FALDO CONFIRMS WILD CARDS

Europe captain Nick Faldo has handed Ryder Cup wild cards to Ian Poulter and Paul Casey.

As a result Colin Montgomerie misses out on the match which could have seen him take over from Faldo as the event's record points-scorer.

Darren Clarke also misses out, despite his victory in Holland a week ago which made he and Casey the two favourites to be picked.

Casey and Poulter will join Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson, who all automatically qualified for the event at Valhalla next month.

Faldo revealed Poulter's attitude was one of the major factors behind his selection.

Faldo said: "I don't have to reel off all their statistics.

"I've been watching these guys through the summer.

"Ian is a very determined guy, I love his attitude and what he did at The Open - that back nine he played with the intention to win and had that emotional feeling."

Regarding the selection of Casey, Faldo explained: "I've been watching Paul play and he has been playing absolutely the best through the summer.

"I was waiting for the putting to turn around.

"That has been very important.

"He has an extremely good record in the Ryder Cup and, going back, the Walker Cup.

"I feel very good about those two picks."

Poulter chose not to fly back from America for the last qualifying event, this weekend's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

A third-place finish at Gleneagles would have taken Poulter into the team by right.

Clarke was hoping for another wild card, having benefited in that manner two years ago.

Ian Woosnam chose him then just three weeks after the Ulsterman's wife Heather had lost her fight with breast cancer.

Three weeks later, amid emotional scenes at The K Club, Clarke won all his three matches in Europe's record-equalling nine-point victory.

Casey won his second cap there and, partnering David Howell in the second-day foursomes, became the first player to win a Ryder Cup match with a hole-in-one.

Of all the leading candidates for selection, he and Clarke were the two who showed Faldo the best recent form, with Poulter having failed to follow up his bid for Open glory at Royal Birkdale six weeks ago.

Brilliantly though he played there, it was only his second top-10 finish of the whole year. Casey has had four in his last seven starts.

Europe will go for an unprecedented fourth successive victory over the Americans at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 19-21.

Europe know only eight of the 12 Americans they will face.

Paul Azinger names four wild cards on Tuesday, but unlike the last five US captains he has no Tiger Woods in his line-up, and while Faldo had the headache of who to leave out, Azinger has had no star names crying out for a pick.

Steve Stricker, who just missed out on automatic selection, appears an obvious first choice and Scott Verplank would be a safe second pick, but if he wants to go with youth then Hunter Mahan, DJ Trahan and Brandt Snedeker are stand-out candidates.

The United States have lost five of the last six matches and in the other - in Boston nine years ago - they needed the biggest comeback in cup history and won only after the shameful storming of the 17th green before Olazabal could attempt his putt to keep the match alive.

Montgomerie was heckled that week like no other golfer before or since, but still lost only one of his five games and come 2002, 2004 and 2006 played a starring role.

Europe's talisman has not been able to convince Faldo, though, that he deserved a ninth cap.

He did finish second in the French Open at the end of June, but the 45-year-old has tailed off badly since then and, for all he has done in the past and for all the support he got from Harrington and others, it was Faldo's opinion that mattered.

After last year's Seve Trophy, Faldo - not in private, but in conversation with a reporter - said: "Monty's a tough one. He was the only one whose emotions I had to deal with.

"He only came to two of the five team meetings, so that was disappointing. Then he had to be teased out on to the 18th green to support his team - the bottom line was he hadn't won a point."

Even back then Montgomerie was asked how he would feel if he missed out on next month's match.

"I wouldn't lose any sleep over it - I'd just make sure I qualified in 2010," he said. He hoped it would not come to that, but it has.

Stenson approved of the selection to the team of Poulter and Casey, saying: "It was going to be among four or five guys getting the two spots.

"I think we are going to have a great team and both Ian and Paul are going to be good selections to the players that are already in.

"I am very confident. It is going to be a team effort."

Clarke said in a statement: "Nick rang me after my last round at Gleneagles to say that I wasn't going to be one of his picks and I simply wished him all the best.

"Obviously I am disappointed that I wasn't selected, but I have dealt with much worse and it will make me all the more determined to make the team that will play in Wales next time.

"There was a qualifying period and I didn't make it automatically, so you will not hear any sour grapes from me.

"I couldn't have tried any harder and I devoted myself to the European Tour to give myself the best possible chance, but although I have won twice this year it obviously wasn't enough.

"I fully respect the captain's decision and I would like to wish him and his team all the very best for Valhalla.

"I will be supporting them from wherever I am."

Poulter said: "Maybe I should have gone to play Gleneagles, but I stuck by my word.

"Looking back at the time I made the right decision for me, but it was so difficult to choose the right thing to do and it's obviously been a very difficult decision to try to get across."

Asked what he thought he brought to the team he added: "I think I will bring my best game, excitement, flair and the passion that I always play golf with.

"I think I will be a strong asset to the team.

"I've been looking at the (points) list every single week since The Open and I thought the only scenario that would put a spanner in the works was Darren playing well."

Montgomerie also issued a statement, commenting: "I wish the team the very best of luck.

"Although I am, of course, very disappointed not to have played my way into the team or into contention for a pick, I am delighted at the obvious strength and depth of the European team.

"The European Tour should very proud at the quantity and quality of potential Ryder Cup players that it can now offer up for selection - more so than at any time in my 20 years plus on tour.

"Our line-up is fantastic, headed up by Padraig (Harrington) who is playing the best golf in the world right now and I am utterly confident the team will triumph again this year.

"I wish Nick and the team the very best of luck and while I shall certainly feel sad not to be playing a part, as I sit glued to the TV I know the overwhelming emotion I will be feeling is pride."

Europe's Ryder Cup Team:

Padraig Harrington

Sergio Garcia

Lee Westwood

Henrik Stenson

Robert Karlsson

Miguel Angel Jiminez

Graeme McDowell

Justin Rose

Soren Hansen

Oliver Wilson

Ian Poulter

Paul Casey

FALDO HAILS HARRINGTON
Borussia without Kehl

WEIR TAKES LEAD

Mike Weir turned in the best round of his career - and he did not even see it coming.

Weir stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship by firing a career-best 10-under-par 61 in Friday's opening round.

The Canadian left-hander holed 10 birdies in a bogey-free round to take a three-shot lead in this year's second event of the FedEx Cup playoffs and tie the course record at TPC Boston.

It was the last thing that Weir, a 10-year veteran, expected following his late collapse last week at The Barclays.

"There was no indication on the putting green warming up that was going to tell me it was going to be like that," Weir said. "It was just one of those days where I made about a 15-footer on the first hole and another on the second hole, and then I had about eight feet on the third hole, and it looked easy after the first two."

The single-round record at this 7,304-yard course previously was held by Vijay Singh, who was the early leader Friday afternoon after carding a seven-under 64.

Weir, 38, began his round in blistering fashion, birdying his first four holes and making the turn at six-under 30 after birdying the sixth and seventh. He continued his onslaught on the back nine, where he also birdied the 10th and 13th holes.

"I just built on that momentum and just kept doing the same thing, keep the pedal down, because I knew the scores were pretty low today," Weir said. "After making those putts, everything seemed to look easier.

"I just tried to stay in that frame of mind when I got to the green, just remembering the last putt."

Weir, who still is winless on the PGA Tour this season, finished off his outstanding round in style with birdies at the par-four 15th and par-five 18th.

"It's been my goal the last month or so to get off to better starts in tournaments," he said. "It seems like I've been coming from behind all the way, even when I finished second at the Memorial (three months ago)."

Weir was in contention at The Barclays last week before a final-round 72 landed him two shots off the pace.

But courtesy of his exploits Friday, Weir is three strokes clear of a quartet of golfers. That group is headlined by Singh, last weekend's winner who entered this event with a 5,125-point lead atop the FedEx Cup standings.

Tied with Singh are John Merrick, Briny Baird and Heath Slocum.

Five days after outlasting Sergio Garcia in a playoff at The Barclays, Singh rebounded from a slow start along the back nine to sink five birdies in a six-hole stretch starting at the par-5 second hole.

"I have a great attitude on the greens," said Singh, who recently reverted to the mid-length belly putter after struggling for a while with a regular putter. "I just listen to my head, and my head's very positive. I think that's the best attitude you can have, just listen to your own mind."

As well as he putted, stellar iron play was perhaps the strongest part of Singh's game, with all of his birdies coming from inside seven feet.

Merrick birdied four of his first seven holes and ended his round in thrilling fashion with an eagle on the 18th. Baird sank seven birdies, including three in a row from numbers 15-17, in his bogey-free round, while Slocum holed nine birdies against two bogeys.

Garcia fired a four-under 67, while defending champion Phil Mickelson carded a two-under 69.

Collated second-round scores (USA unless stated, par 71):

61 Mike Weir (Can)

64 Vijay Singh (Fij), John Merrick, Briny Baird, Heath Slocum

65 Eric Axley, Ben Curtis

66 Jeff Overton, John Mallinger, Charles Howell III, Kevin Streelman, Charlie Wi (Kor), Steve Marino, Anthony Kim, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els (Rsa), Ken Duke, Tim Clark (Rsa)

67 Charley Hoffman, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Tommy Armour III, Chad Campbell, Justin null Bolli, Ryan Palmer, Bo Van Pelt, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Richard S Johnson (Swe), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Brandt Snedeker, Jonathan Byrd, Ryan Moore, D.J. Trahan

68 Patrick Sheehan, Lucas Glover, Steve Flesch, Brian Gay, Andres Romero (Arg), Paul Casey (Eng), J J Henry, Jay Williamson, Camilo Villegas (Col), Johnson Wagner, Jesper Parnevik (Swe)

69 Steve Stricker, Scott McCarron, Pat Perez, Bart Bryant, John Senden (Aus), Tom Pernice Jnr., Nick O'Hern (Aus), Mark Wilson, Chez Reavie, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Bill Haas, Brett Quigley, KJ Choi (Kor), Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Scott Verplank, Rocco Mediate

70 Billy Mayfair, Kevin Sutherland, Sean O'Hair, Martin Laird (Sco), Boo Weekley, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Brian Davis (Eng), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Adam Scott (Aus), Bubba Watson, Jason null Day (Aus), Hunter Mahan, Robert Allenby (Aus), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Ian Poulter (Eng), Retief Goosen (Rsa)

71 Dudley Hart, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Lee Janzen, Matt Kuchar, Parker McLachlin, Peter Lonard (Aus), Dean Wilson, Michael Allen, George McNeill, Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Tim Petrovic, Corey Pavin, Stephen Ames (Can)

72 Kenny Perry, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Ben Crane, Paul Goydos, Tim Herron, Jeff Quinney, Rich Beem, Woody Austin, Glen Day, Cliff Kresge, Steve Elkington (Aus)

73 Nick Watney, Jerry Kelly, John Rollins, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Frank Lickliter II

74 Michael Letzig, Kevin Na, J.B. Holmes, Nicholas Thompson, Fred Couples

75 Steve Lowery, Padraig Harrington (Irl)


REAVIE EARNS MAIDEN WIN
Round Announced As New Everton Coach
REAVIE TAKES LEAD IN CANADA

POULTER DENIES PROMISE OF RYDER SPOT

Ian Poulter has furiously denied that he has been promised a spot on the European Ryder Cup team.

