McElhinney joint 3rd in Europro tour championship.

It was a good end to the season for Brian McElhinney who shot a final pound of 69 to finish on level par and in joint 3rd place in the season ending Tour Championship at Slaley Hall near Newcastle.
The run away winner was Simon Lilly who shot a record score of 65,including 8 birdies and a bogey at the 18th to collect a cheque for £15,000 which allowed him to jump from 21st in the order of merit to 5th.With the top 5 gaining a Challenge tour card for 2010 it turned out to be a double celebration for Lilly.
It was also a good result for Steve Surry.He finished 2nd on 1 under par after a closing round of 70.The £7,500 helped him to jump from 9th into 4th place and also collect a Challenge tour card for next year along with Lilly,No1 Scott Jamieson,No2 Tom Haylock and No3 Daniel Brooks.

McElhinney's finish earned him £2,650 and left him the top Irish for the year in 22nd spot.Barrie Trainor recovered from a terrible start in round one when he was 6 over par after 9 holes.He covered the last 45 holes in 2 under par for a share of 10th place and £700 in prize money.Tim Rice had 3 rounds of 75 to finish in 26th place on +9 and claim £320.Michael Collins 79 finished in 47th place on +16 and won £215 and Brendan McCarroll will want to forget the tour championship.He had a final round of 80 to finish in 55th spot on +24 and earned £175.

McElhinney top Irish at Slaley Hall.

Brian McElhinney is the top Irishman after a second round of level par leaves him 4 shots behind the 3 leaders on 3 over par in the Europro tour championship at Slaley Hall.

Overnight leader Chris Hanson took 73 shots but is still in the lead with Simon Lilly 70 and Paul Doherty 72 on 1 under par.They are the only players under par.They have opened up a 2 shot lead from Colin Roope 72 and Steve Surry 71 +1.

With the top 5 on the order of merit moving onto the Challenge tour,any of the 5 Irish in action would need to win the winners prize of 15,000 Euros on offer to have a chance.The closest contender is Brian McElhinney who lost a shot at the final hole for a level par round of 72 to sit 4 shots back. Barrie Trainor had a steady round of 73 to finish on +5 and 6 shots behind.Tim Rice had his second 75 in a row for a +6 total.
Michael Collins who took 78 in the first round got himself back into contention when he was 3 under for 15 holes.Unfortunately he took a 9 at the par 4 7th hole,his 16th and went on to finish on 9 over par after a 75.Brendan McCarroll can't get to grips with the course and took a 79 to finish with a +16 total.

Europro golfers blown away at Slaley Hall tour championship.

The top 60 golfers on the Europro tour have come together to play the season ending tour championship.The 54 hole event is being played at Slaley Hall in Northumberland.

The golfers had a tough task as they had to contend with gale force winds and rain as well as bumpy greens.

There was only 4 players to finish under par in the first round.Chris Hanson(28th)is the early leader after a 2 under par round of 70.Paul Doherty(4th),Recent winner Sandeep Grewel(11th) and Llewellyn Matthews(50th) are close behind on 1 under par,70.
No1 player Scott Jamieson is down in 23rd place on 76 +4.

Tim Rice(48th) and Brian McElhinney(36th) are the best of the Irish on 75 +3.Despite a run of 7 bogies in 8 holes,Barrie Trainor(37th)recovered for a round of 76 +4.Michael Collins(34th) struggled to a 78 +6 and Brendan McCarroll(60)found the going difficult and ended with a 9 over par 81.

One week makes a big difference to Michael Jonson.

