CHAMPIONS TOUR: Des Smyth and Christy O'Connor junior are well off the pace after the first round of the Champions Tour, Verizon Classic, in Tampa Bay.
Indifferent rounds of one-over-par 72s left Smyth and O'Connor trailing Mike McCullough by five shots.
Smyth's day began full of promise with three birdies in the first six holes, at which stage he was two under par and tied for the lead.
Smyth opened with a birdie but was back to level after a bogey at the third. However, birdies at the fourth and sixth to a dropped shot at nine took him to the turn in one-under-par 34.
But from there on the game which took him to second place in last week's ACE Classic deserted him. After a bogey five at the 10th Smyth birdied the 11th to get to one under par again but dropped shots at the 12th and 15th took him home in two over par 38 for a 72.
O'Connor, starting on the 10th, was always chasing the game after opening with a pair of bogeys. Another bogey at the 15th was sandwiched between birdies at the 13th and 15th for an outward half of 37 and nine straight pars back left him at one over par also.
McCullough leads by one from Mark McCumber, Hale Irwin, Bruce Fleisher and Tom Kite.
US TOUR: Darren Clarke is also well off the pace after a disappointing second round of 74 in the Nissan Classic at the Riviera Country Club, California.
A halfway total of 145 left Clarke on the projected cut while David Duval, Stephen Ames and KJ Choi set the clubhouse target at three under par. Tiger Woods is at two under after shooting 68.
AUSTRALIAN MASTERS: Karrie Webb's assault on a fifth Australian Women's Masters golf crown was stalled by rain at the Royal Pines course yesterday. The tournament favourite made birdies on the 12th and 13th to take a two-shot lead and go six-under for the incomplete round and 10-under for the tournament. Webb completed the 16th hole when play was suspended for the day by fading light and rain.
Former Australian amateur champion Rebecca Stevenson shared second place with first round leader Patricia Meunier Lebouc of France and Britain's Laura Davies on eight-under.
Brenda Ormsby of New Zealand shared the clubhouse lead and fourth place at seven-under with Scotland's Janice Moodie.
R&A: A top woman golfer is threatening legal action against the sport's main governing body, her lawyer said yesterday.
Vivien Saunders, a former British Women's Open champion, is an established golf instructor who has played in Europe and the US. After playing professionally, she wants to revert to amateur status to enable her to continue competing.
But she claims rules laid down by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) stopping her from returning immediately to amateur golf are in breach of her human rights.
She also wants to become a member of the 249-year-old club, which is a male-only establishment.
AMATEUR: Ireland's top two amateurs, Colm Moriarty of Athlone and Justin Kehoe from Birr, are both six shots off the lead, on one over par, after the first round of the Tasmanian Open in Australia. The event is a four-round strokeplay competition, concluding with 36 holes tomorrow.
