MICKELSON ON THE RISE

Phil Mickelson's nerve-jangling defence of the Northern Trust Open title in Los Angeles has lifted him back to third in the world rankings.

Four clear with a round to go and flying when he began with an eagle, Mickelson then had four bogeys to trail Steve Stricker by two with three to play.

But, while Stricker bogeyed the last, he birdied the 16th and 17th to claim his 35th US Tour victory and with it moved up two places in the rankings.

The left-hander is only 2.22 points behind Tiger Woods and could overtake him in the next month - but this is the week when Woods ends his eight-month injury lay-off.

New Zealand amateur Danny Lee, meanwhile, has improved 403 places to 159th after becoming the youngest player and only the second amateur to win a European Tour event.

The 18-year-old US Amateur champion, who will turn professional after the US Masters in April, birdied four of the last six holes to capture the Johnnie Walker Classic by one shot in Perth.

Latest leading positions:

1 Tiger Woods 9.61pts, 2 Sergio Garcia 7.87, 3 Phil Mickelson 7.39, 4 Padraig Harrington 7.39, 5 Vijay Singh 6.13, 6 Henrik Stenson 5.11, 7 Robert Karlsson 5.08, 8 Geoff Ogilvy 5.00, 9 Kenny Perry 4.74, 10 Camilo Villegas 4.71, 11 Anthony Kim 4.45, 12 Lee Westwood 4.40, 13 Steve Stricker 4.23, 14 Ernie Els 4.13, 15 Jim Furyk 3.88, 16 Justin Rose 3.82, 17 Rory McIlroy 3.78, 18 Adam Scott 3.77, 19 Mike Weir 3.72, 20 KJ Choi 3.69

Other leading Europeans:

21 Martin Kaymer, 23 Paul Casey, 24 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 25 Alvaro Quiros, 31 Luke Donald, 34 Ian Poulter, 38 Ross Fisher, 39 Graeme McDowell, 45 Oliver Wilson, 49 Anders Hansen, 53 Soren Hansen, 60 Peter Hanson, 61 Soren Kjeldsen, 71 Carl Pettersson, 74 Darren Clarke, 76 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 82 Francesco Molinari, 83 Anthony Wall, 85 Gareth Maybin, 87 Fredrik Jacobson, 91 Alexander Noren, 94 Nick Dougherty


Michalczik leaves UW to coach Raiders’ O-line
McILROY LEAPS OVER ROSE
RANKINGS RISE FOR McILROY

McILROY BLOCKS THOUGHTS OF FACING TIGER

Rory McIlroy will go into the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship later on Thursday trying to block out any thoughts of a potential dream tie with Tiger Woods.

If Northern Ireland's world number 16 defeats American Hunter Mahan at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, world number one Woods could be waiting for him in the third round if he gets past Tim Clark.

The 19-year-old is determined to put that thought on hold just a little while longer, however.

"That's a long way off for the minute," McIlroy said. "But we'll see what happens.

"I don't know how my match is going to go. And all I can do is concentrate on that.

"And then Tiger has to get through his second round match as well. And obviously he seems to be playing pretty well. So we'll see what happens."

Dubai Desert Classic winner McIlroy, who is playing his first tournament as a professional in the United States, made a great start in Arizona with a 2&1 defeat of South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen to set up his date at 7.15pm UK time with US Ryder Cup star Mahan, who beat Mike Weir of Canada one up.

The American is looking forward to the encounter.

"It should be exciting," Mahan said. "I don't know much about him, but I know he's a great player, a young European player, probably going to be a Ryder Cupper very soon, so looking forward to it."

While McIlroy hit the ground running in the Arizona desert, Padraig Harrington ran into trouble as he suffered an upset first-round loss to American Pat Perez.

Harrington, who was trying to finish his four-week stint in America on a high after two missed cuts, will instead head home to Ireland ruing a one-hole defeat he felt turned against him on the front nine.

"I lost it on the fifth hole," Harrington said. "I missed a putt there and made a terrible five there from the middle of the fairway when he was in trouble.

"When I look back everything after that was a bit of a struggle. I made it tough for myself right there. I had a chance at the last but the damage was done on that fifth hole.

"It is tough in match play. I would like to play more golf as I think my game is right there but I didn't give myself the chances today and I was not as sharp as I could have been.

"But that one spot was where it all went away."

Second round draw (prefix number denotes seeding):

1-Tiger Woods (U.S) v 32-Tim Clark (South Africa)

16-Rory McIlroy (Britain) v 48-Hunter Mahan (U.S.)

8-Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) v 40-Shingo Katayama (Japan)

9-Camilo Villegas (Colombia) v 24-Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)

4-Vijay Singh (Fiji) v 36-Luke Donald (Britain)

13-Ernie Els (South Africa) v 20-Steve Stricker (U.S.)

5-Phil Mickelson (U.S.) v 28-Zach Johnson (U.S.)

12-Lee Westwood (Britain) v 21-Stewart Cink (U.S.)

63-Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) v 31-Ian Poulter (Britain)

50-Boo Weekley (U.S.) v 47-Sean O'Hair (U.S.)

58-Peter Hanson (Sweden) v 39-Stephen Ames (Canada)

55-Mathew Goggin (Australia) v 23-Paul Casey (Britain)

62-Pat Perez (U.S.) v 35-Ross Fisher (Britain)

14-Jim Furyk (U.S.) v 19-Martin Kaymer (Germany)

59-Davis Love III (U.S.) v 27-Justin Leonard (U.S.)

11-Anthony Kim (U.S.) v 43-Oliver Wilson (Britain)


TIGER TAG DOESN’T FAZE McILROY
Carolina Panthers franchise Julius Peppers, agree with Jordan Gross
McILROY LEAPS OVER ROSE
Agent: Indianapolis Colts agree to release WR Marvin Harrison

RIVALS RELISHING WOODS RETURN

Tiger Woods' return to competitive action next week has been warmly welcomed by his rivals on the PGA Tour.

World number one Woods will make his much-anticipated comeback from injury in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona, it was announced on Thursday.

The 33-year-old has been out of competitive action since winning the US Open in June last year after having reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee the following week and rehabilitating a double stress fracture of the tibia in the same leg.

"Frankly, I'm glad he's coming back," Zach Johnson told the Golf Channel .

"We need him back. We want him back. From a competitive standpoint, as a player, I want him back. I want to have the opportunity to play against the best. He knows his body, I'm assuming he's 100 per cent, so that's fantastic."

Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, underlined he expected Woods to be raring to go.

"If I remember rightly he played pretty well after he had his first baby so if the trend remains he's going to be playing pretty good.

"As a competitor I'm sure he's just anxious to get back and start competing. That's what fuels you and gets the fire going and this is his job, so I'm assuming he wants to get out here and get back to work.

"If I had seven months off I'd be itching to play."

Brandt Snedeker was asked to contemplate the return of Woods at Augusta National in April for the 2009 Masters, the first major of the year. Last year Woods finished runner-up to Trevor Immelman and one place in front of Snedeker.

"It's scary," Snedeker replied. "We're all wondering what he's going to be like. From what I heard he's been working out and playing a lot of golf and hopefully he comes back better than ever.

"I think the game of golf needs him back right now. Hopefully, he can be a little rusty for a little while and we can gang up on him a little bit but I'm sure within six months he'll be back to his old ways and winning."

Snedeker also claimed Woods' presence would not have a negative impact on the mindsets of his rivals.

"It doesn't change anything, just makes it more exciting," he added.

"We all love having him out here. We all love trying to compete against him and beat him and I think it means that much more when he's in the field if you do play well and do actually beat him.

"I know it's kind of hard to set your sights on somebody like him but we need him out here. He draws fans, he draws interest, he does everything right for the game of golf and just like everybody else, we're all fans out here too, the players, and we all love seeing him competing on a golf course."

Stuart Appleby believes Woods had made the right choice in returning to action at the WGC-Accenture Match Play.

"He's back and he's ready and I'd say he's been ready for ages, it was just a matter of timing," the Australian said.

"I'd also say he's looking to get some competition rounds and feel like he's back on the horse and play a bit before he gets to Augusta.

"He's good at match play - his record states that - but I'd say it's more about the competition and what happens in his own mind and the way he plays the game.

"He just wants to get back on it. He's ready. He'll be as strong as ever and there won't be any breaking-in period for him."


Big Ben led Super Bowl victory with broken ribs
WOODS’ RETURN ‘IS GREAT FOR GOLF’

WELCOME BACK TIGER

He comes back, he wins. Of course he does - nobody should have been surprised.

Tiger Woods is special. He wins majors with one good leg, so beating the world's 64th best golfer with two is precisely what we should all have expected.

Even opponent Brendan Jones was expecting it.

Even after eight months out of action.

Even though Woods himself claimed he was not sure what would happen in his first competitive test for so long.

What did happen was that he had a comfortable victory - comfortable not only in the three and two margin of it, but also and more importantly comfortable in terms of his reconstructed left knee.

Yes he was starting to look a little weary by the end, even taking his shoes off during a long wait on the 15th tee. But, like so often in his career, he had done what he needed to do by then.

A birdie-eagle start instantly dispelled any fears that he might not be the same golfer as before the surgery.

With all eyes on him there was the familiar twirl of his club on the opening tee as his ball not just found the fairway, but the section of the fairway to give him the best angle to the flag.

There was the familiar fist-pump when his four-iron approach to the long second ran up to within four feet of the cup.