Going into this weeks CASTELLO MASTERS in SPAIN,Swedens Michael Jonson was 158th in the Race to Dubai,he was getting ready for the second stage of pre qualifying as he was outside the top 115,and depressed with his golf.
Tonight he is 65th on the list,has 333,330 Euros in his bank account and his future is secured on the European Tour to at least the end of 2011.He played his best golf for 12 years to see of the challenge of players like defending champion Sergio Garcia & Martin Kaymer.
Jonson played fantastic golf all week and finished off with an 18 foot putt for birdie that beat Kaymer and fellow Swede Christian Nilisson by one shot.Rounds of 63,67,68,67 for a 20 under par total was good enough for a fairytail week.Martin Kaymer who was playing his first event since breaking toe's in a karting accident in August jumps Rory McIlroy into 2nd place on the Race to Dubai table behind Lee Westwood.
It was a good week for Darren Clarke who closed with a final round of 65 to finish in joint 8th on -14.His prize of 42,900 Euros leaves him inside the all important top 60 in 59th place.
Gary Murphy has slipped down to 123rd after finishing in 64th place on -4.Paul McGinley was unlucky to miss the halfway cut by 1 shot after finishing on level par.

Bad finish knocks Thornton out of final event.

Simon Thornton made 2 bogies in the last 3 holes to knock himself out of the final event on the Challenge tour next week.With only the top 45 playing in the season end tour championship,Thornton finished in 51st place after finishing in 6th place in the ITALIAN FEDERATION CUP on 13 under par.
It means there will be no Irish in the final tour championship,which means there will be no Irish joining the European tour from the Challenge tour this year.

Edoardo Molinari holed a 30 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win his 3rd event this year and an automatic move onto the main tour as a 3 time winner.He has amassed a record total of 231,880 Euros this year.

Johnny Caldwell had another good week.He finished in 15th position on 9 under par.Colm Moriarty finished on 5 under par and a share of 31st place,while Michael McGeady continues his bad year.He made the cut but finished on +4 and in 42nd place.

Thornton in good shape in Italy !

Simon Thornton from Royal County Down golf club is in good shape at the half way stage of the ITALIAN FEDERATION CUP in ITALY.He lies one shot behind the leader Edoardo Molinari after hitting rounds of 65 and 69.
Molinari is already the winner of the order of merit,but for Simon he could qualify for next weeks final event,the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP which is also played in Italy if he finishes in the top 5.
He shares second place with Nicolas Colsaerts and Rhys Davies on 10 under par and only one shot behind Molinari.

Johnny Caldwell is also performing well with scores of 69/70 for a share of 14th place on -5.
Colm Moriarty 69/71 and Michael McGeady 71/69 share 18th place on -4.

Westwood wins Portugal Masters on 23 under par.

Lee Westwood won for the first time in over 2 years,when he came from behind to win the Portugal Masters around the Victoria course at Vilamoura,with a very impressive total of 23 under par.This was made up with scores of 66,67,66,66 to beat the long time leader Francesco Molinari by 2 shots.
It was a great weekend for Westwood who won 500,000 Euros and jumped Rory McIlroy to lead the"Race to Dubai" by 200,000 Euros.It also lifted him into 5th position in the World rankings behind Tiger,Mickleson,Stricker and Casey.
He last won the Order of merit in 2000 and was 4th in the World,before deciding to change his swing which saw him slump down outside the top 250.Thankfully he went back to his old game and has made the long journey back to the top.

Padraig Harrington playing in Europe for the first time since the FedEx cup playoff's in the USA finished in 3rd place after rounds of 69,62,71 and 67 left him on 19 under par.The cheque for 187,800 Euros lift's him into 6th place in the World and 15th in the Race to Dubai.
Gareth Maybin and Peter Lawrie were in joint 5th place on -15 going into the last round,but slipped up badly with Maybin taking a 74 and Lawrie 76.

It took 4 under par to make the half way cut,and of the 69 guys who made it through to the final 36 holes only Shaun Micheel from the USA was over par at the finish.He finished on 1 over par on this 7,229 yard lay out.

Irish Results.
---------------
3rd PADRAIG HARRINGTON -19 187,800 EUROS (15TH RACE TO DUBAI)
26TH GARETH MAYBIN -13 28,950 "(47TH R.T.D)
26TH PAUL MCGINLEY -13 28,950 "(100TH )
30TH RORY MCILROY -12 24,128 "(2ND)
30TH SHANE LOWRY -12 24,126 "(162ND)
37TH PETER LAWRIE -11 20,400 "(49TH)
41ST DARREN CLARKE -10 18,000 "(64TH)
DAMIEN MCGRANE -9 14,400 "(53RD)
------------------------------
MISSED CUT.

