GOLF: Des Smyth remains firmly on course in his attempt to scure exemption to play the US Champions Tour next year.

Smyth was nine under par after 14 holes in the second round at the qualifying school in Rolling Oaks yesterday, a score that leaves him well placed in second behind the clubhouse leader Seiji Ebihara. Smyth shot a five-under-par 67 in his opening round.

Eamonn Darcy is also competing - he had a 69 in his opening round. Smyth and Darcy are attempting to win one of the eight cards which will earn full playing privileges for the 2003 Champions Tour - formerly the Seniors Tour - at the conclusion of the 72-hole qualifying tournament.

Meanwhile, Annika Sorenstam cannot achieve her goal for 2002 but she can become just the second player in LGPA history to claim 11 wins in a year when the season-ending ADT Championship gets under way in West Palm Beach today.

Sorenstam is the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978-79 to net as many as eight victories in consecutive seasons and had her sights on the single-season record of 13 victories after she captured the Samsung World Championship on October 6th. She needed wins in the final four events to accomplish that.

While Sorenstam will not match Mickey Wright's 1963 record, she is already the first player with 10 wins in a year since 1968, when Hall of Famers Carol Mann and Kathy Whitworth reached that mark.

The 32-year-old Swede has earned over $2 million this year and will be the LPGA Player of the Year for the second successive season and fifth time in her career, two shy of the all-time record held by Kathy Whitworth.

This event features the top 30 players on the money list, including defending champion Karrie Webb.