On the eve of the PGA Tour's Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts, Poulter freely admitted that he had spoken this week with Europe captain Nick Faldo, but insisted that Faldo had made no guarantee regarding his two wild card picks.

"I know for a fact that I haven't been given the nod," Poulter said, struggling to keep a lid on his obvious anger.

"I'm disgusted that people, players, media would think that Nick Faldo would be that unprofessional to have done such a thing a week before a number of different scenarios could (unfold).

"It's pathetic that people can even think that's the case. He's a professional, he's been a professional the last 30 years of his career and he's not going to start changing now."

Poulter relinquished any chance of making the European team automatically when he decided to play in the United States this week, instead of returning to Europe for the Johnnie Walker Championship.

The Gleneagles tournament is the final qualifying event before Faldo names his two wild card picks on Sunday to complete his 12-man team to take on the Americans next month.

Poulter's change of heart - he had originally planned on playing at Gleneagles if necessary to make the team - led to all sorts of speculation.

Fellow British player Nick Dougherty had claimed that Faldo must have assured Poulter that his Ryder Cup place was safe.

Poulter admitted he had spoken with Faldo.

"I told him basically that my decision is to stay here and play and I got the best answer I could have possibly got off a captain (which was) 'you've got to do what's right for you'," said Poulter.

"That's the most respectful thing I could have possibly wanted to hear from a captain."

Asked to respond to Colin Montgomerie's comment that Poulter "seems to have a hotline to Faldo", Poulter tried at first to play a straight bat, but could not quite help himself.

"I really don't need to get into the Monty discussion of he seems to think I've got a hotline. The fact is I know Nick, and I've been fairly friendly with Nick since I've come on tour.

"I shouldn't stop that fact just because he's Ryder Cup captain. I don't need to get in the discussion of Monty's discussions. He's got enough work to do this week to try to make the side himself. He should just be getting his head down and trying to play good golf."

With Poulter, Montgomerie, Darren Clarke and Paul Casey the four most obvious choices for Faldo's two picks, tensions are obviously getting frayed, but one thing perfectly clear is that all four players desperately want to be on the team.

"There are a lot of emotions going about, comments from players that I don't think should have been said, to be honest," Poulter continued.

"I think we're all professional enough to understand everybody's situation and professional enough to understand everybody's schedules, and we should be professional enough to understand people's decisions."

Poulter, sounding like a political candidate trying to persuade the voters, in this case Faldo, tried to make a case for his own selection.

"If you look at my statistics over the last 12 months in relation to the other names that have been put in the potential wild card pick choice, I'm 70 points in the world rankings ahead of Paul Casey and Darren Clarke," continued the Open runner-up.

"I've played well this year, and that's all I could have done. I don't feel that I just have to go back for that one golf tournament to prove my point.

"Look at the statistics for the whole year. I want to make this Ryder Cup side. I want to play."


HARRINGTON BACKS POULTER
FALDO WILL CONSULT RYDER CUP STARS
Clayton: History working against Favre, Jets

WESTWOOD LETS RIP OVER GREENS

Lee Westwood has called for the greens on the 2014 Ryder Cup course at Gleneagles to be ripped up.

The former European number one had just opened the Johnnie Walker Championship, final qualifying event for next month's match against the Americans, with a one under par 72.

With Frenchman Gregory Havret setting the pace with a 68 - he leads by two - Westwood's effort has far from ruined his hopes of victory on Sunday.

But, already safely into Nick Faldo's side himself, he feels sympathy for those still battling for inclusion and having to do so on what he clearly considers greens from Hell.

And this in such a heavenly part of the world.

"I said last year that the greens were awful and something needed to be done," he stated after a round which included a four-putt double bogey at the 461-yard fifth.

The second of those was from less than two feet and he added: "I'm not a bad putter and I can't remember the last time I three-putted from 18 inches.

"At the end of the week unfortunately the tournament could be won or lost by luck on the greens."

And so, of course, could somebody's Ryder Cup fate.

"They are the people I feel really sorry for. There is a lot riding on that.

"They are going to be feeling pressure as it is and you don't want to be standing over a three-footer with so much doubt in your mind not knowing if the ball is going to run straight."

Heavy recent rain has softened the surfaces, but he added: "You can't bring the Ryder Cup onto greens like this. Hopefully they will rip them up and re-do them.

"Hopefully they won't use the same designer who had two goes at doing the seventh. I think my kids could come up with a better design than that in one afternoon."

Playing with Westwood was Mansfield's Oliver Wilson, in the 10th and last automatic qualifying spot entering the week and under threat from Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.

Wilson, also double-bogeying the fifth, managed only a three over 76, but so did Kaymer after losing a ball at the 320-yard 14th and taking six there.

Fisher did better with a 72, but he has to finish third to have a chance, while Dougherty, who needs first or second place, battled away for a 73.

"Must do better," Wilson commented. "The greens are not overly smooth, but I felt I was a little bit unlucky - every time I hit it in the rough I got a bad lie.

"I don't think I've blown myself out of it. I could have done, but I didn't."

Dougherty, who like Kaymer has had the trauma of losing his mother in the past few months, admits he is mentally exhausted.

"Even if someone has to cart me into the car on Sunday and I've done all I can I can be pleased and proud of myself."

Justin Rose and Soren Hansen are not yet safe at eighth and ninth on the points table, but by scoring level par and two under respectively they have no cause to lose any sleep yet.

For Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie and Paul McGinley, meanwhile, the task is to try to impress Faldo enough to hand them one of his two wild cards.

Some suspect that the reason Paul Casey and Ian Poulter have stayed in the States is that they are the favoured pair, but that is out of the control of the three home-based stars.

Clarke, winner in Holland on Sunday, was satisfied with a 72 and Montgomerie said a 74 "by no means" put him out of things, but McGinley could do no better than 76.

Montgomerie always acts as tournament chairman this week - he is the expected European captain in six years' time - and when asked about the greens stated: "We will have to look at it.

"We've had an awful lot of rain. They had to close the (practice) range a couple of times last week."

As for Havret, he is looking for a Tartan double after beating Phil Mickelson in a play-off for last year's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

Six birdies, three of them in a row from the fourth, was a fine way to return after five weeks off enjoying the sunshine with his family at home.

Compatriot Christian Cevaer, in-form Scot Gary Orr and England's Paul Broadhurst were sharing second place in the clubhouse.

A joint statement issued by the European Tour and Gleneagles Hotel said greenkeeping staff have "worked diligently" to prepare the course.

"It has been a difficult summer and, specifically, the last three weeks have been extremely challenging with rainfall recorded at 205mm compared to the average total montly figure for August of 86mm.

"A strong agronomy plan has been formulated for the PGA Centenary Course and is still work in progress."

In the last match of the day England's Robert Rock joined Broadhurst, Cevaer and Orr in a share of second place.


KAYMER EYES HELP FROM ABOVE
Dortmund against European giants
Double blow for Juve

SOLID START FOR ENGLISH DUO

If Nick Faldo is still pondering his two captain's picks for the European Ryder Cup team, the first round at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Friday did little to clarify the matter.

Paul Casey and Ian Poulter are among several players vying to get the nod from Faldo, and both teed off knowing a bad round could hardly come at a less opportune time.

And they both produced workmanlike performances, neither doing much likely to influence Faldo one way or the other.

Casey made a slow start with 11 successive pars on a pleasant late summer's morning at the Boston TPC before finishing strongly for a three-under-par 68, while Poulter carded 70.

They ended the day left in the dust of Canadian leader Mike Weir, who putted magnificently to match the course record with a 10-under 61, three strokes better than Fiji's Vijay Singh and Americans John Merrick, Briny Baird and Heath Slocum.

"I struggled for a bit. It's frustrating because the greens were good and I just was not really making anything," Casey said.

"I finally hit one close on 12 and got the round finally going. It's nice to get off to a half-decent start."

Casey picked up further birdies at the 15th and 16th holes, while Poulter carded two early birdies but could not continue his momentum, parring the final 11 holes.

"One under is okay," he said. "I drove it well, hit my irons well, and I felt like I putted well - only one bogey on the card. I hit some good putts (and) a couple slipped by."

Casey and Poulter have only one more day to impress captain Faldo, who on Sunday, while the third round is in progress here, will name his two wild card choices for the team to take on the Americans in Kentucky in four weeks.

Both said they were trying to put the Ryder Cup out of their mind while they were on the course.

"You just have to try to concentrate on what you're doing and I had a job to do today, and that's play 18 holes," Poulter said.

"I thought I done a pretty good job. I kept it out of my mind as much as I possibly could."

Casey added: "I'm as relaxed as they come. I'm focusing on every shot, one at a time."

While Casey and Poulter started smoothly, the same could not be said for Padraig Harrington, who ran up a triple bogey at the par-five 18th for a four-over 75 that left him dead last.

