GOLF: Jack Nicklaus enjoyed his first adventure over the par-71 links at Royal County Down yesterday and the Golden Bear's mood suggests he may be hard to beat in the £600,000 Senior British Open Championship.
Nicklaus attracted a large gallery as he gave the famous seaside course the once-over. "The course is fine," he said.
It wasn't, perhaps, the ideal way to be introduced to one of the world's best links courses, at the back of the field in a slow-paced Pro-Am. Nicklaus and his partners started at 1.45 p.m. and finished at 6.30. It was generally light-hearted, and Nicklaus appears fully recovered from a hamstring injury that forced him out of recent top events in the United States.
Nicklaus will play a practice round this morning and in the afternoon will link up with two other legends, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, who will join European Seniors Tour officials, Mark McCormack and UBS Warburg in a major golf announcement.
Denis Durnian, the 56-year-old European Seniors Tour Order of Merit leader with earnings of £126,544 from nine events, aced the 10th hole during the Pro-Am.
Meanwhile, Joe McDermott fired an excellent four-under-par 68 on the tree-lined Kilkeel course to lead this section of qualifying and secure a spot in tomorrow's opening round.
McDermott, a 60-year-old Florida-based player who won the Irish Senior Open at Woodbrook three years ago, finished one stroke ahead of Manuel Sanchez. Seven players bettered the par of 72. The 30 places on offer in the main event required a shoot-out involving 14 players on 75 battling for the final 10 places.
Making it comfortably through on one over par 73 was Arthur Pierse who was delighted to compete a double Open this year, after surviving qualifying in the US Open.
GOLF: Philip Walton has gained a late entry into this week's Dutch Open following several withdrawals. It will be the 10th regular tour appearance this season for Walton who is without exempt status.
SQUASH: Ireland beat Hong Kong 2-1 to finish on a high note in the World junior women's championships in Malaysia yesterday. The result put them third in their four-team behind the USA and Australia.
Siobhan Parker started off well, taking her first game against Karen Lau but let it slip away, and Lau won 5-9, 9-1, 9-5, 9-2. But then Tanya Owen kept Ireland in the hunt, winning a five-game match against Frances Ho 9-3, 8-10, 9-0, 6-9, 9-5. And Emily Toolan beat Connie Cho 9-4, 1-9, 9-1, 9-7.
CYCLING: Mark Scanlon (20) was best of the Irish team in the Tour de la Somme stage race, finishing 25th overall in a field containing a number of professional squads.
Meanwhile, Robin Seymour, on a break from racing in America, was a dominant victor in the Pog Chase MTB race in Wicklow. The multiple national champion was part of a five-man group which went clear on the first of six laps, forged ahead alone on the second and finally won by seven minutes.
DRUGS IN SPORT: Two Chinese women's distance runners and a male walker have been banned for two years each after testing positive for banned drugs. Women runners Liqing Song and Lili Yin and men's 20 km walker Yunfeng Lui have been suspended by the Chinese federation after positive out-of-competition tests.