It was the same old Woods and even if the following five holes saw three bogeys a bit of rust appeared the only problem. Nothing physical, nothing mechanical.

With another eagle on the 13th and birdies at the eighth and 15th (a hole he lost actually) he would have needed two closing pars for a four under par 68.

In match play it is all about holes won rather than shots taken, but in this case it is pertinent to record that only three of the other 31 winners on the day scored better than Woods - Zach Johnson was seven under and both Lee Westwood and Tim Clark five under.

It was Clark next up for Woods in today's second round and on paper a bigger test lay ahead.

But that is exactly how he would want it. Because, much though he would like to retain this title, the most important thing about the week is discovering how his body and game react under endurance and under pressure so that he can work on it in the build-up to April's Masters.

With a successful opening day under his belt now the big concern is actually not so much for Woods any more, but for the sport.

There is the recession to worry about first and foremost, but there is also the fact that nothing brings out the fans and the sponsors like fierce competition and does Woods really have it?

Gone already this week are Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington, second and fourth in the rankings, and Phil Mickelson, back to third in the world after his win last Sunday, looked shaky again in losing a four-hole lead before squeezing through against Angel Cabrera.

Harrington, winner of the two majors played in Woods' absence, has now made an early exit from his last three tournaments. He badly needs rounds under his belt before tackling Augusta.

Garcia, meanwhile, has blown the chance to take the world No 1 spot on Sunday week - and, for all we know with Woods back on the scene, he might never get as close again.

At the moment it remains fascinating to see what Woods can achieve at the start of his comeback.

But he is likely to play only a limited schedule as he eases himself back in. Most tournaments will still have to do without him and to attract sponsorship money in the current financial climate when Woods is not part of the entertainment on offer will not be easy.

Those who do have him, though, must be thrilled that he still looks capable of wondrous things.

We are still in the Woods era. It did not end at Torrey Pines last June.


Big Ben led Super Bowl victory with broken ribs
WOODS’ RETURN ‘IS GREAT FOR GOLF’
WOODS COMEBACK CONFIRMED

STENSON REVEALS STANFORD INVESTMENT

Swedish golf star Henrik Stenson has revealed that "a big part" of his savings are invested in the Stanford Financial Group currently under investigation for an alleged US$9billion fraud.

Currently in Arizona for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the world number six told American magazine Golfweek that he signed a three-year business deal with Stanford last summer and at the same time transferred funds into a bank account.

"Not all my money, but I have quite a big part of my own savings and investments with them," he said.

"I don't know anything more than I read in the papers, so it's obviously not a happy situation for a whole lot of people.

"It's a very unfortunate situation. I'm a victim as is everybody else in that big thing, so we just have to see how bad it is.

"Everybody has got to sit tight and see what comes out of it, but it's obviously hard to be too positive about it at the moment."

Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas are two more of the world's top 10 players with ties to Stanford and Singh was still wearing the company's logos in Tucson this week.

Stanford is also a 'platinum level' sponsor of the Tiger Woods Foundation, which funds the world number one's California learning centre and stages the PGA Tour's AT&T National event.

Another event in Memphis has Stanford as its title sponsor, while the concluding tournament of the women's tour is the Stanford Financial Tour Championship.

Tim Finchem, PGA Tour commissioner, said: "The situation of Stanford is volatile - I don't know where that's going to come out.

"It would not be appropriate for me to speculate on what their issues are and what actions are being taken and what that means. We're just in a monitoring situation right now."


Source: Donovan McNabb pins extension on improvement
GM says Falcons looking to trade rights to Vick
WIE SETS CLUBHOUSE TARGET

TIGER BATTLES TO WINNING RETURN

Tiger Woods impressed in his much-anticipated comeback from an eight-month injury lay-off to overcome a front-nine wobble and win his opening match at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship today.

Woods, playing Australian Brendan Jones in the first round of the 64-man event at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, was playing for the first time since last June when he won the US Open before needing reconstructive knee surgery and recorded a 3&2 win.

"I felt good," Woods said. "I got off to a quick start and that helps. I got off some good shots early, had some loose irons there in the middle part of the round but got back and thought I had a good day, except for those couple of loose irons."

Woods, the defending champion, said he had felt no adverse reaction from his rehabilitated left knee.

"It felt good," he said. "I felt for sure it would be a little bit more stiff than it was.

"I'm sure it will be a little bit stiff later but ice and elevate and I'll be good to go tomorrow."

The world number one had started in determined fashion and to a huge roar from the packed stands around the first tee box as he played a three-wood down the 460-yard par-four opening hole on the way to a birdie.

He was quickly two up after Jones conceded the second but then tailed off as both players made bogeys at the third and fifth.

Woods bogeyed the par-four seventh as Jones parred but was quickly back in control with a birdie at the eighth and he forged ahead by winning the 12th and 13th holes.

There was a brief rally from Jones, who eagled the par-four 15th but Woods completed his win at the 16th.

Woods said it had felt like he had not been away from the fairways.

"I said to Stevie (Williams, his caddie), 'it feels like we haven't been gone'. It was business as usual," he added.

"I thought I'd be a little more nervous than that but when it comes right down to it it's about placement so I just kind of went back to all the basics."

Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlroy defeated South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen 2&1 in his first outing as a professional in the United States.

The Dubai Desert Classic winner now faces US Ryder Cup star Hunter Mahan in the second round with Woods a potential opponent in round three.

Padraig Harrington, the Open and US PGA champion, was an early casualty as the top seed in his bracket, going out to American Pat Perez.

Harrington had trailed by two with three to play before sending in an 18-foot putt at the par-three 16th to win the hole.

But the gap was too great to overcome as Perez won one up.

Oliver Wilson set up a second-round meeting with Ryder Cup foe Anthony Kim with an upset victory on a great day for the English contingent.

Wilson delivered a 3&1 defeat to Korea's KJ Choi, a player 25 places ahead of him in the world rankings, while Kim was the first player into the next round when he mopped up a resounding victory over Chinese Taipei's Lin Wen-tang, 7&5.

Starting the good day for the English was Lee Westwood, who moved into the second round with a bogey-free, five-birdie 2&1 win over Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng in the opening match of the first round.

Westwood now meets last year's beaten finalist Stewart Cink, who needed 19 holes to defeat Richard Sterne of South Africa.

Mickelson survived a late rally from Angel Cabrera to beat the Argentine on the 19th hole and set up a meeting with Zach Johnson, who defeated Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell 3&1, while Luke Donald beat Ben Curtis on the 19th hole.

Paul Casey defeated Aaron Baddeley of Australia one up to progress to a match with another Aussie, Matt Goggin, who scored an upset one-up win over Kenny Perry.

Ian Poulter won 4&3 over Jeev Milka Singh but Sergio Garcia lost the last three holes to go down to Charl Schwartzel.

Justin Rose, whose wife Kate gave birth to baby Leo on Saturday, was beaten one up by American Boo Weekley but Ross Fisher made it six out of seven wins for the English when he beat Robert Allenby of Australia one up.


PAST WINNERS COME GOOD
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones rebuffs ESPN report on Terrell Owens release discussions

McILROY READY TO THRIVE IN DESERT

Rory McIlroy is confident he has the game to thrive in the United States as he heads into his professional debut on American soil this week.

The 19-year-old from Northern Ireland shot to number 16 in the Official World Golf Rankings following his maiden professional victory in the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic at the beginning of this month and he takes his first steps Stateside on Wednesday at the World Golf Championships Accenture Match Play Championship at the new Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain near Tucson, Arizona.

McIlroy, who faces South Africa's world number 49 Louis Oosthuizen in Wednesday's first round, believes that not only will his extensive matchplay experience as an amateur and Walker Cup player be a great boost to his chances in the desert this week, but also that his type of game can reap rewards in America.

"I think the style of golf over here suits my game," McIlroy said. "I hit it quite high. And I'm able to get the ball to stop pretty quickly. I'm pretty long off the tee.

"I've had two good looks at the golf course now and that's nice. It's interesting. The greens are still pretty tricky.

"It probably takes a little bit of time to get used to. But the course is in great shape and it looks like it's going to be a good week."

The competition format is familiar for McIlroy.

"All the amateur golf I played growing up was matchplay, playing for Ireland in the European Championships and the Home Internationals," he added.

"Most of our amateur events in Britain are matchplay events as well, so it's a format that we have grown up with. And I think that my game suits match play because I make quite a lot of birdies and," he joked, "I'll be able to throw in the odd double bogey here and there.

"It's head to head and it gets the juices flowing. So I'm looking forward to it this week."

Sweden's Henrik Stenson is another of the record 47 European Tour members in action at the Ritz-Carlton this week and he has an envious matchplay record of his own.

The 32-year-old won this event in 2007 when it was played at another Dove Mountain course, The Gallery. Having beaten Australia's Geoff Ogilvy 2&1 in that final he embarked on another good run in 2008 only to run into Tiger Woods in the semi-finals.

That contest, also at The Gallery, went to the last hole with Woods going on to a third victory in the tournament by hammering fellow American Stewart Cink. Yet the Swede has proved his mettle for match play.

"It seems to bring out the best in my game and from myself," said Stenson, who faces 2006 finalist Davis Love III in his opening-round match. "It is fun to come back to a tournament where I have played well in the past and in a format I have done well in so I hope this will be another one in the making."