Singh, meanwhile, continued the sizzling form that took him to victory at last week's Barclays Championship, reeling off eight birdies in a seven-under 64.

"I have a great attitude on the greens," said the 45-year-old from Fiji, who recently reverted to the mid-length belly putter after struggling for a while with a regular one.

"I just listen to my head, and my head's very positive. I think that's the best attitude you can have, just listen to your own mind."

As well as he putted, stellar iron play was perhaps the strongest part of Singh's game, with all of his birdies coming from inside seven feet.


Schneider to start rehab
CASEY INVITES SINGH TO WATCH HIM TRAIN
Bayern travel to Eastern Germany

WILSON BACK ON TRACK

Oliver Wilson made the greatest comeback of his golfing life on Friday to stay on course for a Ryder Cup debut next month.

Six over par with 10 holes to play and heading out of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, the final qualifying event, Wilson grabbed an eagle and two birdies to survive the halfway cut by the skin of his teeth.

Minutes later German Martin Kaymer, his biggest danger in the race for places in Nick Faldo's team, missed four-foot putts on the final two greens to miss out by one.

"I'm proud of myself," said Wilson, poised now to become the first player ever to play for Europe against the Americans without winning a tournament in his professional career.

"That was the biggest round of my career. It was not the front nine I wanted, but it was the back nine I needed."

With Justin Rose and Soren Hansen on the verge of clinching a first cap as well,

Wilson now has to hold off the challenge of only Nick Dougherty and Ross Fisher.

But Dougherty has to finish first or second on Sunday and Fisher has to be in the top three - and at halfway they are way down the field on one under and level par respectively.

Frenchman Gregory Havret still leads on seven under par, overcoming a shank with the second shot of his day to add a two under 71 to his opening 68.

Kaymer was understandably dejected. As Lee Westwood had feared would be the case, he felt a victim of greens which the former European number one said should be ripped up before the course stages the 2014 Ryder Cup.

"I was playing very well, but the greens were ridiculous," said the 23-year-old, who despite two wins this year gives himself no chance of a wild card with so many big guns - Darren Clarke, Paul Casey, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Paul McGinley - not qualifying on points either.

"They were really bumpy. All you could do is hit a good stroke and hope. It was really, really disappointing."

A double bogey on the third and bogeys at the sixth and seventh put Wilson up against it, but he went birdie-eagle-birdie on the next three par fives.

At the 503-yard 12th he struck a three-wood to eight feet and on the 543-yard 16th he hit a driver off the deck over the water and onto the green, from where he two-putted.

There was still some sweating to come because he found sand with his tee shot to the short 17th, but he salvaged his par and finished with another for a one under 72 and two over aggregate.

"I'm not going to smile because Martin missed the cut, but that's big news," he added. "There's still a long way to go, though.

"I gave myself a talking-to on the ninth and just tried to stay patient. Maybe I was trying too hard.

"I know it's tight and I knew I had to be here at the weekend. If I didn't it was pretty much over."

Actually, with Dougherty and Fisher only scoring 74 and 72 Wilson might well have hung onto the 10th and last spot on the points table even if he had crashed out.

But sitting at home was not where he wanted to celebrate becoming a cup player.

For a while it looked as if Rose and Hansen, eighth and ninth in the standings, would clinch their spots on Friday.

That would have happened if Wilson, Kaymer and Dougherty had all missed the cut.

Dougherty was one over after a bogey six on the ninth, but birdied the 14th and 16th.

"If I can play great I still have a chance," he said. "But you're scared almost with putts of 20 feet or over.

"The scoring is not great and you can make a big move in a short time. Unfortunately I'm going to have to rely on some luck on the greens."

Havret leads by one from England's Robert Rock, who was a joint leader at halfway in Holland last week and then crashed to a Saturday 80.

Welshman Bradley Dredge and Scot Peter Whiteford shared third spot two back, while Hansen's second successive 71 put him in a tie for fifth.

Rose is two under, but regardless of what they do in the last 36 he and Hansen will be safe if Dougherty and Fisher are outside the top two.

World number 14 Rose said after his 71: "Right now it looks good. I didn't feel quite as good today as I did yesterday, but I'm onto something and feeling good about the game in general."

Hansen has been nursing a sore right arm and grimaced playing out of the rough on the 12th, his third hole of the day. The painkiller he had taken had not kicked in then, but he did not appear to aggravate it any further after that and is confident rest will cure the problem.

As for the separate wild card battle Darren Clarke's 73 for one under, following as it does his win in Holland, would appear to keep him in pole position.

McGinley is on the same mark, but Montgomerie's 70 for two under lifted him from 37th to 13th and all things remain possible.

Not so for England's Danny Willett, who turned professional in May hoping to earn enough from seven invites to avoid the Tour qualifying school.

This was his seventh and he missed the cut by two. He would have needed to finish third in any case. The first stage of the school starts for him in Germany in two weeks.

Collated second round scores & totals

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 73):

139 Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 71

140 Robert Rock 70 70

141 Peter Whiteford 73 68, Bradley Dredge 71 70

142 Gary Orr 70 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 73 69, David Howell 75 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 71

143 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 70, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 75 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 76 67, Graeme Storm 74 69

144 Chris Wood 75 69, Paul Waring 73 71, Colin Montgomerie 74 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 74 70, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 76 68, David Lynn 73 71, Paul Broadhurst 70 74, Anthony Wall 71 73, Justin Rose 73 71, Lee Westwood 72 72

145 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 75, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 74, Anton Haig (Rsa) 75 70, Peter Baker 75 70, Nick Dougherty 73 72, Darren Clarke 72 73, Simon Dyson 73 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 75 70, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 72 73, Lee S James 72 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 71, Paul McGinley 76 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 75 70

146 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 74, Ross Fisher 72 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 75 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 72, Jamie Donaldson 75 71, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 75, Jonathan Lomas 72 74

147 Stephen Gray 75 72, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 74 73, Stephen Gallacher 75 72, Luis Claverie (Spa) 75 72, Benn Barham 77 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 75, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 78 69

148 Oliver Wilson 76 72, Robert Dinwiddie 82 66, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 73 75, Steven Mcewan 78 70, Paul McKechnie 75 73, Lee Slattery 77 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 78 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 75 73, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 75 73, Juan Abbate (Arg) 72 76, Matthew Millar (Aus) 74 74, Robert Arnott 76 72, Mark Brown (USA) 78 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 74 74, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 77 71, Sam Walker 76 72, Gary Murphy 75 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 77, Mark Foster 73 75

The following players failed to make the Cut:

149 Steve Webster 78 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 76 73, Scott Drummond 75 74,Martin Kaymer (Ger) 76 73, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 77 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 78 71, Peter Lawrie 75 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 76, David Dixon 79 70, Paul Lawrie 76 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 75 74, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 78 71, Philip Golding 76 73

150 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 79 71, Damien McGrane 78 72, Steve Alker (Nzl) 76 74, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 77 73, Stuart Manley 75 75, Danny Willett 80 70, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 78 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 76 74, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 75 75, Rory McIlroy 76 74, Sven Struver (Ger) 80 70, Miles Tunnicliff 81 69, Barry Lane 76 74

151 Iain Pyman 76 75, Graeme McDowell 78 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 79 72, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 80 71, Phillip Price 77 74, Santiago Luna (Spa) 75 76, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 78 73

152 Garry Houston 75 77, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 79 73, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 80 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 76 76, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 76 76, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 82 70, Simon Wakefield 78 74, Lloyd Saltman 76 76, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 81, Alastair Forsyth 79 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 73 79, Thomas Levet (Fra) 77 75, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 80 72

153 Bryan Saltus (USA) 79 74, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 78 75, Greig Hutcheon 76 77, Julio Zapata (Arg) 77 76, Simon Khan 79 74, Sion Bebb 74 79, Marc Warren 73 80, Pablo Martin (Spa) 77 76, Sam Osborne 74 79

154 Craig Lee 83 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 78 76, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 75 79, David Griffiths 78 76

155 Carl Suneson (Spa) 80 75, David Drysdale 77 78, Jason McCreadie 80 75, David Orr 75 80, Oliver Fisher 76 79

156 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 81 75, Sam Cairns 79 77, Joost Luiten (Ned) 79 77, Kyron Sullivan 80 76, Phillip Archer 78 78, Sam Little 76 80, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 80 76

157 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 80 77

159 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 81 78, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 79 80, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 83 76, Mark Loftus 77 82

160 Florian Praegant (Aut) 79 81, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 82 78

161 Richard Finch 83 78

164 Paolo Terreni (Ita) 82 82

165 Keir Mcnicoll 82 83, James Kamte (Rsa) 83 82


Ravens’ Martin cited on drug charge in Cleveland
Ex-Giants DE Martin completes cross-country walk
RANKINGS RISE FOR FISHER
WEEKLEY AT CAREER HIGH

PAD PICKS CLARKE AND MONTY

Padraig Harrington would select Darren Clarke as one of his two captain's picks if he was selecting Europe's Ryder Cup team - and he would also seriously consider including Colin Montgomerie.

However, the Irishman acknowledged that there was no guarantee that captain Nick Faldo would see things the same way when he makes his two wild card selections this Sunday to complete his 12-man line-up to take on the Americans in Kentucky.

"I don't see how you couldn't pick Clarke," Open and US PGA Championship winner Harrington said ahead of the PGA Tour's Deutsche Bank Championship.

"He's won twice this year, his form has been very good in recent weeks and he's played on five Ryder Cups and had four winning teams. And he's a natural partner to Lee Westwood.

"If you had everybody picking, I think Clarke would be a lock, but obviously Nick could see different reasons. But if I was picking, I'd be picking Darren.

"Darren carries stature into the Ryder Cup, which is very important. When you tee it up on the first tee, you want your opposition standing there and feeling that they're coming up against somebody who has a bit of stature. Darren has that, and Monty has that too."

Speaking of Montgomerie, Harrington believes he has a case for selection, notwithstanding his recent poor form.

"The guy has played eight Ryder cups, has never lost a singles match, and he's due a consideration," added Harrington.

