Golf: Ireland's Denis O'Sullivan must have wondered if he was in for a good tournament when he arrived at the Palmerston Resort near Berlin to discover he had been assigned a local caddie called Tilo Luck. And so it turned out to be when he closed with a fine 69 to romp to his third European Seniors' Tour victory at the Palmerston Trophy over the new Nick Faldo course. O'Sullivan started the final round with a one shot advantage and he went on to finish four shots ahead of Northern Ireland's Eddie Polland and Seiji Ebihara after a 69 that gave him a three-round aggregate of four-under-par 212. Polland produced his third successive level par 72 and Ebihara went round in 71 to finished tied for second place on 216 with Australia's David Good alone in fourth place on 217 after a 70. Canada's Bill Hardwick closed with a superb four-under-par 68, the lowest round of the tournament, to share fifth place alongside England's Denis Durnian, America's Ray Carrasco and Scotland's Bernard Gallacher. "I think that's probably the best I have ever played for a whole tournament," said O'Sullivan, a former Irish amateur international who won his first two Seniors titles, the Dan Technology Seniors Tournament of Champions and the Abu Dhabi Seniors Tour Championship, last year. O'Sullivan won £18,721 to move into 13th place on the Seniors' Tour Order of Merit with £34,183. Ebihara's share of second place was worth £10,404 and took him into second place on the money list with £77,936. England's Denis Durnian retains his place at the top of the Order of Merit with £113,930.
(British unless stated, Irish in bold)
212: D O'Sullivan 71, 72, 69; 216: S Ebihara (Jap) 70, 75, 71 E Polland 72, 72, 72; 217: D Good (Aus) 74, 73, 70; 218: B Hardwick 73, 77, 68 D Durnian 72, 74, 72; R Carrasco (USA) 74, 72, 72; B Gallacher 71, 74, 73; 219: J Bruner (USA) 71, 75, 73; 220: J Van Wagenen (USA) 79, 69, 72; M Gregson 73, 74, 73; J Morgan 74, 74, 72; D Oakley (USA) 72, 73, 75.
Rowing: Eimear Moran tasted victory for the second year on the trot when she won the junior single sculls at Women's Henley yesterday. The 17-year-old Offaly girl, who has another year left as a junior, had teamed up with Rebecca Warner last year to win the doubles at the same regatta, writes Liam Gorman.
Susan O'Brien, rowing for Old Edwardian, reached the semi-finals of the open sculls, and UCD, with a crew featuring a number of novices, surprised themselves by reaching the same stage in the College Eights. Trinity also lost out with one step to go in the open four.
Back in Ireland, the conditions for the Athlone Regatta on Saturday were almost perfect, but NUIG had a surprisingly tough battle with Tribesemen in the eights final, with Neptune and Trinity filling the runner-up positions.
NUIG joint-coach Peter Heaney summed it up as "positive" given that the squad is in heavy training for the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley: "We didn't have a good race but we won."
The Henley indicators for Neptune were also a little worrying, with what will be, give or take some switching, their Britannia four and Thames Cup eight having to settle for third places. The Dublin club is bringing on a new, young tranche of oarsmen, and interestingly the day ended with a fine win for them in the junior 18 eights.
Garda's senior one four also lifted their Henley hopes with a win.
Cycling: Returning home for next weekend's National Championships, professional cyclist David McCann showed he is shaping up for a spirited defence of his title when he won the Tour of the Sperrins in Cookstown yesterday from Philip Duignan and Brendan Doherty, writes Shane Stokes.
Fourth placed Keith Gallagher won the Noel Taggart Memorial on Saturday, while Ray Clarke raced to a solo victory in the Drumm Memorial Cup in Currow, Co Kerry.