Big Ben led Super Bowl victory with broken ribs
Redskins interested in retaining free agent Hall
TIGER TAG DOESN’T FAZE McILROY
McILROY MOP-TOP HERE TO STAY

LEE: I WANT TO BE THE NEXT TIGER

New Zealand amateur Danny Lee served notice to the golfing world of his outstanding talent at the Johnnie Walker Classic on Sunday, before boldly stating his ambitious goal of outstripping the achievements of Tiger Woods.

Lee made history with his one-stroke victory at The Vines Resort and Country Club, becoming the youngest ever winner of a European Tour event at 18 years and 213 days, eclipsing the record of South African Dale Hayes at the 1971 Spanish Open.

The teenager birdied the 18th to finish on 17 under, one shot ahead of England's Ross McGowan, Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita and Chile's Felipe Aguilar.

In doing so, he also became only the second amateur to win on the European Tour, but soon made it clear he was aiming for even loftier golfing targets.

Asked what he wanted to become known as, the precocious Lee said: "The next Tiger Woods maybe.

"I can't compare to him because he's one of the greatest players in the world and he's the number one-ranked player in the world.

"All I want to do is just break what he's done. Obviously I can't win three US Amateurs in a row but I'll try to break his records on the PGA Tour.

"I always looked up to Tiger Woods when I was really young. He's still my idol."

Born in South Korea, Lee moved to New Zealand with his family at the age of eight, developing the golfing abilities which helped him to become the youngest winner of the US Amateur title last August.

It earned him a score of invitations to professional events in Asia and Australia, including the one which brought him to Perth, where he showed the poise of a veteran to come from behind with four birdies in the final six holes.

But while he showed nerves of steel to take the title, Lee appeared far more nervous when facing the media afterwards.

"My English is not 100 per cent and I get really nervous when I'm doing the media stuff. It doesn't mean I hate it, because I like it," said the youngster.

"It still feels like I'm in dreamland. Hopefully no-one wakes me up.

"I was dreaming about winning but my goal was to make the cut after two rounds and to try to get into the top 20 or top 10. I played extremely well the last few days and here I am.

"Winning a European Tour event, it's pretty amazing what I've done."

A bright future now beckons for Lee, who will be able to take up membership on the European Tour and join the Race to Dubai within 14 days of turning professional.

That is likely to happen after he appears at the US Masters in April, although he has a busy schedule between now and then.

"I'm planning on playing in the Moonah Classic next week and two events in New Zealand before going to the States and playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational (Bay Hill) and the Georgia Cup (a 36-hole showdown between the US and British Amateur champions), the Masters and then turn pro," he added.


BOMBS AWAY FOR LEE

BOMBS AWAY FOR LEE

Trying to make a joke about having a bomb in his bag has taught amateur golf sensation Danny Lee to be more careful about what he says.

But the European Tour's youngest ever winner is still confident enough in his own ability and potential to state openly that his aim is to break Tiger Woods' records.

The airport incident came in Auckland last October as the 18-year-old New Zealander was leaving for the world amateur team championship.

Lee was taken away for questioning and presumably a lecture for what New Zealand Golf chief executive Bill MacGowan called an "inappropriate, silly, throwaway comment" before being allowed to travel.

He was then accused of not trying as he closed that event with a round of 84, but what a difference four months makes. At the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth this weekend Lee birdied four of the last six holes for an historic one-stroke victory.

So, having taken Woods' place last August as the youngest winner of the US Amateur title, he has now done something Woods failed to do - win a Tour event before he is even a professional.

And what Lee wants from the rest of his career is to keep on eclipsing the 14-time major champion.

Asked what he wanted to become known as, the Korean-born player replied: "The next Tiger Woods maybe.

"I can't compare to Tiger because he's the No 1 ranked player in the world. All I want to do is just break what he's done. I'll try to break his record on the PGA Tour."

Lee, up from 562nd to 159th in the world in one leap, will turn professional after The Masters in April.

His US Amateur victory earned him a place at Augusta and the tradition is that he will partner defending champion Trevor Immelman in the first two rounds.

Incredibly, he is just one of three teenagers in the field. Northern Ireland's Dubai Desert Classic winner Rory McIlroy, 19, qualified off the world rankings, while 17-year-old Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa received a special invitation.

Lee's Classic win has earned him two-year exemptions onto the European, Asian and Australasian circuits and although he was not allowed to accept the first prize of over Ј210,000, sponsorship offers will presumably make him quickly forget that.

They may not, however, be as big as the ones he says were put to him last autumn.

"After I won the US Amateur all the sponsors are telling me big money, big, big money, maybe just over 100 million (NZ) dollars," he claimed. That is Ј35million.

Instead he kept his promise to play in the world team championship, but that went horribly wrong from the moment he arrived at the airport and he said afterwards: "Sometimes I just think I made a stupid decision, I should have just turned pro and played in the PGA (Tour) events.

"Even if I had played bad it would've been worth it.

"I learnt a lot. Nobody knew what was going on, not even New Zealand Golf. I know I've done a couple of bad things. At the time I didn't know they were taking that (his comment about a bomb) serious."

They were and it is a safe bet he will not do anything like that again.

As a golfer, though, it is also a safe bet that in the years to come he will do what he did in Perth over and over again.

But out-stripping Woods? Do not put your house on that yet.


LEE: I WANT TO BE THE NEXT TIGER
WOODS’ RETURN ‘IS GREAT FOR GOLF’
Chargers ink LA marketing deal but not moving

DERKSEN STARS AS NORMAN SHOOTS 75

Robert-Jan Derksen of Holland fired the best round of his European Tour career, an eight-under-par 64, to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Johnnie Walker Classic on Thursday.

The 35-year-old made eight birdies in his bogey-free round at The Vines Resort and Country Club to edge a shot ahead of Mardan Mamat of Singapore and Tony Carolan of Australia.

The English pair of Lee Westwood and John Bickerton and Ireland's Damien McGrane carded six-under 66s to create a three-way tie for fourth while Colin Montgomerie shot a 67 to finish the day tied for seventh with six other players including Ireland's Peter Lawrie, New Zealand amateur leader Danny Lee and American Anthony Kang, winner of last week's Maybank Malaysian Open.

World number 11 Anthony Kim was a further shot back on 68, while Colombia's Camilo Villegas eagled his final hole for a 72 and Greg Norman posted a three-over 75.

Derksen managed only one birdie on his first seven holes but the Dutchman reeled off four consecutive birdies from the eighth to 11th to move to five under.

He missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 14th but made up for that by holing a 25-footer at the next at the beginning of a run of three birdies in the final four holes which put him on top of the leaderboard.

Having missed the cut in Malaysia last week, Derksen was pleased with his strong opening round.

"It's a good start and it's always nice to have, it's as simple as that, but there's a lot of golf to be played," said the Dutchman, who has not won a tournament on the European Tour since the 2005 Madeira Island Open.

"It's a very difficult course. There are a lot of easy holes and I made three par-fives in two today, but if you're slightly off, you can make some big numbers.

"The wind is a factor so it's still a long way to go."

Mardan birdied three of his last four holes as he finished just a shot behind Derksen on seven under and later paid credit to his caddie, Drew Dubberlin.

"I called him this week because he has lived here before and knows this course better than I do," said the 41-year-old Singaporean.

"He knows where to put the ball, the pin positions and how to read the lines. There's less of a job for me on the golf course and I can just focus on thing the golf ball.

"I'm a little stubborn but I do listen to his advice."

Westwood put himself into contention with a strong finish to his round.

The world number 12 struggled initially but came back to birdie four of his last seven holes to put himself into contention.

"I started off hitting a couple of poor shots, a couple of pulls and got away with one but I corrected the fault," said the 35-year-old, who claimed that he was rolling his club a bit too much on the upswing early on.

"That's what I've been good at doing the last couple of years - correcting things pretty quickly and I started hitting good shots after that and I played well for the last 12 holes."

With regular caddie Jason Hempleman unavailable, Montgomerie is using Thomas Bjorn's caddie, Matt Harbour, in Perth this week and he was pleased with the result as he fired six birdies in his opening 67.

"My caddie, Matt, was super today. Nice lad and Thomas isn't here this week so I was able to 'borrow' Matt," the Scot enthused.

"My own caddie, Jason, is on paternity leave as his wife just had a baby and it's a shame this is so far away. If it had been in England, he'd probably have attended but Australia is a long way to come."