"My opinion is that until he loses a singles match maybe he should be given a chance."

Harrington acknowledged that Montgomerie needed to play well at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles this week to justify a captain's pick, especially with Paul Casey and Ian Poulter also having solid cases for selection.

"It could all change this week," added Harrington. "Two months ago, you would have picked Monty. Paul Casey has had a very solid two months, and two months ago Ian Poulter finished second at the Open.

"You've got four players playing for two spots. All four have a case for being picked. It's going to be tough and two guys are going to be unhappy.

"The fact they haven't played their way in, if they don't get picked they can't complain."

This week Harrington will look to secure a berth over the weekend at the PGA Tour's Deutsche Bank Championship, which starts on Friday, after missing the cut last year.

The tournament is the second of four tournaments in the tour's play-off series, with only 120 players eligible compared to 144 at last week's Barclays tournament.

Only 70 will advance to next week's BMW Championship, with 30 qualifying for the Tour Championship to be played in four weeks, immediately after the Ryder Cup.

"It wasn't far away from being good," he said. "I just hope I don't make those same mental errors this week, but there's nothing I've got to find in my swing, or anything like that."


CLARKE SPURRED ON BY BAD PRESS
EUROPEANS LOOKING FOR RYDER CUP BOOST
Falcons GM says he’s had offers for No. 3 pick

GARCIA OFFERS HELPING HAND

Sergio Garcia has offered to take a Ryder Cup rookie under his wing as a playing partner at Valhalla next month.

The Spaniard, a highly successful regular for Europe in the Ryder Cup matches since his debut as a teenager in 1999, will be unable to renew either of his partnerships from the 2006 matches in Ireland against the Americans in Kentucky and on today at the Barclays tournament he said he would like to help captain Nick Faldo by mentoring a first-time team member.

Garcia, who moved into contention on Friday at The Barclays tournament in New Jersey with a second-round 67, has only lost once in 16 matches playing in tandem with another golfer.

He boasts a perfect 8-0 record in Ryder Cup foursomes and of his eight fourball rubbers has won five, lost once and halved twice. The only defeat came in a fourball with Lee Westwood, although that pairing has also won 4.5 points.

Garcia's compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal, with whom he went undefeated in two fourballs at The K Club two years ago, will be one of captain Nick Faldo's non-playing assistants while Luke Donald has undergone season-ending wrist surgery and will therefore not resume an unbeaten four-match foursomes partnership going back to Oakland Hills in 2004.

"I have neither of my two partners from the last Ryder Cup," Garcia said.

"I mean, Olazbal will be there, but as a vice captain. Obviously Luke, with his wrist injury, we are going to miss him for a while.

"You know, I've played with Lee before, and we've done well. So that might be, but I don't know what Nick is thinking.

"You know, I'm always happy to play with any of the newcomers and give them a little bit of - how do you say, like cheer them up and give them some confidence.

"I think as an up and comer, or as a rookie on the team, it's always nice when you play with one that has played some Ryder Cups.

"We'll see, but I'm sure that Nick will do a great job and will mix everybody up nicely."

The chances of Garcia partnering Ryder Cup hero Colin Montgomerie appear to be reducing as the Scotsman now relies on one of two captain's picks and is struggling for form. Yet Garcia is refusing to rule Montgomerie out of an appearance at Valhalla.

"Obviously Monty has done so muciss. But at the same time, you want to have the best players out there. If he's not playing at his best, you know, you've got to move on and give the spot to somebody that is playing better.

"We'll see what happens. There's still a couple of weeks, this one and next week and it will all be revealed, I guess."


Hansa leave with win
Hamburg return to winning ways
FALDO AND AZINGER MEET

PARNEVIK BACKS MONTY BID

European Ryder Cup hero Jesper Parnevik is backing fellow veteran Colin Montgomerie's bid for one of Nick Faldo's two captain's picks at Valhalla next month.

Montgomerie has played in the last eight Ryder Cups, becoming a talisman for the Europeans in the biennial match play showdown against the United States, with only Faldo and Bernhard Langer having amassed more than the Scot's tally of 23.5 points.

The 45-year-old has hit a slump in form this year, however, with only three top-10 finishes, the most recent coming with a second place at the French Open on June 29.

Montgomerie has not broken 70 in his last 11 competitive rounds with his most recent outing resulting in an 84 at the US PGA Championship as he missed the cut at Oakland Hills.

Parnevik, 43, played with Montgomerie on three Ryder Cups, the Swede helping Europe beat the United States in 1997 at Valderrama and in 2002 at The Belfry while being on the losing side at Brookline in 1999.

Parnevik, this week playing The Barclays tournament on the PGA Tour in New Jersey, said he understood the reasons for Faldo not to pick Montgomerie next Sunday but the Scot had that special something when it came to Ryder Cups.

"I have no idea who the picks are going to be because it's not easy for Faldo with Monty not playing so great the last couple of months.

"He was a given pick before that. But some guys thrive in the Ryder Cup and some guys don't and sometimes it's better to give it to a guy who might not be playing that great but you pretty much know he's going to play well in a Ryder Cup.

"When that adrenaline gets going and the heart is pumping and all that, you can play better than you have all year all of a sudden.

"The Ryder Cup is such a motivator and it's so much fun and I think I would have Monty there."

Parnevik spoke of the importance of balancing out the team in terms of experience and said he was delighted that Sergio Garcia had offered to help Faldo by playing with one of Europe's debutants at Valhalla.

The Swede was paired with a rookie Garcia at Brookline in 1999 and they thrived as a team, collecting 3.5 points out of a possible four.

"I kind of took him under my wing the first year in Boston," Parnevik recalled. We even flew up together two days earlier than the rest of the team to get some practice together.

"I did it myself because I knew how hard it was from the first time I played.

"I mean, I don't even remember my tee shot the first time I played so it was important.

"I knew he was a good player so all he needed to do was get comfortable in the situation. I knew if he got that he would thrive."


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Bochum acquire two players
FALDO WILL CONSULT RYDER CUP STARS
GALLACHER EXPECTS MONTY TO FIGURE

NERVOUS TIMES AHEAD FOR HANSEN

If this week is anything like last week, Denmark's Soren Hansen has more agonies to go through before he knows whether he has achieved his Ryder Cup dream.

"I must like torture," said Hansen on Sunday after achieving the sixth-place finish at the KLM Open which lifted him from 10th to ninth on the cup points table for the European team.

Far from it being plain sailing, the 34-year-old had to battle back from a double bogey at the start of his second and final rounds and from a triple-bogey eight on the second hole of his third round.

He added: "It was like a big knock on the head each day, but I really battled and now I'm very close to something I really want."

He has moved on to the final counting event, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, which starts on Thursday. The top 10 at the end of it on Sunday will qualify for Nick Faldo's side.

"You learn a lot about yourself playing under this pressure. I was really hoping to get the job done in the States earlier this month, but it's come down to this," he said.

"It's going to be interesting. The team is looking really, really strong and at the end of the day I hope I can be a part of it."

England's Oliver Wilson was the player Hansen relegated to 10th spot on the standings. The gap is just over Ј28,000, but more importantly Hansen is Ј42,000 clear of 11th-placed Martin Kaymer - a week ago that was Ј213 - almost Ј102,000 ahead of Ross Fisher and more than Ј170,000 in front of Nick Dougherty.

With Ian Poulter controversially staying in America Kaymer, Fisher and Dougherty are the only three players who can still force themselves into the top 10.

Only a top-two finish at the weekend will give Dougherty a chance, however, while Fisher needs third at worst and Kaymer 26th.

To make things even more interesting, Hansen and Fisher will go head-to-head in the first two rounds.

European Open champion Fisher is taking the "one shot at a time" attitude.

"I've said all along the Ryder Cup is not on my mind," he said. "Everybody harps on about it, but I'm not thinking about it.

"I am thinking about Gleneagles and once that's out of the way I will think about it - if I am on the team.

"As long as I give it 100% that's all I can ask."

Dougherty, of course, has the toughest task. A runner-up finish in Sweden two weeks ago re-ignited his hopes after a slump understandably triggered by his mother's death from a heart attack in April, but he then missed the cut in Holland.

Justin Rose is not yet sure of his cup place at eighth on the table - but he is almost there.

Three players have to go past to deny him and even if he was to miss the halfway cut, Dougherty would have to win, Fisher be in the top two, Kaymer the top five, Wilson seventh or better and Hansen the top 28.

As for the wild cards, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley - first and second on Sunday - and Colin Montgomerie all play to try to advance their claims.

Poulter and Paul Casey, meanwhile, are both in the States, but the second leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs does not start until Friday.

Only the second round will be complete there when Faldo announces his two picks.


Additional UEFA Cup berth for Bundesliga
RYDER WOE FOR DOUGHERTY

POULTER AND MONTY LOSE GROUND

It is only a month ago that Padraig Harrington said he wanted Colin Montgomerie as his Ryder Cup partner again - and that he thought it was "inevitable" Ian Poulter would play his way onto the team.

Entering the final week of the year-long race for places, however, Poulter is still battling for a spot and Montgomerie is at the mercy of captain Nick Faldo, with things not looking good for him.

Poulter, runner-up to Harrington at the Open, has had to return to Europe for the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

Anything worse than a top-five finish on Sunday and his chances of automatic selection are gone. But he might need to do much better than that if the players he is chasing - Oliver Wilson in 10th, Soren Hansen in ninth and Justin Rose in eighth - play well themselves.

A failure on the points list would leave Poulter hoping for a wild card like Montgomerie, but Faldo has only two to hand out and Darren Clarke and Paul Casey are the pair showing much better form of late.

Harrington said of Poulter's challenge to him at Royal Birkdale: "He's shown he is a big-time player and that's the type you want in the Ryder Cup."

Since then, though, Poulter has had finishes of 16th in the Bridgestone World Championship, 31st at the US PGA and missed the cut in the first of the FedEx Cup play-off series last week.

Casey, seventh at the Open, was eighth in the Bridgestone, 15th in the PGA and in the last two US Tour events has come 26th and seventh.

