US TOUR: JL Lewis added a second round six-under-par 65 to an opening 64 to take a two-shot lead into the weekend in the John Deere Classic in Illinois.
Lewis, on 13 under par, leads from first-round leader Hunter Mahan, who shot three-under 68, and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, who scorched around the course in eight-under-par 63.
Teenager Michelle Wie, who is attempting to become just the second woman to make a PGA Tour cut (Babe Zaharias was the first at 1945 LA Open), got off to the perfect start by birdieing two of the first three holes to move to three under par, the expected mark.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Dana Quigley shot a six-under-par 66 in yesterday's second round of the Senior Players' Championship to grab a two-shot lead from Isao Aoki (69) and Tom McKnight (67).
Quigley had five birdies in seven holes from the 10th of the TPC of Michigan outside Detroit to get to 11 under par.
Des Smyth recovered from one of the worst rounds in his professional career on Thursday, a 79, to fire a four-under-par 68.
EUROPEAN SENIORS: Northern Ireland's Eddie Polland rekindled the art of scoring for a three-under-par 69 that left him tied for the lead in the Nigel Mansell Sunseeker International Classic at Woodbury Park, Devon, yesterday.
Polland, who won four titles on the regular Tour before adding two Seniors Tour titles, picked up five birdies with just the two dropped shots to share the lead with the English pair of Martin Foster and Jim Rhodes and South African Gavan Levenson.
Eamonn Darcy made the perfect start with a birdie on the first, but that was to prove his only birdie of the round as he posted a one-over-par 73 to trail the leaders by four in his bid to win his maiden Tour title.
England's Carl Mason also struggled to make an impression in his bid to win a hat-trick of titles in successive weeks, with a three-over-par 75 leaving the Tour's number one six shots off the early pace.
AMATEURS: Ireland brushed aside the disappointment of losing to Sweden in the first matchplay round of the Women's European Amateur Team championship at Karlstad, Sweden, to bounce back with a comprehensive 4½-½ victory over Finland yesterday.
They will now play Germany in the fifth place play-off today while England are doing battle with defending champions Spain for the title.
Earlier in the afternoon it was nip and tuck with nothing much in any of the matches. But around halfway Ireland grabbed the initiative and pulled clear.
Tricia Mangan from Ennis suddenly put breathing space between herself and Kaisa Ruuttila courtesy of a couple of birdies.
Mangan, recalled to the Britain and Ireland side for the Vagliano Trophy match later in the month, eventually won 3 and 2. "I feel I am playing well. It is just a shame we cannot go for the title," she said.
Clare Coughlan, always a gutsy performer, was too classy for Satu Harju and won 4 and 3, while Deirdre Smith turned around a deficit to chalk up a 4 and 2 win.
And there was an excellent display by young Tara Delaney, making her senior European bow. She was engaged in a battle royale with Hann-Leena Salonen before finally edging to a 3 and 1 success.
Irish captain Sheena O'Brien Kenney said: "I was very hopeful about this week. We have such a good team but we just under-performed against Sweden. If we had played as well the previous day we could have won."
CHALLENGE TOUR: After making European Challenge Tour history with a round of 60 in Spain last weekend, England's Andrew Butterfield surged to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the Open des Volcans Challenge de France after constructing a second round 65 to move into a one-shot lead from Nicolas Joakimides.
The 33-year-old set the lowest round in the Challenge Tour's 17-year history in Madrid last weekend before taking the lead in France with opening rounds of 68-65.
Colm Moriarty (71 69), Michael Hoey (73 69), Justin Kehoe (72 72) and Tim Rice (71 73) all made the cut.