Collated first-round scores in the European Tour Johnnie Walker Classic, Vines Resort GC, Perth, Australia

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

64 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned)

65 Tony Carolan (Aus), Mardan Mamat (Sin)

66 Damien McGrane, John Bickerton, Lee Westwood

67 Anthony Kang (USA), Danny Lee (Nzl), Clint Rice (Aus), Colin Montgomerie, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Peter Lawrie, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn)

68 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Chris Gaunt (Aus), Benn Barham, Andrew Tschudin (Aus), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Scott Hend (Aus), Alexander Noren (Swe), Adam Blyth (Aus), Scott Laycock (Aus), Richie Ramsay, Gareth Maybin, Phillip Price, Simon Khan, Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn), Anthony Kim (USA), David McKenzie (Aus), Ian Poulter, Hyung-sung Kim (Kor)

69 Michael Sim (Aus), Anton Haig (Rsa), Richie Gallichan (Aus), Tim Wood (Aus), Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Stuart Bouvier (Aus), Gary Lockerbie, Craig Scott (Aus), Richard Finch, Andre Stolz (Aus), Sam Little

70 David Smail (Nzl), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Stephen Leaney (Aus), Johan Edfors (Swe), Simon Wakefield, Anthony Wall, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Markus Brier (Aut), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Darren Beck (Aus), David Howell, Wayne Perske (Aus), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Mark Brown (USA), Peter Senior (Aus), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Seve Benson, Marcus Both (Aus), Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Iain Steel (Mal), Ross McGowan

71 Bryan Saltus (USA), Robert Dinwiddie, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Won Joon Lee (Aus), Robert Rock, Tristan Lambert (Aus), Scott Barr (Aus), Marc Warren, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi), Craig Parry (Aus), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Alastair Forsyth, Wade Ormsby (Aus), Miles Tunnicliff, Brad Kennedy (Aus), Ashley Hall (Aus), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Cameron Percy (Aus), Paul Casey, Brett Rumford (Aus), Stephen Dartnell (Aus), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Mark Foster, Paul Sheehan (Aus)

72 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Andrew Coltart, Anthony Summers (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger), Ben Leong (Mal), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Scott Drummond, Brad Lamb (Aus), Jason Knutzon (USA), Adam Crawford (Aus), Oliver Fisher, Kane Webber (USA), Alistair Presnell (Aus), Camilo Villegas (Col), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)

73 Simon Griffiths, David Frost (Rsa), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Graeme Storm, Jason Scrivener (Aus), Matthew Millar (Aus), Pablo Martin (Spa), Matthew Griffin (Aus), Steve Webster, Nick Dougherty, Michael McGrath (Aus), Gary Murphy, Taco Remkes (Ned), James Kamte (Rsa), Gavin Flint (Aus), Peter O'Malley (Aus)

74 Chris Downes (Aus), Ryan Haller (Aus), Scott Strange (Aus), Jarrod Moseley (Aus), Tae hee Lee (Kor), Michael Long (Nzl), Phillip Archer, Ryan Hammond (Aus), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Richard Green (Aus), Gregory Bourdy (Fra)

75 David Gleeson (Aus), Jamie Donaldson, Greg Norman (Aus), Heath Reed (Aus), Paul Broadhurst, Josh Geary (Nzl)

76 Adam Bland (Aus), Angelo Que (Phi), Steven Bowditch (Aus)

77 Aaron Townsend (Aus), Jason King (Aus), Ewan Porter (Aus), Anthony Brown (Aus), Rhys Davies, Chris Rodgers, Peter Fowler (Aus), Steve Jones (USA)

78 Shiv Kapur (Ind), Peter Wilson (Aus), Michael Moore (Aus)

80 Terry Price (Aus)

DQ: Mitchell Brown (Aus)


DERKSEN AND KANG LEAD THE WAY
Former Texas Tech Red Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree sidelined at combine with stress fracture in foot

WOODS' RETURN 'IS GREAT FOR GOLF'

Anthony Kim expressed delight after learning that world number one Tiger Woods will make his long-awaited return at next week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona.

Woods has not played a competitive event since winning the US Open last June after undergoing reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and rehabilitating a double stress fracture of the tibia in the same leg.

Kim, who is playing in Australia this week at the Johnnie Walker Classic, is very much looking forward to seeing Woods in action once again.

"It's great for golf. I'm sure ticket sales will go right up," said the world number 11 at The Vines Resort and Country Club.

"It's great. You always want to play against the best and he's proven that over and over for I don't know how many years.

"But it's going to be great having him back. He's a friend of mine, so I'll be glad to see him and I'm sure his golf game will be top notch. We'll see if I have the chance to play against him next week."

World number 23 Paul Casey echoed Kim's thoughts.

"It's good to see Tiger back. I think we need him. Certainly with the financial world as it is right now, it keeps the sponsors happy, which is a very important factor," the Englishman said.

"He wouldn't be back if he wasn't fit and well and that could be quite ominous because he'll be raring to go and I think that he's going to be stronger and fitter and he's going to be better than he was before the break - no pun intended.

"It looks like we'll see all of the top 64 turning up in Tucson which is amazing - I'm not sure if it's the first time ever.

"It means that there will be an incredibly strong field and as we know the Matchplay is a difficult one to predict so I've got to get my game in shape."


BABY BOY FOR WOODS
JONES READY FOR WOODS DUEL
Tomlin’s update: Big Ben ‘fine;’ Hines ‘great’

DERKSEN AND KANG LEAD THE WAY

Ireland's Damien McGrane made four birdies on his final seven holes to join American Anthony Kang at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Johnnie Walker Classic.

The 37-year-old from Meath followed his opening 66 with a four-under-par 68 to draw level on 10 under with Kang, who carded his second consecutive 67 at The Vines Resort and Country Club.

Spain's Ignacio Garrido, Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita and New Zealand amateur Danny Lee all carded 68s to finish the day tied for third place on nine under in the Ј1.25 million event which is sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian Tours.

First-round leader Robert Jan-Derksen was tied for the lead with Kang for much of the afternoon but a run of three consecutive bogeys saw him finish with a level-par 72 that dropped him into a tie for sixth with eight other players on eight under including world number 11 Anthony Kim (68) and John Bickerton (70).

Graeme Storm and South Africa's David Frost shot the day's best rounds of 64 to join Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter in an 13-way tie on seven under.

Lee Westwood recovered from a quadruple-bogey nine on the third to card a 73 that put him on five under along with Paul Casey, who shot a 68.

But world number nine Camilo Villegas, of Colombia, and Australian legend Greg Norman will not be around for the weekend after failing to make the cut of three under par. Villegas shot a 71 to finish on one under while Norman's 72 saw him finish on two over.

McGrane was handily placed at six under after the opening round and improved to eight under before suffering consecutive bogeys on the ninth and 10th.

But the Irishman reeled off three straight birdies from the 12th to 14th to move back into contention and holed his sixth birdie of the day at the final hole to grab a share of top spot with Kang.

"I played better off the tee today and hit more fairways, which was helpful," said McGrane, who recorded his maiden European Tour win at last year's Volvo China Open.

"I'm putting quite nicely again today. I made some mistakes in the middle of the round but I played solid overall and bounced back well from those mistakes at the ninth and 10th to shoot four under.

"After a bit of a shake in the middle it was nice to bounce back with three birdies in a row and I could have birdied a lot more holes."

Kang, the winner of last week's Maybank Malaysian Open, moved into contention for his second consecutive win with a five-under 67 earlier in the day.

The 36-year-old began the morning three strokes behind Derksen but enjoyed an excellent start, rolling in a 25-footer for birdie on his opening hole, the 10th, and holing three straight birdies from the 13th to 15th.

He made another on the 17th to go out in 31 and after making the turn, found a fairway bunker on the third but picked up his sixth birdie of the round by blasting to within two feet of the pin.

A bogey on the 17th was the only blemish of the round but it did little to wipe the smile of the Korean-American's face.

"The formula for shooting a good score in golf basically is driving it in the fairway and putting it on the greens and holing a lot of putts. I've been doing that the last three rounds in Malaysia and the first two rounds over here," said Kang.

"If that continues onwards, it's just a matter of whether the putts drop in or not but I'm just basically having the time of my life right now.

"I'm not making too many mistakes and I'm holing a lot of putts so it feels great to be on the golf course right now.

"I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't think about winning two in a row but we've got a pretty stellar field and world-class players over here. For me to do that is statistically against the odds and pretty improbably.

"However, this is a sports competition and that's why we play."

After failing to mount a challenge in Malaysia last week, Kang's namesake Kim is happy to be back in contention once again.

"It's been a good couple of days but I'm still making some careless mistakes," said the 23-year-old.

"I think I'm just starting to knock the rust off my game so I'm happy to have a shot going into the weekend and hopefully my game will keep improving.

"I have not even been playing at home so it's been just rust from not practising and not playing because I've had a couple of injuries to deal with. Now that I'm finally over that, I can start practising at full speed again."

Collated second round scores and totals in the European Tour Johnnie Walker Classic, Vines Resort GC, Perth, Australia

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

134 Anthony Kang (USA) 67 67, Damien McGrane 66 68

135 Danny Lee (Nzl) 67 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 68, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 67 68

136 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 64 72, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 66, John Bickerton 66 70, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 70 66, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 65 71, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 68 68, Anthony Kim (USA) 68 68, Andre Stolz (Aus) 69 67, Adam Blyth (Aus) 68 68

137 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 65, Chris Gaunt (Aus) 68 69, Colin Montgomerie 67 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 67, Peter Lawrie 67 70, Peter Senior (Aus) 70 67, David Frost (Rsa) 73 64, Seve Benson 70 67, Graeme Storm 73 64, Tony Carolan (Aus) 65 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 69, Ian Poulter 68 69, Ross McGowan 70 67

138 Michael Sim (Aus) 69 69, David Howell 70 68, Gareth Maybin 68 70, Phillip Price 68 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 67, Gary Lockerbie 69 69, Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn) 68 70, Clint Rice (Aus) 67 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 68

139 Scott Laycock (Aus) 68 71, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 71, Nick Dougherty 73 66, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 66, Paul Casey 71 68, Richard Finch 69 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 68, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 71 68, Hyung-sung Kim (Kor) 68 71, Lee Westwood 66 73

140 Anthony Wall 70 70, Scott Hend (Aus) 68 72, Darren Beck (Aus) 70 70, Benn Barham 68 72, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 70 70, Alistair Presnell (Aus) 72 68, Craig Parry (Aus) 71 69, James Kamte (Rsa) 73 67

141 Anton Haig (Rsa) 69 72, Richie Ramsay 68 73, David Smail (Nzl) 70 71, Robert Dinwiddie 71 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 69, Andrew Coltart 72 69, Tim Wood (Aus) 69 72, Simon Khan 68 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 70, Won Joon Lee (Aus) 71 70, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 70, David McKenzie (Aus) 68 73, Michael Long (Nzl) 74 67, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 71, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 68

