Evans enters management

ADARE MANOR DIARY: FORMER tour player Gary Evans has set-up a new sports management company - Green 17 - in partnership with Dublin businessman Hillary Hayden, who is part of the consortium that owns Sunderland FC and is also in the racing syndicate which owns Paddy The Plasterer.

And Hayden's Midas touch was very nearly extended to the golf course as one of the company's first signings - Gary Murphy - put up a brave bid yesterday.

Evans, who turned pro in 1991 and remained on the circuit until 2006, is probably best remembered for his near miss in the 2002 British Open at Muirfield. Leading the tournament on the 17th hole that year, Evans' four-wood approach shot finished in heavy rough, never to be found. Still, he retraced his steps, played another ball - with a two-shot penalty - and managed to make a par five with the second ball, only to miss out on the play-off (won by Ernie Els) by a shot.

Evans, who already has six players on his books: Murphy and Sweden's Michael Jonzon, on the European Tour; Brian Davis and Mathias Gronberg on the US Tour, Raymond Russell on the Challenge Tour, Ross Bain on the Asian Tour and Danielle Masters on the European ladies tour - explained why he has gone into sports management. "I just felt some of the companies I'd been around didn't do the greatest job in the world. From an ex-player's perspective, I know what players need and require and what they don't need. I've a great business partner in Hillary Hayden. He has tremendous business acumen and I have the locker-room. The players can trust me, they know full well I am a man of honour and integrity. Golf is my life and I know it inside out."

Bottle of bubbly for bagman

AUSTRALIAN John Hort, a veteran bagman on tour, left Adare Manor with a little extra for his services after Peter Lawrie presented him with a bottle of bubbly.

Any player recording an eagle during the tournament was rewarded with a bottle of champagne . . . and Lawrie, who had endured a terrible start to his final round, grabbed his eagle on the Par 4 fifth where his eight-iron approach from 161 yards bounced once and ran into the hole. "I promised him I'd give him the champagne if I won one," said Lawrie, who finished with a 69 for 287. Hort, who caddies for Damien McGrane, was only on the bag for Lawrie yesterday because his regular bagman Dermot Byrne had been given the day off to be present at his child's christening.

Up to that point, the round had not been good for Lawrie who started off with three successive bogeys. "I got off to a terrible start and then hit an 8-iron at the fifth that takes one bounce and goes straight in the hole and all of a sudden the round changes. I just played lovely after that. It's just amazing how quickly this game can change."

16th proves the toughest

THE Par 3 16th hole proved to be the toughest of the final round, averaging 3.55 - with British Open champion Pádraig Harrington among its victims. However, Italian Edoardo Molinari ran up the highest score of all, a septuplet bogey 10 after hitting four shots into the water that guards the green!

Westwood stretches Ryder Cup lead

LEE Westwood has stretched his lead at the top of the European Ryder Cup standings after his third-place finish in Adare Manor yesterday - and German Martin Kaymer is back in an automatic spot.

The top 10 who would earn places in Nick Faldo's team for Valhalla in September as things stand are: Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington, Robert Karlsson, Graeme McDowell, Nick Dougherty, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Kaymer.