniors Open at Royal Porthcawl.
The 51-year-old from Phoenix took advantage of near perfect conditions at the iconic south Wales venue to post a seven-under-par 65 which gave him a one shot lead over former Ryder Cup Italian Costantino Rocca with Australian Peter Fowler and Gordon Brand Jnr of Scotland a further shot adrift.
Cunning played in last year’s tournament but could do no better than 75 in any of his three rounds on his way to a share of lowly 53rd place.
“Everything was new to me last year and so to be able to come back and play it again the second time around, you get a little bit more familiar as you go along,” said Cunning.
Eamonn Darcy leads the Irish challenge after a 70, with Des Smyth a shot back.
LET:Kristie Smith held the lead at the end of the first day of the Ladies Swiss Open.
The event was due to start on Thursday but persistent rain had made the course at Golf Gerre Losone unplayable and the competition was reduced from 72 to 54 holes.
Smith, of Australia, found herself at the top of the leaderboard after shooting a seven-under-par 65 following a round that included eight birdies, nine pars and just one bogey.
The 21-year-old said, “I had 26 putts and that’s always nice to have on the statistics,.
“I drove it pretty average but holed some putts, which was where the 65 came from.
BRITISH AMATEUR:Ireland's hopes of having their first British Amateur champion since Brian McElhinney five years ago were dashed at Muirfield yesterday when Paul Cutler fell by the wayside in the quarter-finals.
His battle with Jeung, who is high up in the world rankings, was a closely-fought affair with no more than a hole between the players for most of the time.
A crucial moment came at the 15th when Jeung holed his second shot for a winning eagle two, and when Cutler missed the green at the short 16th it was all over.
Jeong went onto reach the final with a convincing 5 and4 success in the semis against Matthew Nixon, the former British Boys Champion from Lancashire.