Missed the cut:

142 Bryan Saltus (USA) 71 71, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 71, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 68 74, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 72, Michael McGrath (Aus) 73 69, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 69, Jason Knutzon (USA) 72 70, Adam Crawford (Aus) 72 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 72, Stuart Bouvier (Aus) 69 73, Robert Rock 71 71, Stephen Dartnell (Aus) 71 71, Sam Little 69 73

143 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 72, Richie Gallichan (Aus) 69 74, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 71, Andrew Tschudin (Aus) 68 75, Simon Wakefield 70 73, Brad Lamb (Aus) 72 71, Tristan Lambert (Aus) 71 72, Tae hee Lee (Kor) 74 69, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 71 72, Angelo Que (Phi) 76 67, Camilo Villegas (Col) 72 71, Miles Tunnicliff 71 72, Ashley Hall (Aus) 71 72

144 Scott Drummond 72 72, Wayne Perske (Aus) 70 74, Ben Leong (Mal) 72 72, Mark Brown (USA) 70 74, Cameron Percy (Aus) 71 73, Oliver Fisher 72 72, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 74 70, Gary Murphy 73 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 71 73, Taco Remkes (Ned) 73 71, Iain Steel (Mal) 70 74, Richard Green (Aus) 74 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 70, Pablo Martin (Spa) 73 71, Mark Foster 71 73

145 Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 69 76, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 73 72, Adam Bland (Aus) 76 69, Craig Scott (Aus) 69 76, Jamie Donaldson 75 70, Phillip Archer 74 71, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 74 71, Ryan Hammond (Aus) 74 71, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 71 74, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 73 72

146 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 77 69, Scott Strange (Aus) 74 72, Anthony Summers (Aus) 72 74, Ryan Haller (Aus) 74 72, Greg Norman (Aus) 75 71, Kane Webber (USA) 72 74, Josh Geary (Nzl) 75 71, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 71 75, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 75, Peter Wilson (Aus) 78 68

147 Marcus Both (Aus) 70 77, David Gleeson (Aus) 75 72, Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 74, Alastair Forsyth 71 76, Anthony Brown (Aus) 77 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 75, Rhys Davies 77 70

148 Marc Warren 71 77, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 78 70, Terry Price (Aus) 80 68, Gavin Flint (Aus) 73 75, Simon Griffiths 73 75

149 Steven Bowditch (Aus) 76 73

150 Steve Webster 73 77, Peter Fowler (Aus) 77 73

151 Jason King (Aus) 77 74, Heath Reed (Aus) 75 76

152 Chris Rodgers 77 75

153 Chris Downes (Aus) 74 79, Steve Jones (USA) 77 76

156 Ewan Porter (Aus) 77 79, Paul Broadhurst 75 81

160 Michael Moore (Aus) 78 82


Redskins interested in retaining free agent Hall
KING KANG ENDS DROUGHT
KIM’S ROYAL APPOINTMENT

McCARRON OUT IN FRONT

Phil Mickelson failed to build on an impressive start at the Northern Trust Open to leave fellow American Scott McCarron three shots ahead of him after two rounds of the event at Riviera Country Club.

It's been an unimpressive start to the year for Mickelson, who has missed one cut and finished 42nd and 55th in his other two events, but the world's fifth-ranked player looked to be on his way to turning things around after an eight-under-par 63 gave him the lead after the first round.

Mickelson's momentum continued early in the second round when he sank a 28-footer on the first hole for an eagle that moved him to 10-under.

However, Mickelson immediately gave that shot back with a bogey at the par-four second hole. The rest of the round was also uneven as Mickelson had three more bogeys and a birdie to sign for a one-over 72.

At seven-under 135 through 36 holes, Mickelson is three shots behind leader McCarron, who also has struggled this year.

McCarron, who underwent elbow surgery in 2006 and missed the entire following season, shot a three-under 68, moving to 10-under 132 overall.

After missing the cut last week at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and not finishing better than 34th in his previous three events, McCarron finds himself two strokes ahead of three golfers as he seeks his first win since claiming the BellSouth Classic in 2001.

Steve Stricker (66), Tommy Armour III (67) both are two shots off the lead.

Joining Mickelson at seven-under are Englishman Luke Donald (69), Rory Sabbatini (67), Pat Perez (66), KJ Choi (69) and Geoff Ogilvy (67).

"Obviously, I've got to get things turned around," Mickelson said.

"This is the first time I'm in contention heading into the weekend and I'm excited about it."

Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Northern Trust Open, Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, California, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 71):

132 Scott McCarron 64 68

134 Steve Stricker 68 66, Tommy Armour III 67 67

135 Phil Mickelson 63 72, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 67, Pat Perez 69 66, KJ Choi (Kor) 66 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 67

136 Dustin Johnson 66 70, Kevin Na 67 69, Bill Lunde 69 67, Andres Romero (Arg) 66 70

137 Kirk Triplett 67 70, John Merrick 66 71, Ben Curtis 68 69, Fred Couples 67 70, Bob Estes 72 65, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 67, Jim Furyk 66 71, Rich Beem 68 69, Marc Turnesa 69 68, Briny Baird 67 70

138 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 69, Woody Austin 68 70, Matt Kuchar 70 68, John Mallinger 70 68, Kenny Perry 70 68, Hunter Mahan 69 69, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 68, Dean Wilson 66 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 67, Rocco Mediate 70 68

139 Nick Watney 71 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 69, Kevin Sutherland 72 67, David Duval 70 69, Charles Howell III 72 67, Jeff Klauk 67 72, Bo Van Pelt 68 71, Jimmy Walker 69 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68, Jason Gore 69 70, Jason Bohn 73 66, Brendon De Jonge 69 70, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 71, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 71, Ryan Moore 68 71, D.J. Trahan 67 72

140 Jerry Kelly 72 68, Brad Adamonis 70 70, Charley Hoffman 68 72, Chris DiMarco 68 72, Jeff Quinney 69 71, Joe Ogilvie 70 70, Bubba Watson 69 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 68, J.B. Holmes 73 67, Chad Campbell 72 68, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 67, Ben Crane 72 68, Brandt Jobe 68 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 72

141 Michael Letzig 70 71, Bart Bryant 74 67, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 70 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 71, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 70, Mike Weir (Can) 70 71, Cameron Beckman 70 71, Scott Verplank 71 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 70

Missed the cut:

142 Vaughn Taylor 70 72, Zach Johnson 73 69, Steve Flesch 73 69, Todd Hamilton 67 75, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 74, Steve Marino 73 69, Steve Pate 71 71, George McNeill 71 71, Bill Haas 69 73, Johnson Wagner 70 72, Troy Matteson 71 71, Brandt Snedeker 67 75

143 Paul Azinger 67 76, John Senden (Aus) 71 72, Billy Mayfair 76 67, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 73, Chez Reavie 69 74, Michael Allen 69 74, Jeff Maggert 71 72, J J Henry 74 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 71, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 71 72, Nicholas Thompson 71 72

144 Vincent Johnson 70 74, Chris Stroud 71 73, Tom Pernice Jnr. 72 72, Cliff Kresge 72 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 69, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 73, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 73 71, Will MacKenzie 69 75, John Rollins 70 74, Justin Leonard 70 74, Tim Petrovic 75 69, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 70 74, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 72

145 Ryan Palmer 74 71, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 69 76, Lucas Glover 73 72, Eric Axley 72 73, Ken Duke 73 72, Steve Lowery 71 74, Jonathan Byrd 70 75

146 Jin Park (Kor) 73 73, Ricky Barnes 73 73, Mark Brooks 73 73, Brian Gay 70 76, Matt Bettencourt 76 70, Brian Bateman 69 77

147 Nathan Green (Aus) 73 74, Kevin Chappell 75 72, James Nitties (Aus) 76 71, Parker McLachlin 75 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 76, Mark Wilson 72 75

148 Heath Slocum 72 76, Kevin Streelman 75 73

149 David Morland IV (Can) 75 74, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 79, David Berganio Jnr. 72 77, Bryce Molder 72 77, Harrison Frazar 73 76

150 Jeff Overton 75 75, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 78

151 Tim Herron 73 78, Jim Gormley 79 72, Corey Pavin 73 78

153 Tom Lehman 76 77

154 Brad Faxon 77 77


GOOSEN STORMS INTO LEAD
QB of the future? Buccaneers re-sign McCown
JOHNSON TAKES PEBBLE BEACH LEAD

WOODS COMEBACK CONFIRMED

World number one Tiger Woods will make his long-awaited comeback from injury in next week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem revealed on Thursday evening the 33-year-old had committed to play in the event in Arizona.

Woods has been out of competitive action since winning the US Open in June last year after having reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee the following week.

On his own website Woods said: "I'm now ready to play again. "Elin and our new son Charlie are doing great. I've enjoyed my time at home with the family and appreciate everyone's support and kind wishes."

Woods' victory at the US Open last June was his 10th victory in his last 13 tournaments - and in the other three he was second twice and fifth in the other.

He has held on to the world number one spot throughout his lengthy lay-off, although Sergio Garcia has cut his lead to just over two points and could have gone top in the next two weeks if Woods had not returned.

Among those 10 victories was the Match Play and, assuming there are no withdrawals, he will begin his defence against Australian Brendan Jones, 64th in the world.