Clarke, meanwhile, was sixth in the Bridgestone and was a superb four-stroke winner of the KLM Open in Holland on Sunday.

As for Montgomerie, since his runner-up finish in the French Open at the end of June he has gone 24th, missed cut, 58th, 77th and missed cut - and in the last two of those he was right down near the rear of the field.

Yet Faldo knows perfectly well what the 45-year-old Scot has produced in eight Ryder Cups starting with his debut in 1991.

Harrington commented the day after his Open triumph: "I hope to tee up with Monty. He's a different man when it comes to the Ryder Cup and everyone wants to play with him in the foursomes and the fourballs.

"He's an obvious person to have leading the way. He comes up with his best golf when he's out first, whereas I'm one of those who play the same whether you send me out first, seventh or 12th.

"I can see myself taking over Monty's role at some point, but I'm only just getting out of the situation of feeling like a kid on the team."

Montgomerie - never beaten in singles and only two points away from taking over from Faldo as the event's record points-scorer - has one last chance to swing the decision his way.

If he is in contention at Gleneagles would Faldo go for him? And if Poulter fails to gain a top 10 spot does he warrant a wild card? Only Faldo knows the answers.

Like Poulter, Rose wanted to be playing in America this week, but with his place still not secure he will be in Scotland trying to fight off the opposition.

Three have to go past him and there are six dangers - Hansen, Wilson, Martin Kaymer, Poulter, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.


FALDO HAILS HARRINGTON
Winslow’s absence felt as Browns open practices
Own goal saves Bayer

GARCIA PUTS DISAPPOINTMENT BEHIND HIM

Sergio Garcia has put another final-day heartbreak behind him and is already looking forward to a big run in the FedEx Cup over the next month.

Two weeks on from his last-day setback in the USPGA Championship, when he lost a final-round lead to the superb putting of Padraig Harrington, Garcia lost out in a sudden-death play-off at The Barclays to Vijay Singh.

Garcia thought he had won the tournament for a third time in his career when he sank a 27-foot putt at the first extra hole, the 18th, at New Jersey's Ridgewood Country Club.

Then he watched as Singh shed his image as a dodgy putter by matching the Spaniard from 26 feet and taking the play-off to another hole, the 17th, from which the Fijian rolled a 20-footer to within inches to seal victory.

Despite a second runner-up finish in as many starts, Garcia refused to be downbeat.

"Well, it happens," he said.

"What can you do? You can't take it the wrong way.

"I think the most important thing about it is that I keep putting myself in a good position, and unfortunately somebody just seems to be able to come up with some spectacular playing when I'm out there on top.

"I hit a great putt, it just snuck in on the left side, and I knew at that time that obviously Vijay still had to putt, but I had a chance, and for sure, I wasn't going to be out of the play-off.

"I knew it had a chance. I mean, if he's 10 feet away, you know that he's probably going to make it.

"Obviously he still had a shot at it. The same way I made it, he can do it. And he did.

"And then he followed it unbelievably, holed that putt after I did, and then he just played a really solid 17th hole. You know, again, he did it in regulation and he played it pretty much exactly the same way in the play-off.

"So unfortunately it just didn't work out. He just hit two great shots on 17."

Just as he had done in defeat to Harrington at Oakland Hills in the USPGA, Garcia said he was happy with his game.

"I felt like I played solid all week. I got a couple of bad breaks here and there that maybe would have made the difference, and a couple of good ones here and there, too," he said.

"At the end of the day, I had a shot. That's what you ask yourself for, and Vijay just came out with the goods and you've just got to give hats off to him."

One of the upsides for Garcia is that he moved to second place in the FedEx Cup points standings, behind Singh, ahead of this Friday's Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston.

With only the top 70 in the standings advancing from the second FedEx Cup play-off to the third, the BMW Championship, Garcia is set fair to advance to the finale, the 30-man Tour Championship and a shot at the US$10million (almost Ј5.4million) bonus for the season-ending points leader.

"I'm looking forward to it," Garcia said.

"Obviously this was a good start. Not the perfect start, obviously, but it was a very good start.

"I'm looking forward to keeping moving in the right direction, keep giving myself chances in the next two weeks, and then get ready for the Ryder Cup and see if we can have a good Tour Championship and at least have a chance at winning the FedExCup."


Adebayor spot-on for Gunners
WESTWOOD BUOYED BY AKRON SHOWING
Germany blunder their way to loss
CASEY INVITES SINGH TO WATCH HIM TRAIN

SINGH PREVAILS AFTER PLAY-OFF

Vijay Singh handed Sergio Garcia a sudden-death play-off defeat at The Barclays as the first FedEx Cup tournament of the year came to an exciting climax at Ridgewood Country Club.

Singh had forced a three-way play-off with Garcia and Kevin Sutherland as all three finished on eight-under-par 276 in regulation at the par-71 New Jersey course.

Sutherland was the first to drop out on the first extra hole, the 18th, and a wayward drive from Garcia at the second, the 17th, gave the Spaniard too much to do to as Singh claimed his second victory in four weeks having won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at the start of August. It was his fourth career victory in this event.

The win also sent the Fijian to the top of the FedEx Cup points standings, which he now leads from Garcia and Sutherland as the play-offs move on to TPC Boston and next Friday's Deutsche Bank Championship.

"It was pretty close all day," Singh said after his victory. "And nobody had a two-shot lead at any point. It was either seven under or eight under or six under.

"It wasn't easy to get close to the hole, so birdie was difficult to come by. It was drying out a lot and you've got to play conservative on some holes.

"It was a tough day, but it was a great play-off - I enjoyed that."

Singh, playing in the last group of the day alongside overnight leader Kevin Streelman, had a chance to win the tournament in regulation but missed a 17-foot putt to tie with Garcia and Sutherland.

Streelman, Paul Casey, Ben Curtis and Mike Weir had also had at least a share of the lead at one or more points on a tense last day.

Garcia, Casey, Weir and Singh had begun one stroke behind PGA Tour rookie Streelman at eight under par.

Two weeks after his bid for a maiden major victory at the USPGA Championship at Oakland Hills was thwarted over the final round by Padraig Harrington, the Spaniard birdied the third hole as Streelman bogeyed his opener to take the lead.

With 22 players starting the day within four shots of the lead, however, the tournament was wide open.

England's Casey joined Garcia in the lead with a birdie at the third, only to three-putt for the first time this week at the next hole and return to his starting point.

Then Weir birdied the fifth while Streelman did likewise at the sixth to create a three-way lead, only for Garcia to bogey the eighth.

The yo-yo nature of events then saw Garcia birdie the 10th, Streelman bogey eight and Weir drop a shot at the ninth to leave the Spaniard back in front with eight holes to play at eight under, one shot ahead of six players.

Sutherland started his run from five under and birdied his first two holes, before his only bogey of the round at the par-three 10th. He recouped the shot at the 13th and joined leader Garcia at eight under with a birdie at the 16th.

Garcia, though, bogeyed 16 to leave Sutherland as outright leader, only to fight back to eight under at the next hole.

Both parred the last, Sutherland closing with a 68, Garcia with a 70 and now it was a question of how many would join them in the play-off, Singh with a birdie at 17 to take co-leadership.

Streelman was not out of it either after a birdie at 17 to move to seven under with one to play.

Singh had his putt to win, Streelman a 16ft attempt to make the play-off if the Fijian failed.

Streelman went first despite being four inches closer and just missed left of the hole for a 72 and seven-under finish.

So to the play-off, and with Sutherland waiting to putt for par from 25 feet, Garcia and Singh readied themselves for long birdie attempts.

After a debate as to who was to putt first, Garcia stepped up to his 27-footer and coolly rolled it into the hole. That left Singh, a noticeably poor putter of late, with 26 feet to prevent defeat and he defied the odds to extend the play-off.

At the par-five 17th, the second extra hole, Garcia handed the advantage to Singh as he drove into the left rough under overhanging tree branches. His approach from there came to rest at the foot of a tree on the right with no way out but backwards or sideways.

Singh went next and was not happy with his second shot from the fairway his ball hopped off the ridge in front of the green and came to rest 20 feet from the hole.

In the meantime, Garcia was finding an alternative route from his problem. As Singh waited patiently on the green, the Spaniard was consulting a rules official about an animal hole affecting his stance. His enquiry proved successful as he earned a drop and a clear sight of the green but his shot came up short of the green.

He chipped onto the green and just past the hole with his fourth shot, leaving Singh with two putts for victory. The Fijian rolled it within inches to tap in for his second win this month.

Curtis, Streelman and Mathew Goggin of Australia tied for fourth place at seven under, while Scotland's Martin Laird, Americans Justin Leonard and Nicholas Thompson, Canada's Weir and Casey shared seventh - the Englishman ending with a flourish and a birdie at the last thanks to a 22-foot putt that gave him a one-over 72.

Singh added he was unfazed by Garcia's travails on the second extra hole.

"I wasn't really concerned about him," Singh said of his wait on the 17th green.

"I just wanted to know why he got a drop - there was obviously a mole there and he was burrowing at that moment, you could see him popping out!

"I was just playing, and I was really focused on what I was doing and he actually hit a great third shot.

"You know, it's hard. He's a good friend of mine. It's hard to see your friend not win, especially if he's playing against you. But somebody has to win."

Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour The Barclays, Ridgewood Country Club, Paramus, New Jersey, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 71):

276 Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 70 66 70 (Vijay won at the second play-off hole), Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 67 69 70, Kevin Sutherland 70 69 69 68

277 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 67 74 69 67, Ben Curtis 71 68 70 68, Kevin Streelman 67 70 68 72

278 Paul Casey (Eng) 66 71 69 72, Justin Leonard 70 70 71 67, Mike Weir (Can) 72 67 67 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 69 72 67, Nicholas Thompson 75 68 68 67

279 Dudley Hart 67 69 73 70, Anthony Kim 70 67 72 70, Jim Furyk 70 71 68 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 74 69 68 68, Ken Duke 72 71 67 69, Bubba Watson 68 70 71 70, Scott Verplank 73 70 67 69

280 Steve Stricker 68 64 77 71, Phil Mickelson 70 70 72 68, Jerry Kelly 72 70 71 67, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 67 72 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 70 68 71

281 Patrick Sheehan 69 70 70 72, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 70 72 69, J.B. Holmes 71 71 73 66, Tim Herron 69 71 73 68, Glen Day 70 71 70 70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 68 72 72 69, Mark Wilson 72 70 71 68

282 Hunter Mahan 62 73 74 73, Kevin Na 72 70 68 72, George McNeill 68 70 73 71, Billy Mayfair 70 70 73 69, John Senden (Aus) 71 70 72 69, Jay Williamson 74 68 70 70, Jason Day (Aus) 74 68 66 74

283 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 74 70 70, Charley Hoffman 67 71 74 71, Jeff Overton 74 67 68 74, John Merrick 69 71 70 73, Eric Axley 78 65 68 72, Stewart Cink 73 70 70 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 73 66 75, Brett Quigley 71 69 71 72, Tim Petrovic 71 72 69 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 69 73 71

284 Kenny Perry 69 67 72 76, Dean Wilson 72 70 67 75, Justin Bolli 71 71 72 70, Lee Janzen 71 69 72 72, Briny Baird 69 71 69 75, John Mallinger 70 73 69 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 70 71 71

285 J J Henry 70 72 74 69, Bill Haas 71 68 71 75, Lucas Glover 70 70 75 70, Rich Beem 68 74 71 72, Andres Romero (Arg) 72 68 77 68, Jonathan Byrd 72 70 73 70, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 71 71 72

286 Nick Watney 71 69 75 71, Ryan Palmer 69 69 72 76

287 Frank Lickliter II 71 71 71 74

288 Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 71 72 73, Chad Campbell 71 72 69 76, Michael Allen 73 67 75 73

289 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 74 69 74 72, Brandt Snedeker 71 71 73 74

290 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 71 76 73

291 Bo Van Pelt 67 74 70 80

295 Paul Goydos 70 72 77 76


GARCIA WORKS HARD
MONSTER PUTT SEALS TITLE FOR SCOTT
Adebayor spot-on for Gunners
Crouch Exit To Spark Anfield Spending Spree?

HARRINGTON WINS SHOT OF MONTH

Padraig Harrington's superb five-wood to the 71st hole of The Open has been named European Tour Shot of the Month for July.

The approach to the par five finished only three feet for the flag and when the eagle putt went in the Dubliner was minutes away from making a successful defence of the trophy.

Ross Fisher's holed bunker shot on the last for a seven-shot runaway victory at the European Open was voted second and third was Greg Norman's chip to save par and stay in front at the end of his third round at Royal Birkdale.


PADRAIG OVERAWED BY WIN
FISHER FULFILS HIS POTENTIAL
“The ‘Royal Blues’ are in my heart”

OLAZABAL SET FOR RETURN

Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo's assistant captain at next month's Ryder Cup, could soon be resuming his playing career.

The double Masters champion has not competed since losing a play-off in the Open Championship qualifier at Sunningdale seven weeks ago.

Olazabal has been suffering from extreme fatigue, possibly as a result of medication prescribed to combat the rheumatism which kept him out of action from last August until March.

Manager Sergio Garcia has countered rumours the Spaniard's health had seriously deteriorated, rumours he said had even prompted a call from Faldo.

"Jose has stopped taking the medication and all the blood tests and scans and everything are saying that he is in very good shape regarding the illness itself," he stated today.

"He is back practising and hoping to enter a tournament before the Ryder Cup."

Olazabal and Paul McGinley, both members of the winning 2006 side, were named in May last year as Faldo's two assistants, but then McGinley resigned because he wanted to focus on trying to win another cap.

Eleven months on from that decision Faldo has still to announce who might also be with him.

It could, of course, be McGinley as he is way down the points table with only two tournaments left.

Ian Woosnam, captain at The K Club, felt he needed six people assisting.

"I would say Nick Faldo needs more people to be out there in America helping him," said the Welshman at Slaley Hall, where he is competing on the European Senior Tour this week.

"I don't know how he will cope - he'll find out, I guess. He's got the experience - he should know all that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

"He may want to see who is in the side after he has made his wild card choices and maybe he wants some of the other older players not in the team to come in and be vice-captains.

"But sometimes if you have missed the Ryder Cup you don't want to be a vice-captain.

"Say he does not pick Colin Montgomerie. I would think you can't really expect Colin to come in and be a vice-captain."


Ronaldo To Miss United’s Nigeria Trip
FALDO: IT WON’T BE A ROUGH RYDER
FALDO AND AZINGER MEET

NOCERA TRIUMPHS IN OSLO

Gwladys Nocera won her eighth Ladies European Tour event at the SAS Ladies Masters in Oslo, Norway.

Starting the third and final round a shot behind Diana Luna of Italy, the 33-year-old from France closed with a four-under 68 to finish on 13-under-par 203 at Haga Golf Club.

Nocera won by three from Spaniard Tania Elosegui, who had a 67 and England's Samantha Head, who had a 68, with a further eight players in a share of third place on eight under.

The victory was Nocera's third of the season and underlined her dominance on the LET this year after wins in Scotland and Holland.

She became the sole player to have won three times this year, a feat she also achieved in 2006, but still lies in second place on the New Star Money List behind Sweden's Helen Alfredsson, who won the lucrative Evian Masters in July.

"My aim is still to win the New Star Money List so I knew I had to win at least this week and a couple more. I'm getting closer to my goal but I still have a lot of work to do," said the two-time Solheim Cup player.

"I really played well today, the best round of the week."

Nocera made two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine to find herself in a tie for the lead with Luna after nine holes on the final day.

After both players birdied the par-five 10th hole, they remained neck and neck but Luna bogeyed the 12th hole giving Nocera the advantage.

At the 481-yard, par-five, 14th hole, Nocera rolled in a 23-footer for eagle and then cemented her lead with back-to-back birdies on holes 16 and 17.

At the 372-yard, par-four 18th, Nocera found the water on the right with her tee shot, but maintained her composure to take a bogey.

Head, who earned two victories on the LET in 1999 and 2001, posted her best finish since the 2005 OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open in Hungary.

Head had been struggling until a forced break from golf due to tonsillitis gave her time to review the situation.

"I wasn't shooting any low scores and a couple of weeks ago I had to pull out of the British Open after qualifying and I was so gutted but it gave me two weeks off to think about why I'm not shooting low scores. Those two weeks off really helped me," she explained.

"I was not holing enough putts. That was it. I just thought about how I'm going to hole more putts. I worked in my own head, visualisation and all that stuff. I did it by myself."

Collated final-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

203 Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 69 66 68

206 Tania Elosegui (Spa) 70 69 67, Samantha Head 70 68 68

208 Johanna Head 69 71 68, Lee-Anne Pace (USA) 71 67 70, Nina Reis (Swe) 68 71 69, Becky Brewerton 72 67 69, Iben Tinning (Den) 69 68 71, Emma Zackrisson (Swe) 73 67 68, Johanna Westerberg (Swe) 71 69 68, Diana Luna (Ita) 66 68 74

210 Kirsty S Taylor 74 65 71, Ashleigh Simon (Rsa) 72 68 70, Beatriz Recari (Spa) 72 65 73, Carmen Alonso (Spa) 69 71 70

211 Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 66 75 70, Anna-Lise Caudal (Fra) 71 70 70, Martina Eberl (Ger) 72 67 72, Lena Kirstina Viola Tornevall (Swe) 74 68 69

212 Caroline Afonso (Fra) 70 68 74, Laura Cabanillas Gomez (Spa) 69 71 72

213 Kaisa Ruuttila (Fin) 73 68 72

214 Karen Lunn (Aus) 72 69 73, Laurette Maritz (Rsa) 73 73 68, Stefanie Michl (Aut) 75 68 71, Denise Becker (Ger) 75 68 71

215 Joanne Morley 70 73 72, Leah Hart (Aus) 75 69 71, Katharina Schallenberg (Ger) 76 69 70, Yuki Sakurai (Jpn) 70 73 72, Melodie Bourdy (Fra) 75 72 68, Anna Rawson (Aus) 73 69 73, Emma Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 70 74

216 Sophie Walker 74 70 72, Eva Steinberger (Aut) 74 69 73

217 Laura Davies 70 72 75, Felicity Johnson 72 72 73, Lill Saether (Nor) 71 70 76, Beth Allen (USA) 75 71 71, Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha) 75 72 70

218 Trish Johnson (USA) 76 71 71

219 Frances Bondad (Aus) 73 71 75, Mianne Bagger (Den) 70 74 75, Natascha Fink (Aut) 75 70 74, Olof Jonsdottir (Ice) 72 74 73, Elin Emanuelsson (Swe) 72 75 72, Rebecca Hudson 74 71 74

220 Lynnette Teresa Brooky (Nzl) 70 73 77, Sofia Renell (Swe) 75 72 73, Jehanne Jail (Fra) 73 73 74, Joanne Pritchard 76 72 72

221 Karen-Margreth Juul (Den) 75 72 74, Anna Tybring (Swe) 73 72 76, Margherita Rigon (Ita) 72 70 79

222 Ellen Smets (Bel) 73 70 79, Mette Buus (Den) 71 76 75, Camille Fallay (Fra) 76 72 74, Joanne Clingan 72 76 74

223 Stephanie Arricau (Fra) 76 71 76, Martina Gillen 73 75 75, Denise Simon (Ger) 74 74 75, Lynn Kenny 75 73 75, Elisabeth Esterl (Ger) 74 73 76, Cassandra Kirkland (Fra) 75 73 75

224 Lene Krog (Nor) 71 74 79

225 Julie Greciet (Fra) 74 72 79, Cecilie Lundgreen (Nor) 74 74 77

226 Sophie Sandolo (Ita) 73 74 79


NOCERA’S TWO TOO GOOD

WILSON VOWS TO FIGHT FOR CUP SPOT

Oliver Wilson accepts he may struggle to be Mansfield's Sports Personality of the Year after the double Olympic triumph of swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

But he will be content enough if he can earn himself a Ryder Cup debut and be part of a side that achieves a historic fourth successive win over the Americans next month.