GARY MURPHY -3 (119TH R.T.D)
GRAEME MCDOWELL +1 (37TH)

Can McIlroy win the Race To Dubai ?

We are at that time of the year when there is only a few tournaments to go to decide the future for a lot of Professional golfers.
Can i win the European order of merit?Can i make enough money to keep my card for 2010 ?Can i make the top 60 to qualify for the Race To Dubai ?Can i make the top 50 in the World to qualify for most majors ?
With Rory McIlroy having won 2,008,567 Euros this year in Europe and sitting at No22 in the World rankings,you have to look at the likes of his Walker cup team mate Johnny Caldwell.He has only made 22,637 Euros on the European Tour and will be heading back to the qualifying school in November.

RACE TO DUBAI........IRISH RESULTS.

1ST:RORY MCILROY (20 EVENTS) EUROS 2,008,567.
21ST:PADRAIG HARRINGTON(12) " 868,662.
37TH:GRAEME MCDOWELL(19) " 668,972.
47TH:PETER LAWRIE (25) " 551,429.
48TH: GARETH MAYBIN (27) " 549,577.
50TH: DAMIEN MCGRANE (29) " 531,782.
---------------------------------------------
66TH:DARREN CLARKE (20) " 437,859.
82ND:MICHAEL HOEY (24) " 341,327.
107TH:PAUL MCGINLEY (23) " 273,483.
120TH: GARY MURPHY (30) " 225,924.
181TH:SHANE LOWRY (15) " 81,682.
247TH:MICHAEL MCGEADY (6) " 23,475.
248TH:JOHNNY CALDWELL (14) " 22,637.
341ST:DAVID HIGGINS (1) " 2,744.

WORLD ORDER OF MERIT.

7TH PADRAIG HARRINGTON.
18TH RORY MCILROY.
52ND GRAEME MCDOWELL.
103RD DARREN CLARKE.
122ND GARETH MAYBIN.
160TH DAMIEN MCGRANE.
173TH PETER LAWRIE.
191ST SHANE LOWRY.
198TH PAUL MCGINLEY.
216TH MICHAEL HOEY.

John Parry wins on Challenge tour in France.

2007 Walker cup player,John Parry can look forward to joining his old team mates,including Rory McIlroy on the European tour next year after winning the ALLIANZ OPEN GRAND TOULOUSE event with a final round of 63 left him on 21 under par and a 2 shot victory from Jose-filipe Lima.
It was a first victory for Parry and the 24,000 Euros he won lifted him into 12th place on the order of merit.

Johnny Caldwell came down from the main tour to gain some confidence before tour school and it worked.He finished in a tie for 17th when he closed with rounds of 66 and 68 for a -15 total.
Simon Thornton was down in 52nd place with a closing 71 left him on -8.

Ross McGowan wins Madrid Masters.

Englands,Ross McGowan won his maiden victory on the European tour when he was crowned the MADRID MASTERS champion after a closing round of 71 gave him a 25 under par total after his fantastic 3rd round of 60 -12.
The 250,000 Euros cheque lifts Ross up 21 places to 24th in the race to Dubai table.
It was also a great tournament for Finland's Mikko Ilonen who was struggling to keep his card in 159th place.He can now relax as his second place finish on 22 under par,lifted him up to 102nd on the table.

Gareth Maybin moved up from 55th to 48th in the order of merit after a closing round of 64 won him a cheque for 63,700 Euros on -18.Gary Murphy jumps from 145th to 120th when he was tied with Maybin on -18.Another good week should see him inside the top 115 and keep his card for 2010.
Damien McGrane was 17th on -15 after another good week.He won 19,050 Euros and is now safely inside the top 60 in 49th place.
Peter Lawrie won 7,500 Euros for 43rd place on -10,Shane Lowry who made a brilliant 63 in the second round couldn't improve.He finished on -9 and won 4,912 Euros and Michael Hoey was 3rd from the last on -4 to win 2,495 Euros.