Woods described his victory at Torrey Pines as "probably the greatest tournament I've ever had."

He had to play more holes than he ever has for his 14 major victories - 91 in all - but he was referring, of course, to the fact that he not only needed knee reconstruction surgery, but also had a double stress fracture in his left leg.

Woods' caddie Steve Williams had said on New Zealand television earlier this week that the American was "probably 95 per cent of the way there".

He added: "He was waiting for the birth of his second child, which just came last week so he's ready to go. He just needs a little bit more walking. He hasn't been able to walk too well.

"He definitely wants to play a couple of tournaments before Augusta (The Masters in April) . He's just got a couple of little issues but when he tees it up that will be a sign to say 'I'm ready to go', because he won't play unless he's 100 per cent.

"He's had to modify his swing a little bit to accommodate his knee, but the guy always finds a way. I'm a little nervous myself to see how he's going to come back.

"Nine months out of the game after a major operation is a long time but he's a hell of a competitor and one of the best we've ever seen in this game, so I would suspect he'll carry right on.

"I know just over the last couple of years the tour has probably taken a toll a little bit on Tiger. He's a person that's different to everybody, he's unique and he's out there in his own league if you like, and I think that's taken a toll a little bit.

"So for him to get a break from it, mentally that will refresh him and that's a big thing. We already know he's the best mentally-tough player who's ever played the game so that in itself is a big factor."


JONES READY FOR WOODS DUEL
Big Ben led Super Bowl victory with broken ribs
BABY BOY FOR WOODS

JONES READY FOR WOODS DUEL

Australian golfer Brendan Jones flew from Sydney to Arizona on Friday to keep his appointment with Tiger Woods next Wednesday.

And it might not be only Woods who has to shake off some rust when the pair meet in the first round of the Accenture World Match Play Championship.

While the world number one has not played since undergoing knee reconstruction surgery straight after his amazing US Open victory last June, world number 64 Jones' last event was the Australian Open over two months ago.

It has not been an injury that kept him out of action, but a planned break from the game before the new Japan Tour season starts in April.

"I don't have a great deal on the agenda," said Jones just before Christmas.

But suddenly he finds that he does - Woods' return to action is one of the biggest stories in sport at the moment and their match next week will be followed shot-by-shot on television.

Jones has the chance to be a giant-killer in front of a worldwide audience, most of whom will never have seen him hit a golf ball, but he is simply relieved to be in the field.

The 33-year-old - one thing he does share with Woods - finished last year 53rd in the rankings and after dropping 11 spots took the last place in the Match Play on Monday by one-hundredth of a point from compatriot Richard Green.

The cancellation of the final round in the AT&T Classic at Pebble Beach also helped his cause because several players were robbed of the chance to overtake him.

"It's been touch-and-go and it's great to have made it," he said.

"I enjoyed the chance to play last year and even though I was beaten in the first round (he lost two and one to Adam Scott) it was a tremendous event and I am now looking forward to getting back.

"I am keen to play that's for sure and I don't mind who I have to play."

The former Australian amateur champion, eight times a winner in Japan and third with Green in November's World Cup, has been working hard on his game at Royal Canberra since discovering he was a definite starter.

Woods, who waited until Thursday before declaring "I'm now ready to play again", is the defending champion, but he has a bad record against Australians in the event.

Peter O'Malley caused a first-round shock in 2002 and Nick O'Hern knocked him out in 2005 and 2007.

It is no surprise to find Woods' fellow players welcoming the news he is returning because they know how important he is to the sport's well-being, especially at a time of global financial crisis.

Anthony Kim, competing this week at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth, commented: "It's great for golf. I'm sure ticket sales will go right up.

"He's a friend of mine, so I'll be glad to see him and I'm sure his golf game will be top-notch. We'll see if I have the chance to play against him next week."

England's Paul Casey added: "I think we need him. It keeps the sponsors happy, which is a very important factor.

"He wouldn't be back if he wasn't fit and well and that could be quite ominous because he'll be raring to go and I think that he's going to be stronger and fitter and he's going to be better than he was before."

Former Masters champion Zach Johnson said: "We need him back. We want him back.

"From a competitive standpoint, as a player, I want to have the opportunity to play against the best. He knows his body, I'm assuming he's 100 per cent, so that's fantastic."


Patriots place franchise tag on QB Cassel
McILROY MAY FACE WOODS
WOODS COMEBACK CONFIRMED

RORY McILROY WINS RACE TO DUBAI AWARD

Rory McIlroy's spectacular climb into the world's top 20 has been recognised with the Northern Irishman being named the first winner of The Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Month award.

The 19-year-old was the unanimous choice of the panel after grabbing a one-stroke victory at the Dubai Desert Classic, his first Tour success.

McIlroy is currently second behind Spain's Sergio Garcia on the money list and said: "It was a huge thrill to win my first European Tour title against such a high quality field and in the place where The Race to Dubai will be decided in 10 months' time.

"Obviously, I'd love to be back at the end of the season competing for the Dubai World Championship and the number one spot. The win has given me a lot of confidence and I'll be looking to use that to continue to improve for the rest of the year."


TIGER TAG DOESN’T FAZE McILROY
Fired coach Gruden ready for next opportunity

WOODS RETURN IS WELCOME

It won't be long now and thank goodness for that. Tiger Woods will soon be strutting his stuff again.

When Padraig Harrington was winning The Open and the US PGA, both in thrilling fashion, golf seemed to be doing fine in the absence of its greatest player.

But since the Ryder Cup in September the sport has been on the backburner, coming to the boil only occasionally - on the course most notably with 19-year-old Rory McIlroy and off it with Colin Montgomerie's surprise fast-track elevation to the Ryder Cup captaincy.

The US Tour has been running non-stop as usual since the first full week of January, but with all due respect to winners Geoff Ogilvy, Zach Johnson, Pat Perez, Kenny Perry, Nick Watney and Dustin Johnson it has all been rather low-key.

And with the world financial crisis what it is and both sponsors and potential sponsors looking at their balance sheets, low-key is no good.

Golf does not come cheap. The smallest winner's cheque in America so far this season was the Ј644,000 s handed to Perez at the Bob Hope Classic (no longer the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in a sign of the times) and more than Ј24million has already been pocketed by the players.

No wonder John Rollins was not to be found crying at missing out on victory a week ago. "I still made US dollars 574,000 (Ј402,000) - life isn't too bad," he said.

The European Tour is all very pleased with itself, of course, having launched its new "Race to Dubai" culminating in November with the world's richest event, where one putt could be worth almost Ј2.5million.

"Despite the turbulence affecting the world's financial markets the security of the Tour's strong partnership with (Dubai-based) Leisurecorp and Jumeriah Golf Estates has given us great confidence going forward," said chief executive George O'Grady.

"Dubai provides the underpinning and solidity for the Tour on a global stage."

But they still need the game to capture the public's imagination - and nobody does that better than Woods.

Last June was the last time he was seen in action and what a sight it was.

Despite a stress fracture in his left leg and a knee in such a bad state that he underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction immediately afterwards Woods not only managed to play through the US Open, but managed to win it - after a 19-hole play-off with Rocco Mediate.

The world number one's 14th major title was his greatest yet and with Roger Federer overshadowed by Rafael Nadal in the past year Woods' decade-long dominance is unlike any other in the whole of sport.

With the length of his lay-off it is easy to forget just how much he towers over all his rivals.

In his last 13 tournaments Woods has won 10, been second twice and

was fifth in the other.

The aggregate of his winning margins in those 10 victories? Nine were stroke play and he won those by a cumulative 45 shots, while in last February's World Match Play in Arizona he won the final eight and seven against Stewart Cink.

That is what everybody has been missing - and what companies are still forking out millions to be associated with.

When American magazine "Golf Digest" came up with their annual list of golf's biggest earners for 2008 Woods' total - on and off the course - was put at just over Ј82million.

And this in a year when he played only seven tournaments and did not hit a shot after June 16.

Closest to the 33-year-old American were Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh with Ј30.8million and Ј30.1 million respectively.

Next, just to underline the fortunes available in business way beyond a playing career, were 79-year-old Arnold Palmer and 54-year-old Greg Norman with Ј21million and Ј18million.

Checking back over previous lists the magazine made Woods' career

total less than 115 million dollars short of a billion.

His contracts for this season - regardless of whether he returned to action and not forgetting that General Motors terminated a nine-year deal estimated at 50 million a year early - brought the landmark figure to his doorstep.

Corporate spending is inevitably being hit hard in the current climate, but Woods' agent Mark Steinberg said: "You'll just have to be more creative in how you structure deals.

"There still needs to be advertising, there still needs to be marketing. In an economy like this it's even more important to get your brand out there."

For sports fans, having Woods "out there" competing again is something that cannot come quickly enough.


BABY BOY FOR WOODS
Panthers owner Richardson has heart transplant
New Orleans Saints get under cap, release Deuce McAllister

McILROY MAY FACE WOODS

Europe's newest star Rory McIlroy could face Tiger Woods in the third round of next week's Accenture World Match Play in Arizona - if, that is, the world number one decides he is ready to return to action.

Woods has not played since last June, when he won his 14th major at the US Open and then immediately underwent knee reconstruction surgery.

But he is known to be practising hard and everyone in the sport is waiting to see a change on the next scheduled event section of his website. It currently reads "to be announced."

The 64-man Match Play starts on Wednesday week, but a decision from the defending champion is expected by the end of this week.