Wilson has still to register his first European Tour victory, but no fewer than four runner-up finishes this season have put him ninth in the points table.

This week's KLM Open in Holland is the penultimate counting event, and while the 27-year-old opened with a one-under-par 69 on Thursday, one of the two players it would take to knock him out of an automatic spot did even better.

Dane Soren Hansen shot 65 and resumed at Kennemer on Friday morning in joint second place with England's John Bickerton, one behind pace-setting Dutchman Rolf Muntz.

Wilson looked to be sailing into Nick Faldo's side until he suffered a shoulder injury and missed the European Open, then broke his favourite driver in the following week's Scottish Open.

"I'd had it for two years and when it cracked I messed around with a couple and didn't find one I really liked until a few weeks ago," he said.

"Everything's in decent shape now. I went back last week to the place I've got in Augusta (he was at university there) and worked on my own with a video.

"I know the Ryder Cup situation is tight, but I don't know exactly what the figures are.

"I've got to play well - I'm not going to be handed this - and I'm just trying to get a natural flow back to my swing."

Wilson actually led when he went to the turn in 31, but as the weather worsened he dropped two late shots.

Playing partner Justin Rose, eighth in the standings, managed a 67, but German Martin Kaymer, who is currently 11th - only Ј213 behind Hansen, could do no better than 72.


“I’ll fight for my place in the attack”
RYDER WOE FOR DOUGHERTY
Saints’ Grant, recently indicted, posts $10K bond

STRICKER STREAKS AHEAD

Defending champion Steve Stricker reeled in overnight leader Hunter Mahan and grabbed the second-round lead at The Barclays as world number three Padraig Harrington missed the cut.

Mahan had laid down his marker for the first of four FedEx Cup play-off tournaments by blasting a nine-under-par opening round at the 7,319-yard Ridgewood Country Club course in New Jersey, four shots better than second-placed Paul Casey of England.

Stricker started the day a further two shots adrift in a tie for eighth place but proved eager for the chase.

The American, who won the 2007 event at Westchester Country Club, holed a birdie at the par-three second hole, and then eagled the par-five third, chipping in from 67 yards from the fairway.

Stricker then closed to within two shots of Mahan with a birdie at the fifth hole to reach the turn in 31, four under for his round. He added another birdie at the 11th and drew level with the leader at the 13th with his fourth birdie of the day.

The outright lead became his with a birdie two at the 15th to move to 10 under on the way to a 64 before Mahan had even begun his round.

The low scoring has been a surprise given the pre-tournament predictions of tight fairways, punitive rough and small greens.

"It is a good course. You've got to do a lot of good things," Stricker said.

"The greens are tough. But I didn't think the scoring was going to be this low. And when Hunter goes out and shoots that nine-under round yesterday, it shows you that it is capable and it is out there."

Mahan failed to build on his dominant position as conditions toughened in the afternoon and fell to seven under, two shots adrift with a second-round 73.

"Putts," said Mahan when asked the difference between his two rounds, although he also acknowledged the condition of the course at different times of the day.

"No question," he added. "Especially Thursday morning to Friday afternoon, it's a different golf course. The greens are definitely bouncy and firmer and definitely played tougher."

American Dudley Hart and Angel Cabrera of Argentina finished their second rounds on six under for the tournament after rounds of 69 and 67 respectively while Kenny Perry, FedEx Cup points leader in Tiger Woods' absence, joined them, also with a 67.

Anthony Kim quickly got over an opening day he described as "one of the toughest rounds I've ever played" to move to six under after 14 holes before finishing at five under at the halfway mark.

Kim, a two-time winner in just his second year on the PGA Tour and an automatic qualifier for the US Ryder Cup team, had been stung by a bee and suffered an adverse reaction to medication during his opening round of 70.

Today, Kim provided the bite with five birdies, his only blemish coming at the par-three eighth, his 17th of the day, which he bogeyed for a second-round 67.

Sergio Garcia also shot a 67 to send him to five under at the halfway stage. Starting on the 10th tee, the US PGA Championship runner-up bounced back from a bogey at his second hole with birdies at the third, fourth, eighth and ninth to reach the turn in 33, four under for the tournament.

He too bogeyed his 10th hole but moved to five under with birdies on his 13th and 16th holes.

Also on five under was Kevin Streelman, who had opened at four under.

Casey was disappointed to finish bogey, bogey having started at the 10th tee, leaving him back where he started at five under and ruing a tough afternoon spent on drying, quickening greens.

"The golf course, certainly in the last nine holes, I felt was very crispy, greens especially," Casey said.

"The sixth green was toasty. I mean, it's glazed and very difficult to get the ball rolling consistently on those greens.

"But it's the same for everybody. I found the golf course yesterday morning was perfect and Steve Stricker has obviously found the same sort of set-up.

"The afternoon is a different kettle of fish. It's tricky."

It was certainly tricky for Open and US PGA Championship winner Harrington, who at three over par and after a second round of 73 comprising four birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey, missed the cut, which fell at two over - his first missed weekend since The Players Championship in May.

Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour The Barclays, Ridgewood Country Club, Paramus, New Jersey, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 71):

132 Steve Stricker 68 64

135 Hunter Mahan 62 73

136 Kenny Perry 69 67, Dudley Hart 67 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 67

137 Paul Casey (Eng) 66 71, Anthony Kim 70 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 67, Kevin Streelman 67 70

138 Charley Hoffman 67 71, George McNeill 68 70, Ryan Palmer 69 69, Bubba Watson 68 70

139 Patrick Sheehan 69 70, Bill Haas 71 68, Mike Weir (Can) 72 67, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 69, Kevin Sutherland 70 69, Ben Curtis 71 68, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 69

140 Nick Watney 71 69, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 70, Tim Herron 69 71, John Merrick 69 71, Billy Mayfair 70 70, Lucas Glover 70 70, Lee Janzen 71 69, Andres Romero (Arg) 72 68, Phil Mickelson 70 70, Justin Leonard 70 70, Michael Allen 73 67, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 70, Brett Quigley 71 69, Briny Baird 69 71, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 68 72

141 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 67 74, Jim Furyk 70 71, Jeff Overton 74 67, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 71, John Senden (Aus) 71 70, Bo Van Pelt 67 74, Glen Day 70 71, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 70

142 Dean Wilson 72 70, Justin null Bolli 71 71, Frank Lickliter II 71 71, Jerry Kelly 72 70, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 71, Mark Wilson 72 70, Jason null Day (Aus) 74 68, Kevin Na 72 70, J J Henry 70 72, J.B. Holmes 71 71, Paul Goydos 70 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 73, Jay Williamson 74 68, Rich Beem 68 74, Jonathan Byrd 72 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 70, Brandt Snedeker 71 71

143 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 74, Eric Axley 78 65, Stewart Cink 73 70, John Mallinger 70 73, Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 71, Chad Campbell 71 72, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 74 69, KJ Choi (Kor) 74 69, Tim Petrovic 71 72, Ken Duke 72 71, Scott Verplank 73 70, Nicholas Thompson 75 68

----------------The following players failed to make the cut---------------------

144 Jeff Quinney 74 70, Woody Austin 72 72, Greg Kraft 76 68, Heath Slocum 73 71, Jon Mills (Can) 70 74, Nathan Green (Aus) 77 67, Sean O'Hair 73 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 73, Jason Gore 74 70, Steve Flesch 72 72, Matt Kuchar 74 70, Tom Lehman 71 73, Tom Pernice Jnr. 73 71, Cliff Kresge 70 74, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 75, Dustin Johnson 75 69, John Rollins 72 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 72 72, Troy Matteson 75 69

145 Zach Johnson 72 73, Brian Gay 73 72, David Toms 74 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 73, Charles Howell III 72 73, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 73, Corey Pavin 69 76, Ian Poulter (Eng) 73 72, Boo Weekley 71 74, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 71

146 Steve Marino 71 75, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 73, Johnson Wagner 71 75, Shane Bertsch 73 73

147 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 76, Joe Ogilvie 74 73, James Driscoll 74 73, Chez Reavie 75 72, Fred Couples 75 72, Ben Crane 72 75, Rocco Mediate 70 77, D.J. Trahan 76 71

148 Brad null Adamonis 76 72, Scott McCarron 73 75, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 75 73, Bart Bryant 72 76, Steve Lowery 73 75, Parker McLachlin 74 74, Tommy Armour III 72 76, Peter Lonard (Aus) 73 75

149 Pat Perez 78 71, Vaughn Taylor 75 74, Mark Calcavecchia 75 74, Chris DiMarco 74 75, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 77, Matthew Jones (Aus) 77 72

150 Michael Letzig 77 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 82

151 Charles Warren 72 79, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 76 75

152 Joe Durant 75 77, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 76 76

154 Ryan Moore 76 78


Manageable tasks for Hertha and VfB
Round Announced As New Everton Coach
WESTWOOD HAPPIER ON AKRON GREENS

ROSE STARTS STRONGLY

Justin Rose has taken another step towards winning his first Ryder Cup cap - but only after a night when he wondered if he was ever going to get to sleep.

Although Dutchman Rolf Muntz was the star of the opening round of the KLM Open in Holland with a six under par 64, Rose is among those chasing him hard.

Having pulled out of the FedEx Cup first leg in America to try to clinch his debut, the world number 12 had a bogey-free 67.

"Now I'm looking forward to an afternoon nap," said Rose, joint ninth at the US PGA two weeks ago.

"It must have been three o'clock when I got to sleep - I had a coffee at dinner and there must have been rocket fuel in it.

"I wasn't as rested as I would have liked, but I got away with it. I didn't play particularly well, but I guess I managed it well.

"When you are a pro you learn how to make the most of your game when you are not tip-top.

"I'm really pleased - I knew coming here that there would be a lot of attention on the Ryder Cup, but I just had to try to get into the mindset of playing tournament golf."

Starting on the back nine he birdied the 11th, fourth and sixth and during monsoon-like conditions over the closing stretch scrambled brilliantly to avoid losing ground.