Garcia on top/Lowry chasing in Madrid.

Local favorite,Sergio Garcia added a 67 to his opening 64 to sit on top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the MADRID MASTERS on 13 under par.
The course lends itself to low scoring,and it was the case this week with the cut coming at 4 under par.
The leading Irishman is Gary Murphy who is trying hard to hang on to his tour card for 2010,and he could survive from his 145th position,into the top 115 if he keeps playing to this high standard that see's him only 1 shot behind Garcia on -12 after rounds of 67/65.
Shane Lowry has taken 5 months to show the kind of golf that won him the Irish Open as an amateur back in mid May at Baltray.Then he shot a second round of 62,this week he had his lowest Professional score of 63-9 to put himself in position for his first Pro title.He starts the weekend only 3 shots behind Garcia on 10 under par.
There was 7 Irish in the field,and the only one to miss the cut was Darren Clarke on 1 over par.He was 5 under over the front 9 of his first round,but his game went downhill after that.

IRISH SCORES
------------
GARY MURPHY 67/65 -12
SHANE LOWRY 71/63 -10
PETER LAWRIE 69/67 -8
DAMIEN MCGRANE 67/71,MICHAEL HOEY 69/69,GARETH MAYBIN 70/68 -6.

MISSED CUT.DARREN CLARKE 69/76 +1.

Colsaerts shoots a 62 to lead Challenge event in France.

Nicolas Colsaerts(4th in the order of merit) moved into a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the ALLIANZ GOLF OPEN GRAND TOULOUSE.Colsaerts had a fantastic round of 10 under par 62 in this low scoring event to join Matthew Zions(67) and Alan Wagner(64) in the clubhouse on 13 under par.Zions(22th) and Wagner(24th) have a great chance of making the top 20 in the order of merit with a big finish this week.

Simon Thornton who took a 71 in the first round,recovered to make the cut with a brilliant 68 and squeese in on the cut mark of 5 under par.Johnny Caldwell will join Thornton for the weekend also on -5 after a second round of 72,but Michael McGeady was unlucky after he shot a 71 for a -4 total to miss the very low cut by a shot.

Sandeep Grewal beats Saltman in Europro play off.

Sandeep Grewal playing in his 12th Europro event this year finally got a win in the PARTY POKER.COM INTERNATIONAL OPEN when he beat Lioyd Saltman in a play off to lift the £10,000 first prize and a jump up to 11th in the order of merit.

Sandeep had a bit of luck on his side as he was out early enough to miss most of the bad weather.He took full advantage when he got to 7 under after 12 holes.He dropped 2 shots at the 14th,and finished with all pars to reach the play off as Saltman took a 75 to tie.
It was only the 5th time that Sandeep made the 36 hole cut out of 12 outings,with his previous best finish being joint 18th in the Brooke Bros Classic.

Former European star Ronan Rafferty collected a cheque for £800 along with fellow Irishman Michael Collins when they tied for 9th place on +2 after both took 77s.
Stephen Grant had a solid tournament and finished in 12th place on +3 after a closing 74.Brendan McCarroll was 28th after a 75 left him on +5 and Paul oHanlon took 76 for a share of 31st on +6.

Scoring HOT in France for Challenge tour event.

Play was called off during the ALLIANZ GOLF OPEN GRAND TOULOUSE in FRANCE because of thunder and lighting,but it was the golfers who were hot on the course.
Some players had to finish of their rounds this morning and with the first round complete there is a 4 way tie for the lead on 8 under par 64.
There is a total of 36 players between 5 and 8 under par clogging up the leaderboard.