If there are no withdrawals Woods would open against Australian Brendan Jones and Dubai Desert Classic champion McIlroy against South African Louis Oosthuizen, who finished second in both Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

The only all-European clash would be between Swedes Robert Karlsson and Peter Hanson, while Open and US PGA champion Padraig Harrington's first opponent would be American Pat Perez.

Provisional draw (seeded positions in brackets):

(1) Tiger Woods v (64) Brendan Jones; (32) Tim Clark v (33) Retief Goosen; (16) Rory McIlroy v (49) Louis Oosthuizen; (17) Mike Weir v (48) Hunter Mahan; (8) Geoff Ogilvy v (57) Kevin Sutherland; (25) Trevor Immelman v (40) Shingo Katayama; (9) Camilo Villegas v (56) Rod Pampling; (24) Miguel Angel Jimenez v (41) Rory Sabbatini

(4) Vijay Singh v (61) Soren Kjeldsen; (29) Ben Curtis v (36) Luke Donald; (13) Ernie Els v (52) Soren Hansen; (20) Steve Stricker v (45) Dustin Johnson; (5) Phil Mickelson v (60) Angel Cabrera; (28) Zach Johnson v (37) Graeme McDowell; (12) Lee Westwood v (53) Prayad Marksaeng; (21) Stewart Cink v (44) Richard Sterne

(2) Sergio Garcia v (63) Charl Schwartzel; (31) Ian Poulter v (34) Jeev Milkha Singh; (15) Justin Rose v (50) Boo Weekley; (18) Adam Scott v (47) Sean O'Hair; (7) Robert Karlsson v (58) Peter Hanson; (26) Alvaro Quiros v (39) Stephen Ames; (10) Kenny Perry v (55) Matthew Goggin; (23) Paul Casey v (42) Aaron Baddeley

(3) Padraig Harrington v (62) Pat Perez; (30) Robert Allenby v (35) Ross Fisher; (14) Jim Furyk v (51) Anders Hansen; (19) Martin Kaymer v (46) Stuart Appleby; (6) Henrik Stenson v (59) Davis Love; (27) Justin Leonard v (38) Andres Romero; (11) Anthony Kim v (54) Lin Wen-tang; (22) KJ Choi v (43) Oliver Wilson


Cincy franchises kicker Graham, talks long term
Bills RB Lynch arrested on felony gun charge
TIGER TAG DOESN’T FAZE McILROY

SHARK NOT OUT TO MAKE UP THE NUMBERS

He may have turned 54 just eight days ago but the competitive fires still continue to burn strongly for Greg Norman.

Age and the business interests of the Great White Shark may have greatly curtailed his playing schedule over the last few years, but the winner of more than 80 international titles still has the ability to take on the world's best - as he proved so emphatically at Royal Birkdale last year.

Norman may ultimately not have won the Open Championship for a third time but his third place finish sent out a clear message that age is not a barrier to success in the sport.

"I would say that the events last year really made a lot of people sit up, especially the people over 50 years old," said the former world number one.

"I've probably got more recognition and accolades from people just saying thank you for doing something for the 50-year-olds.

"It really rejuvenates a lot of people.

"It also shows to the younger generation that if you're 22 or 23, never give up on your dreams. You can still give yourself opportunities if you stay strong in yourself and if you want to believe in yourself."

Norman is at the Vines Resort and Country Club in Perth this week to play in the Johnnie Walker Classic.

It is first tournament in Australia since 2006 but the veteran is by no means taking his homecoming lightly.

"I think the guys who have been around long enough know me well enough today that if I come and playgolf tournament, I'm not just going to come and play. I'm going to try to give it my best shot," he added.

"Sometimes you miss the cut and sometimes you do very well, but it's okay as long as you know you're giving it 100%, which I'll do this week."

While Norman is preparing to play at The Masters in April, he insists his focus this week is squarely on the Johnnie Walker Classic.

"I always stay focused in what's happening right now. If I start thinking about what's going to happen in five weeks from now or six weeks, then I'm not preparing myself," he added.

"You have to know that at the time you were doing the best you could under the circumstances to give yourself a chance of winning.

"When it's over and done with, you look back on it and you can reflect and say, 'Geez, I'm sad I didn't win that golf tournament', whether it's the British Open or another golf tournament.

"Last year's British Open was no different. There were opportunities there that I really needed to capitalise on and I didn't for whatever reason.

"It was a good performance and on a scale of one to 10, I give it 8.5. I came away from the golf course satisfied but at the same time disappointed that I didn't win the golf tournament."


Panthers owner Richardson has heart transplant
BABY BOY FOR WOODS

KING KANG ENDS DROUGHT

Anthony Kang of the United States revelled in the biggest win of his career on Sunday after rolling home a short birdie on the final hole to claim a one-stroke victory at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

The 36-year-old began the final round two shots behind overnight leader Adam Blyth of Australia but his closing five-under-par 67 at Saujana Golf and Country Club's Palm Course saw him emerge from a tightly-bunched field to win the US dollars 2million event, which is co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

"It feels wonderful," said the American, who finished with a 17-under-par 271 total.

"I've been playing in Malaysia since 1996 or 1997 so to finally win this event, I'm speechless. This feels like where I started to play golf so to win this tournament is just beyond beautiful."

With his late birdie, Kang avoided a possible five-way play-off with the English duo of David Horsey (64) and Miles Tunnicliff (68), Jyoti Randhawa of India (66) and Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng (68), who finished tied for second on 16 under.

Northern Ireland's Gareth Maybin had nine birdies but bogeyed his final hole for a six-under 66 as he finished alone in sixth on 15 under.

Anthony Kim of the United States, the highest-ranked player in the field, finished in a tie for 33rd on seven under after closing with a five-under-par 67.

Kang moved up the leaderboard early on with three birdies on the front nine and was two shots in front of the field on 17 under after further birdies on the 11th and 13th.

But the Asian Tour regular dropped a stroke on the 15th after putting his approach shot into the pond fronting the green. It was the only blemish on the final 54 holes for Kang, who was 12 strokes off the lead after shooting a two-over 74 in the opening round.

"The last three rounds is probably the best golf I've played so far. I think I made only one bogey which was on the 15th hole today," he said.

"After I hit it into the water there, I dropped it in the drop zone and just told myself to try to just finish it off with a bogey and regardless of what happened I told myself that I was playing great golf and had nothing to put my hand down about.

"Fortunately I hit a good shot in there, made a bogey and was still in the lead."

He parred the next two holes to arrive at the par-five 18th in a tie for the lead with Horsey, Randhawa and Prayad but gave himself a chance to secure the outright win by reaching the green in two.

His eagle putt from nearly 70 feet came up just short but after Prayad missed his birdie putt, the American was able to tap in to secure the victory.

"I've been driving the ball very well on 18 all week so I felt very comfortable on the tee box. I knew that in today's conditions, I could probably get there in two if I hit two super shots in.

"I hit my drive on the fairway a bit more right than I wanted to and it was a little farther than yesterday. My caddie said you've got to go for it, you can't do anything else. I then two-putted for birdie."

Horsey did not appear to be in contention after a bogey on the ninth left him eight strokes off the lead but the 23-year-old made a brilliant charge on the back nine with seven birdies for an eight-under 64 that gave him his best result so far on the European Tour.

"I am pleased. I would have certainly taken that score at the start of the day but then there is a little bit of disappointment not to win having gone so close," said the winner of last year's Challenge Tour.

"I am very pleased with how I have applied myself. I was disappointed with my performance in Dubai (a missed cut) but I came here with no expectations and things started to happen."

Tunnicliff finished strongly with three birdies on his last four holes for a round of 68.

"It was pretty close. I played well and couldn't have done much more about it myself," said the 40-year-old, whose last European Tour win came at the 2004 Diageo Championship at Gleneagles.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Maybank Malaysian Open, Saujana G & CC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

271 Anthony Kang (USA) 74 66 64 67

272 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 69 70 65 68, David Horsey 71 68 69 64, Miles Tunnicliff 71 70 63 68, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 69 66 66

273 Gareth Maybin 69 69 69 66

274 Alexander Noren (Swe) 63 71 69 71, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 65 71 67 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 71 68 65

275 Adam Blyth (Aus) 66 70 66 73

276 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 62 73 71 70, Danny Chia (Mal) 66 65 74 71, James Kamte (Rsa) 70 72 68 66, Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 71 68 68

277 Nick Dougherty 66 70 72 69

278 Angelo Que (Phi) 73 70 69 66, Simon Dyson 71 66 73 68, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 68 75 69 66, Ross McGowan 70 70 71 67, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 69 73 62

279 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 70 69 66 74, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 68 70 68, Peter Lawrie 72 68 67 72, Simon Griffiths 70 66 71 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 74 70 67, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 73 70 69, Phillip Archer 69 69 70 71, Mark Foster 69 71 71 68, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 69 71 71 68

280 Scott Barr (Aus) 71 67 70 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 72 69 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 67 71 70

281 Anthony Kim (USA) 78 65 71 67, Darren Beck (Aus) 71 69 70 71, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 69 69 73, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 68 69 71

282 Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 69 73 71 69, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 65 72 74 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 72 70 70

283 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 68 73 68 74, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 70 69 73 71, Tony Carolan (Aus) 70 72 74 67, Richard Finch 70 71 71 71

284 Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 72 71 66 75, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 71 73 69, Chris Rodgers 74 69 73 68, Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 73 71 70

285 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 70 71 70 74, Mitchell Brown (Aus) 68 72 74 71, Supramaniam Sivachandran (Mal) 72 70 71 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 73 71 71

286 Marciano Pucay (Phi) 69 70 77 70, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 71 72 70 73

287 Wil Besseling (Ned) 74 67 73 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 75 67 69 76, Sam Little 74 69 74 70, David Frost (Rsa) 70 70 78 69

288 Shaaban Hussin (Mal) 71 72 75 70, Neven Basic (Aus) 75 68 76 69, David Bransdon (Aus) 72 68 74 74, Gavin Flint (Aus) 72 71 73 72, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 69 74 78 67

289 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 73 72 74, Oliver Fisher 69 70 74 76, Simon Khan 70 72 72 75

290 Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 70 72 77, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 72 70 72 76, Robert Rock 73 67 78 72

291 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 74 75 73, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 72 71 74 74

292 Scott Hend (Aus) 73 70 74 75, Ross Bain 68 75 72 77

293 Rhys Davies 67 76 77 73

295 David Gleeson (Aus) 72 71 74 78


QB of the future? Buccaneers re-sign McCown
HANSEN QUALIFIES FOR WORLD MATCH PLAY
Ravens create cap space, cut corner McAlister

IGF LAUNCH OLYMPIC BID

The International Golf Federation have submitted a formal bid to include golf in the 2016 Olympic Games.

