NEW ZEALAND OPEN: Australians Craig Parry and Paul Sheehan, alongside Englishman Matthew Woods, led the first round of the New Zealand Open at The Hills Golf Club in Queenstown after carding matching four under par 68s.
Parry, the 2002 champion, carded four birdies on the outward nine while Sheehan hit six birdies to combat consecutive bogeys at the seventh and eighth.
Woods started the day impressively, collecting birdies at the first two holes. He then bogeyed the par three fourth before returning to two under by carding a birdie four on the ninth and picking up further strokes at the 10th and 17th.
Damien McGrane fired seven birdies but five bogeys and a double bogey left him four off the lead on level-par 72.
US TOUR QUALIFYING: American Frank Lickliter II has opened a nine-shot gap after just two rounds of the USPGA Tour School final qualifying at Panther Lake Course, Winter Garden, Florida.
Lickliter added a second successive 10-under-par 62 for a 20-under-par total and a nine shot lead over Brendon de Jonge Ireland's Keith Nolan is well off the pace after adding a two-over-par 74 to his opening 70 for a total of 144.
HOT OF THE MONTH: Graeme McDowell has won the European Tour Shot of the Month for November for his magnificent albatross on the 17th hole at Club de Golf Valderrama in the final round of the 2007 Volvo Masters.
Lying three shots off the lead with only two holes remaining, McDowell took on the green at the demanding par five and produced a shot he later described as "one of those magic moments".
Faced with 186 yards to a pin guarded by water, the Ulsterman hit a seven iron which took the perfect bounce before rolling into the cup for that rarest of golfing birds.
"It was unbelievable, I have never felt anything like it and it is a memory that will stay with me for a long time," he said.
COURSE DEVELOPMENT: US tycoon Donald Trump was "surprised and disappointed" after Scottish authorities yesterday rejected his plan for a $2 billion golfing development the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire.
A local council committee rejected Trump's plan for two championship golf courses, 950 homes and 36 exclusive golfing villas on a pristine stretch of northeast Scotland.
Despite an earlier panel agreeing to the plan, Aberdeenshire Council's higher ranked infrastructure and services committee rejected the plans after its chairman used his casting vote.
Environmentalists feared extensive construction on the sensitive site would damage wildlife and local habitats.