Antti Ahokas,Matthew Zions,Charles Russo and Mark Tullo lead the way on -8.There are 6 players on -7,5 on -6 and 19 on -5,which includes Johnny Caldwell who has been struggling on the main tour this year and is trying to get some confidence before heading for the qualifying school.
Michael McGeady is not having a great year,but he will be in better form after a 3 under par round of 69 and Simon Thornton will have to work hard today to make the cut as he shot a 71 -1.

Manuel Quiros opens Madrid Masters with a 62.

Manuel Quiros sits at(319th)in the Race to Dubai,but he came alive during the first round of the MADRID MASTERS with a spectecular round of 10 under par 62 to take a 2 shot lead over local favorite Sergio Garcia(12th)who had a good putting day for a 64.

Danien McGrane (49th)in the race to Dubai and Gary Murphy (145th) had good scores of -5 67 but find themselves 5 shots off the pace.
Darren Clarke(65th) was 5 under after 9,but had a poor back nine to finish on -3,69 and join Michael Hoey(82nd) and Peter Lawrie(47th).
Gareth Maybin(55th) is on -2 70,while Shane Lowry birdied the last for a -1 round of 71.

Busby still leads/Rafferty stays in touch.

James Busby held on to his first round lead in the PARTYPOKER.COM INTERNATIONAL OPEN at FAIRMONT GOLF CLUB in ST.ANDREWS with a second round of 69 and now has a 1 shot lead on 9 under par.

Ronan Rafferty put in another great performance when he returned a 2 under par 70 to sit in a share of 7th place on 3 under par.Rafferty who hasn't played competitive golf for 10 years has a great love of links golf and he showed it with 4 birdies in 5 holes to come back from 2 over after 9 for a great round of 70.
Michael Collins joined Ronan on 3 under after a second round of level par 72.Stephen Grant fell away after his opening 68,he took 77 blows but made the cut on 1 over par for a share of 23rd.The cut fell at 3 over par and Paul oHanlon 71 and Brendan mcCarroll made it through by one shot on +2.

IRISH SCORES
-----------------
RONAN RAFFERTY 71/70,MICHAEL COLLINS 69/72 -3.
STEPHEN GRANT 68/77 +1.
PAUL O HANLON 75/71,BRENDAN MCCARROLL 72/74 +2.

---------------------------------
MISSED CUT +3.

TIM RICE 77/72 +5.
BRIAN MCELHINNEY 76/74 +6.
BARRIE TRAINOR 76/75 +7.
JONATHAN MALLON 77/75 +8.
MARK STAUNTON 79/78,RICHARD KILPATRICK 79/78 +13.
GER HALL 82/77 +15.

Great finish by Stephen Grant in Europro event.

James Busby shot a 66 to take the first round lead by 2 shots in the PARTYPOKER.COM INTERNATIONAL OPEN at FAIRMONT GOLF COURSE in ST.ANDREWS.Busby was an early starter and he took full advantage with a 6 under par round that will help him to move up from 8th on the order of merit,if his good golf continues over the next 2 rounds.

Michael Collins birdied the 16th and 18th and looked to be the top Irishman on 3 under par 69,but he was over taken when Stephen Grant birdied the last 3 holes for a 4 under par 68,to sit in joint 2nd place with a group of 6 others,including Tom Haylock who is second in the order of merit.He will be looking to go top as the leader,Scott Jamieson isn't playing.

1989 European order of merit winner,Ronan Rafferty made a rare appearance,and he didn't disappoint as he returned a 1 under par 71,that was made up with 17 pars and a birdie at the 14th.Brendan McCarroll put in a solid round of level par 72 and with the cut tomorrow likely to be no more than 2 over par the other 8 Irish will need to improve.

IRISH SCORES.
---------------
STEPHEN GRANT 68 -4.
MICHAEL COLLINS 69 -3.
RONAN RAFFERTY 71 -1.
BRENDAN MCCARROLL 72 PAR.
PAUL O HANLON 75 +3.
BARRIE TRAINOR,BRIAN MCELHINNEY 76 +4.
JONATHAN MALLON,TIM RICE 77 +5.
MARK STAUNTON,RICHARD KILPATRICK 79 +7.
GER HALL 82 +10.