Golf is one of seven sports being considered for inclusion, along with baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash.

"We are pleased with the formal bid document and now look forward to working with the programme commission on the preparation of the final report to the IOC Executive Board in advance of our presentation to the board in June," said Ty Votaw, executive director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee.

"We worked diligently to solicit input from the world's leading players and golf organisations to address and finalise a number of key issues contained in the document, including the recommended format for competition."

The IGF is proposing 72-hole individual strokeplay for both men and women. In the event of a tie, a three-hole play-off would determine the medal winners.

The field would contain 60 players based on world rankings. The top 15 would be eligible to compete, regardless of the number of players from a given country.

Beyond the top 15, players would be eligible based on world ranking, with a maximum of two available players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.

The IOC's final vote on whether to add no more than two sports will take place in October, when the host city - either Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo - will also be determined.


Study: Late ex-NFL player had brain condition
OOSTHUIZEN FIRES ACE
Panthers owner Richardson has heart transplant

WIN 72 FOR DAVIES

Laura Davies won her second Australian Women's Open after a dramatic final day at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne on Sunday.

The English veteran, who last won the title in 2004 at Concorde Golf Club, closed her late challenge with a best-of-the-day, five-under-par 68 to edge out Spain's Tania Elosegui by a shot

But she might not have managed it without a spectacular monster putt for eagle at the 13th and a miscalculation on the Spanish player's part.

Elosegui, a third-year professional who has still to win on the Ladies' European Tour, thought that she needed a birdie to win when she stood on the 18th tee.

Had she known that a par would have been enough to do it when she found herself 20 feet shy of the flag she would surely have hit a lag putt close for an easy par and would not have rammed her first putt four feet past the hole and then missed the return to gift Davies her 72nd career title and the Aus$75,000 first prize.

Davies couldn't believe her luck.

"This has made the whole trip absolutely fantastic. I've enjoyed it but golf-wise it was a struggle up until the last putt, which actually missed. Luckily I tapped the other one in. At the time I thought I'd blown it and Tania would win, but I'm pretty happy now," she admitted.

Davies was 11 shots back going into the weekend after sloppy opening rounds of 74 and 76 but she made a tremendous charge up the leaderboard with a six-under 67 on Saturday.

"When I walked off the course on Friday I was very disappointed and I thought I was out of it. On a normal course you would say that was too far back, but on a course like this it wasn't too far. I'm really pleased.

"What makes this such a good win, is because it's such a good course," she added.

England's hottest young prospect Melissa Reid closed with an excellent 69 to finish just two shots off the pace in a tie for third with Koreans Chang-hee Lee (73) and He-young Choi (71).

Carrie Webb, Australia's leading female golfer who led the first round, finished in a two-way tie with last week's LET winner Katherine Hull, who, like Webb and Davies, plays most of her golf on the LPGA Tour.

Final collated scores:

285 Laura Davies (Eng) 74 76 67 68

286 Tania Elosegui (Spa) 69 72 75 70

287 Chang-hee Lee (Kor) 69 70 75 73, Melissa Reid (Eng) 76 72 70 69, He yong Choi (Kor) 72 73 71 71

290 Karrie Webb 66 75 75 74, Katherine Hull 76 74 70 70

291 Nikki Campbell 79 70 73 69, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 71 71 76 73, Hye youn Kim (Kor) 70 73 75 73, Lisa Hall (Eng) 74 73 74 70, Clare Queen (Sco) 70 75 72 74

292 Georgina Simpson (Eng) 73 68 77 74, Christel Boeljon (Ned) 74 71 72 75, Diana D'Alessio (USA) 72 76 69 75

293 Anna-Lise Caudal (Fra) 74 75 69 75, Alison Walshe (USA) 77 69 69 78, Sarah Oh (Kor) 74 75 73 71

294 Joanne Mills 74 69 76 75, Susie Mathews 74 71 74 75, Lynn Kenny (Sco) 72 72 75 75, Nikki Garrett 73 75 71 75, Becky Brewerton (Gbr) 75 73 76 70, Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 72 74 71 77, Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 79 73 71 71

295 Beth Allen (USA) 73 69 73 80, Tamie Durdin 78 74 70 73, Johanna Westerberg (Swe) 73 71 75 76, Aram Cho (USA) 75 77 72 71

296 Vicky Hermina Thomas 76 72 74 74, Dana Lacey 74 74 76 72, Stacy lee Bregman (Rsa) 74 77 72 73, Trish Johnson (USA) 75 74 76 71

297 Beatriz Recari (Spa) 70 77 72 78, Il-hee Lee (Kor) 76 71 75 75, Nina Reis (Swe) 76 76 74 71, Lee Justine 73 70 77 77, Kristie Smith 80 74 73 70

298 Emma Bennett (Aut) 72 71 73 82, Rebecca Flood 71 72 75 80, Diana Luna (Ita) 73 78 74 73

299 Melanie Holmes-Smith 75 78 72 74, Rebecca Coakley (Irl) 77 72 76 74, Florentyna Parker (Eng) 74 77 75 73, Danielle Bowers (Eng) 74 72 75 78, Bomi Suh (USA) 74 76 77 72

300 Martina Eberl (Ger) 72 73 74 81, Anna Knutsson (Swe) 74 76 74 76, Julia Boland 77 71 73 79

301 Samantha Head (Eng) 75 75 74 77

302 Kate Combes 76 73 75 78, Katharina Schallenberg (Ger) 74 73 76 79

303 Lydia Hall (Wal) 73 80 74 76, Bree Arthur (Aut) 74 78 75 76, Melodie Bourdy (Fra) 79 73 74 77, Eleanor Pilgrim (Wal) 77 77 75 74

304 Bing Lim (Mal) 75 74 77 78, Emma Zackrisson (Swe) 76 75 76 77, Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha) 81 73 78 72

305 Tamara Beckett 77 71 79 78

306 Polly Travica 78 76 73 79, Da som Lee (Kor) 78 75 78 75

307 Lisa Jean 76 78 75 78, Karen Lunn 76 77 76 78

308 Verity Knight 77 77 77 77, Lotta Maria Wahlin (Swe) 75 79 74 80

309 Elisabeth Esterl (Ger) 78 72 77 82

310 Carmen Alonso (Spa) 75 77 79 79

315 Rosemary Macdonald 80 74 81 80

317 Stephanie Na 80 74 80 83


DAVIES HOPES FOR CHANGE IN FORTUNES
PERRY WINS FBR OPEN

HANSEN QUALIFIES FOR WORLD MATCH PLAY

Denmark's Anders Hansen has leapt into the field for next week's Accenture World Match Play in Arizona after achieving his second victory of the season in South Africa.

Hansen went into the Vodacom Championship 65th on the world rankings and fully aware that only the top 64 claim places in the Match Play, but a closing 65 gave him a four-stroke win.

He could be up into the top 50 as a result, but joint runner-up Charl Schwartzel has to wait to discover if he is Tucson-bound as well. The new world rankings have been delayed 24 hours by the postponement of the final round of the AT&T Classic at Pebble Beach because of high winds.


Big Ben led Super Bowl victory with broken ribs
Gone for good? Favre tells Jets he’s retiring
RANKINGS RISE FOR McILROY

WIE SETS CLUBHOUSE TARGET

Michelle Wie's long-awaited debut as a member of the LPGA Tour could be one to remember after she set the clubhouse target for the rest of the field in her native Hawaii on Friday.

The 19-year-old, who has battled back from injury and a complete loss of form to earn a place on the circuit, added a two-under-par 70 to her opening 66 in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay.

Wie was playing in only the second group of the day, so had several hours to wait to see if she would take the lead into Saturday's third and final round.

At eight under par she was one in front of Angela Park and Angela Stanford, who still had four and 17 holes to play respectively.

It is over five years since Wie won a tournament of any description. That was the US Women's Amateur Public Links and her professional career, which has included a number of attempts to complete against the men, sees her down at 236th on the world rankings at present.

This week's field is without number one Lorena Ochoa, but the next four highest-ranked players - Yani Tseng, Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen and Ji-yai Shin - are all competing.


McILROY OUT TO BREAK AMERICA
McILROY IN CONTROL IN DUBAI
Bills RB Lynch arrested on felony gun charge
Boldin: Chances of remaining a Card ‘very slim’