ROUND-UP: PGA TOUR: Helped by a eagle two at the sixth, where he holed out his 208 yards second shot, Briny Baird claimed the early lead after an opening five-under-par 67 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Avondale, Louisiana, yesterday.
Starting at the 10th the American was out in 34 and with birdies at the fourth and seventh to go with the eagle came home in 33 for his 67.
Jay Williamson fired a flawless four-under-par 68 to share second place with Vaughn Taylor and Australian Steve Elkington.
Padraig Harrington, after an indifferent start which saw him drop three shots in the first four holes, recovered to shoot a one-under-par 71.
The Dubliner bogeyed the second hole and doubled bogeyed the fourth before three birdies in the next five holes saw him turn in level-par 36.
Harrington went under par for the firts time at the 10th but was back to level again when he three putted the 11th - missing a par putt from three feet.
Another birdie followed at the 13th and pars in saw him finish on 71.
INTERPROVINCIALS: Victoria Bradshaw made the most of her local knowledge to help inch Ulster closer to retaining the Irish Girls' Under-18 Interprovincial Championship at Bangor.
The Bangor Grammar student raced in with the decisive point with a 4 and 2 win over Patrice Delaney to beat Leinster 6½-1½ in the second series of matches.
Ulster, chasing a fourth successive title, again enjoyed a blistering two-nil start from the mounting foursomes. The Maguire twins, Lisa and Leona, combined brilliantly to beat Carla Reynolds and Delaney by 6 and 4.
CARDIGAN CUP: Ireland lead Wales by a point going into the second day of their annual boys international at Cardigan today.
They won yesterday's foursomes session 3-1 but lost the singles 4½-3½ for an overall 6½-5½ advantage.
Michael Durkin was in fine form beating Matthew Moseley by 3 and 2 and other singles points for Ireland came frrom Colin Fairweather and Chris Drumm while Reeve Whitson halved with Chris Nugent.
DEVELOPMENT: Having taken a narrow lead following the morning foursomes on day two of the Four Nations Development Matches at Royal Dublin GC, Ireland secured three wins and a half from the eight singles to halve the overall match with Wales.
After a 7-5 win over the Netherlands on the opening day, the host nation now requires a win against Scotland today for overall victory.
The Netherlands defeated Scotland by 6½-5½ with Jeroen Krietemeijer securing the all important point for the Dutch side with a one hole win over Jordyn Rhind.
SENIORS TOUR: England's Carl Mason has spoken of the "tough task" he faces in bidding to get his season off to a winning start at the inaugural Azores Senior Open, the newest addition to the European Seniors Tour Schedule.
A strong Atlantic wind and undulating greens have made for testing conditions at Batalha Golf Club, the venue for the €325,000 tournament, which starts today.
After the season-opening event, the DGM Barbados Open, Mason currently trails leader Bill Longmuir of Scotland - who is also in action in the Azores - by €28,435 on the Order of Merit.
Eamonn Darcy leads the Irish challenge with Denis O'Sullivan and Jimmy Heggarty also in the field of 73.