Tiger top of the World and no sign of being moved.

In the latest world rankings Tiger Woods has now been No1 in the World for the last 226 weeks(over 4 years)and has been No1 for a total of 568 weeks(over 10 years).
It was also reported last week that he is the only sports person in the World to have passed the $1 Billion mark.
Phil Mickleson has taken up his usual No2 position after his Tour Championship win.

The top Irishman is triple Major winner Padraig Harrington.His great run in all the Play off's for the FedEx Cup has him in No7 position.
20 year old Rory McIlroy is back into the top 20 after his 2nd place finish in the Dunhill.He is 19th and the only other Irish in the top 50 is Graeme McDowell who is in 49th place.

Dyson wins Dunhill/McIlroy top of the Dubai race.

Simon Dyson birdied 6 of the first 7 holes to build up a 3 hole lead that he kept to win the DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP after a final round of 66 over the St.Andrews links.His 20 under par won him 540,000 Euros and moved him up to 8th in the race to Dubai table and a jump into the top 50 in the World.Dyson had already won the Dutch Open in August and has proved that he can play with the big boys.

Rory McIlroy was dissapointed not to have won the Dunhill,but a joint 2nd finish with Oliver Wilson lifted him above Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey(both injured)into No1 position in the Race to Dubai table as he has now won 2,008,567 Euros this year.He is back into the top 20 in the World rankings in 19th place.It was a good 50th birthday present for his dad Gerry who was inside the ropes as part of the McIlroy Pro Am team.

It was a good tournament for Darren Clarke,he shot a final round of 71 to finish joint 7th with overnight leader Luke Donald on -14. Paul McGinley was joint 9th with a group of 6 other players on -13.Michael Hoey hit 2 balls out of bounds at the par5,14th hole and took a 9.He still finished in 19th place on -11.
Padraig Harrington only made the cut on -4,but he recovered to shoot a round of 66 to join Graeme McDowell in 26th place on -10.Damien McGrane had a solid last round of 69 to share 36th spot on -9.Gareth Maybin had a final round of 71 to finish 51st on -7 and Gary Murphy also had a 71 to finish in 62nd place on -5.

Ireland well represented in Dunhill final round.

Luke Donald came out of the pack to shot a 64-8 round over the Kingsbarns course to lead going into the final round for the DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP which will be played over the St Andrews course tomorrow after Saturdays 3rd round was cancelled because of high winds.
Donald is on -15 and has a 1 shot lead over Rory McIlroy(69)and Simon Dyson(68).McIlroy has a special reason to win tomorrow.It is his Dad Gerry's 50th birthday and they will be playing together as they qualified for the team event.
One shot behind them is 2 Northern Ireland men.Michael Hoey who has had a terrible run since he won in Portugal earlier in the year shot a 70 at St Andrews,while Darren Clarke had a 67 at Kingsbarns to leave them both on 13 under par.
Paul McGinley is looking forward to being in contention once again as he is on 11 under par and only 4 behind.
9 out of 11 Irish playing made the cut with Peter Lawrie(71) and Shane Lowry(76) failed to make the cut.

IRISH SCORES.
RORY MCILROY(69 KB) -14
MICHAEL HOEY(70 SA)-13
DARREN CLARKE (67 KB) -13
PAUL MCGINLEY (69 KB)-11
GRAEME MCDOWELL (68 SA) -9
DAMIEN MCGRANE (68 SA) -6
GARETH MAYBIN (71 SA ) -6
PADRAIG HARRINGTON (72 KB) -4
GARY MURPHY (69 SA ) -4
failed to qualify.
PETER LAWRIE (71 SA) -2
SHANE LOWRY (76 CN)+5.

Lima wins ECCO Tour Championship in Denmark.