Former British amateur champion Muntz, no longer a European Tour card holder and forced to qualify for the event, was in the first group out, so avoided the worst of the weather.

He still had to capitalise, of course, but did with six birdies and commented: "It's awesome playing in front of your home crowd and it was a gorgeous round - the kind you plan on paper and it actually works out."

Rose lies eighth on the Ryder Cup table and therefore needs to avoid three players going past him by the end of next week.

The only one of the leading candidates to score better than him was Dane Soren Hansen, currently in the 10th and last automatic spot a mere Ј213 ahead of German Martin Kaymer.

Hansen, who made a late decision to enter the tournament because of the cup situation, hit back from a double bogey on the ninth with what he called a "spectacular" inward 30 and shares second place with England's John Bickerton.

Oliver Wilson, lying ninth in the race and playing with Rose, led when he turned in 31, but in the end had to settle for a one under 69.

Kaymer could do no better than 72, while defending champion Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty, currently 13th and 14th, both double-bogeyed the ninth and 10th in rounds of 70 and 73 respectively.

Dougherty, last week's runner-up in Sweden, lost a ball with only his second shot of the day and was disgusted with his day's work.

In days gone by Darren Clarke might have been in a similar mood after getting to four under and finishing two under.

But those bogeys came in the worst of the weather on two of the toughest holes and the Ulsterman, 40 last week, still entertains hopes of a wild card from captain Nick Faldo.

Competition is hotting up, though, with Paul Casey starting the FedEx Cup play-offs with a 66 in New Jersey.

The 562-yard seventh, where he ran up a six, was an absolute brute into the wind. Welshman Stuart Manley took 10 and then German Marcel Siem had two penalty drops in a septuple bogey 12.

A bad day for Open amateur star Chris Wood became even worse when he was given a two-stroke penalty for a wrong drop.

Wood, playing his second event as a professional, was taken back out onto the Kennemer course and had his par four on the fifth hole turned into a double bogey six. It turned a five over 75 into a 77.

Collated first round scores from the KLM Open, Kennemer G & CC, Zandvoort, Netherlands

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 70):

64 Rolf Muntz (Ned)

65 Soren Hansen (Den), John Bickerton

66 Alexander Noren (Swe)

67 Anthony Wall, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Damien McGrane, Justin Rose, Phillip Price, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Simon Khan

68 Gary Orr, Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Darren Clarke, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Robert Rock, Alastair Forsyth, Carlos Franco (Par), Mark Foster, Henrik Stenson (Swe)

69 Anders Hansen (Den), Benn Barham, Oliver Wilson, Luis Claverie (Spa), Iain Pyman, Santiago Luna (Spa), Joakim Backstrom (Swe), Martin Wiegele (Aut), Garry Houston, Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Paul McGinley, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Ross McGowan

70 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Ross Fisher, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Simon Dyson, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Wil Besseling (Ned), Lee Slattery, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Steve Webster, Paul Waring, David Lynn, Mardan Mamat (Sin), Phillip Archer, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)

71 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Joost Luiten (Ned), Graeme Storm, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Sven Struver (Ger), Jamie Donaldson, Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Peter Fowler (Aus), John Boerdonk (Ned), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Anton Haig (Rsa), Peter Baker, Matthew Millar (Aus), Kyron Sullivan, Julio Zapata (Arg), Joost Steenkamer (Ned), Paul Lawrie

Hiddo Uhlenbeck (Ned), James Kamte (Rsa), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Peter O'Malley (Aus)

72 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), David Griffiths, Martin Kaymer (Ger), David Frost (Rsa), Kevin Hesbois (Bel), Stephen Dodd, Marc Warren, Markus Brier (Aut), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Jamie Moul, Peter Whiteford, David Howell, Sam Walker, Stephen Gallacher, Lee S James, Gary Murphy, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Benoit Teilleria (Fra)

73 Craig Lee, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Nick Dougherty, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Paul Broadhurst, Robin Swane (Ned), Carl Suneson (Spa), Pedro Linhart (Spa), Ariel Canete (Arg), Philip Golding, Barry Lane, Bradley Dredge

74 Robert Dinwiddie, Danny Willett, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Simon Wakefield, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Peter Hanson (Swe), Tadd Fujikawa (USA), Rory McIlroy, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Sam Little, Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), David Dixon, Thomas Levet (Fra)

75 Juan Abbate (Arg), Teemu Bakker (Ned), Mattias Eliasson (Swe), Paolo Terreni (Ita), Scott Drummond, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Peter Lawrie, Oliver Fisher, Sion Bebb, Tom Whitehouse

76 David Drysdale, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Florian Praegant (Aut), Miles Tunnicliff, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Ralph Miller (Ned)

77 Alain Ruiz-Fonhof (Ned), Chris Wood, Stuart Manley, Berend Van holthuijsen (Ned), Pablo Martin (Spa), Mark Campbell

78 Darius Van driel (Ned), Robert Niemer (Ned), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Tobias Dier (Ger)

80 Marcel Siem (Ger), Pelle Edberg (Swe)

82 Floris De Vries (Ned)

84 Ruben Wechgelaer (Ned)


ROSE ON THE RISE
Ravens’ Martin cited on drug charge in Cleveland

CASEY HOPES FOR POULTER FAVOUR

Paul Casey is desperate for fellow Englishman Ian Poulter to find success at The Barclays in New Jersey this week and help his own bid for a Ryder Cup team place.

Casey is doing all he can to impress Europe captain Nick Faldo and convince him he is worth one of his two picks on the team charged with winning the cup for a fourth time in a row against the United States at Valhalla next month.

He has come into some good form of late, finishing in the top 10 at The Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and in a tie for 15th at the US PGA Championship.

It continued at Ridgewood Country Club when he shot an opening five-under-par 66 to trail Hunter Mahan by four shots in second place heading into Friday's second round of The Barclays.

Yet it has all come too late to secure automatic qualification on Faldo's team and he must instead rely on a captain's pick.

Ranked 37th in the world, Casey needs Poulter, ranked 15 places lower than him, to play his way onto the team automatically by taking one of the five spots on Europe's world points list and thereby reducing the number of rivals he faces for the wild card spots.

"Everybody is talking about the sort of notable players, the guys who have played Ryder Cup before, who are not on the team," Casey said last night.

"Ian is one, Monty (Colin Montgomerie) is another, Darren Clarke, for example, and they have to be my rivals when it comes to a pick.

"So all I can do is play exceptionally good golf here, put myself on the radar in terms of what Nick is thinking, and you know, if he doesn't have to pick Ian, then there's more chance that I might get picked.

"So I hope Ian plays well."

Poulter has work to do if he is to satisfy his own desire to make the team. The Open runner-up needs a sole fourth-place finish at Ridgewood on Sunday with Justin Rose placing outside the top two at the KLM Open in Holland if he is to move into the top five automatic qualifying places on the list.

Unfortunately for both Poulter and Casey, he opened up at Ridgewood with a two-over-par 73.

Casey said he had not spoken to Poulter recently but his friend would know he was backing him to do well.

"I think he knows," Casey added. "You know, for my position, I don't really want to be a pick, if I could have helped it anyway, because I always feel like there's pressure on the guys who are picked. It is what it is.

"I'm staying very relaxed. Having played two of them, I'd love to be there, it's an awesome thing, representing your country, the matches themselves, it's great.

"I was picked once for a Seve Trophy, not quite the same level of intensity, and even that made me nervous. It was sort of, 'Ooh, I've been picked, I've got to deliver'. So, we'll see."


FALDO HAILS HARRINGTON
Bayer pick up “Barca” player

McKENNA REMAINS AS CAPTAIN

Ireland's Mary McKenna is to continue as captain of the Great Britain and Ireland women's amateur golf team through to the 2010 Curtis Cup.

She will again be supported by Tegwen Matthews as team manager.

Trish Wilson, chairman of the Ladies' Golf Union, said: "The team could not be in better hands and the rapport already in place between the players, the captain and the manager will be invaluable going into the next series of matches."

The next Curtis Cup is at Essex Country Club in Manchester, Massachusetts, on June 11-13 in 2010.


CURTIS CONSOLED BY RYDER BERTH
QUESTIONS REMAIN FOR AZINGER
Mancini wants Inter stay
Ronnie still keen on Milan

MONTY KEEN TO PROVE HIS WORTH

Colin Montgomerie is insisting his desire to play in the Ryder Cup is "greater than ever".

The 45-year-old Scot's decision not to play in Sweden this week or Holland next week has ruled him out of automatic qualification.

His only way to a ninth cap now - and the chance to break Nick Faldo's points record - is as a wild-card pick from none other than Faldo.

Europe's captain names his two selections after the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on August 28-31, an event where Montgomerie is tournament chairman.

On his own website, the eight-time European number one said his time off following last week's missed cut at the US PGA was to "reacquaint" himself with his family, having played 11 of the past 13 events to attempt to make sure of a Ryder Cup spot.

Montgomerie wrote: "I decided to take these two weeks off from tournament golf as, with automatic qualification now out of the question, I thought it very important to put in some serious practice time so I am ready to perform to the best of my ability should I come into the reckoning for a captain's selection.

"My desire to play in the Ryder Cup is greater than ever - as I have shown in the past and in my schedule which has been geared towards qualifying - but I want now to work on my game to compete as well as I can in Scotland and to have my game to a standard that would allow me, hopefully, to perform at a level to help the team (if I am part of it) to the requisite 14 and a half points.

"After these few days with my wife and family I am ready to get down to some serious hard work at Gleneagles, which is no more than 10 minutes from home, so some long hours can easily be put in.

"Hopefully, the crowds will inspire me to a great week. It will be a really strong tournament with so many European players in the field battling to improve their positions on the European Ryder Cup rankings in the final qualifying event.

"I think the spectators are in for a great week - weather permitting!"

Among those also needing a wild card as things stand are Open runner-up Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Darren Clarke.


Maldini set for one more year
FALDO WILL CONSULT RYDER CUP STARS
CASEY LOOKS TO THE CUP