Portugal's JOSE-FILIPE LIMA shot a final round of 72 to win the ECCO TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP in DENMARK and in doing so stopped the favorite EDOARDO MOLINARI from gaining his 3rd win with an automatic place on the main European tour.It earned Jose a cheque for 28,800 Euros and a move into 3rd on the merit table.
The tournament was reduced to 54 holes because of rain on the Saturday.The final round was played under difficult conditions that saw all the scores going above par,but it was Lima who handled the pressure with a 72 to pip Molinari by 1 shot after he took a 74.

Irelands only qualifier,Colm Moriarty finished well down in 39th place after a closing 77 left him on +9.

McIlroy joint leader in Dunhill Championship after 36 holes.

20 year old Rory McIlroy covered St.Andrews famous links in 65 shots to share the lead at the halfway mark of the DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP with fellow Ulsterman Michael Hoey who had a fantastic day at Carnoustie when he shot a 66 and local boy Richie Ramsay who had a 66 at St.Andrews.
All 3 are on 11 under par with McIlroy and Ramsay to play the easier Kingsbarns tomorrow while Hoey has to face St.Andrews and with the wind to reach gale force it will be a great test for Hoey.
Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley are in good position on 8 under par.Graeme McDowell and Gareth Maybin -5 and Padraig Harrington is on the cut mark of -4.

Leaderboard.Irish scores.
-------------
Rory McIlroy 68 65,Michael Hoey 67 66 -11.
Darren Clarke 68 68,Paul McGinley 69 67 -8.
Gareth Maybin 66 73,Graeme McDowell 69 70 -5.
Padraig Harrington 70 70 -4.
Damien McGrane 71 71 -2.
Gary Murphy 71 72,Peter Lawrie 73 70 -1.
Shane Lowry 74 71 +1.

Molinari still in pole position in Denmark.

Edoardo Molinari held on to the lead after a second round of 69 in the ECCO TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP that left him on 6 under par and with a one shot lead over Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima and Finlands Roope Kakko who had a top 7 finish in the Irish Open back in May.

The only Irishman to make the cut was Colm Moriarty who hit a level par 72 to go with his opening 76 yesterday.His +4 total made the cut by 2 shots.

Michael McGeady's season isn't getting any better.He was 10 over par after rounds of 75 and 79.
Simon Thornton was 1 worse on +11 after scores of 77 and 78.

Ecco Tour Championship lead for Molinari.

It is no surprise that Challenge tour leader Edoardo Molinari is in front after the first round of the ECCO TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP in DENMARK.
Molinari has 2 wins this year and has already broken the Money total for a season.
He has 188,080 Euros and looks like adding to that with an opening round of 69 -3.

He certainly won't have any competition from the Irish.Michael McGeady is 6 shots behind and down in 37th place on 75 +3,Colm Moriarty is 50th after a 76 +4 and Simon Thornton has a mountain to climb from 64th on 77 +5 if he is going to make the weekend.

Thomas Bjorn leads Dunhill Links Championship.

Thomas Bjorn,captain of the losing Europe team in the Vivardi Trophy last week,maybe should have been playing himself as he heads the field in the DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP after the first round.
The tournament is played over ST.ANDREWS,CARNOUSTIE and KINGSBARN golf courses.Bjorn was at KINGSBARNS and he scorched around in 64 shots -8 which was the best between the 3 courses by 2 shots from N.Irelands Gareth Maybin who shot a 66 on the same course.
At Carnoustie,local Richie Ramsay led the field with a solid round of 67 -5.Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke are in a group on 68 -4.
At St.Andrews Ross McGowan leads the field with a 66 -6,while the only Irish man in action Shane Lowry struggled to return a 74 +2.

Irish Scores
----------------
St Andrews...........Shane Lowry 74 +2.

Carnoustie...........Darren Clarke,Rory McIlroy 68 -4.
Paul McGinley 69 -3.
Padraig Harrington 70 -2.

Kingsbarn..........Gareth Maybin 66 -6.
Michael Hoey 67 -5.
Graeme McDowell 69 -3.
Damien McGrane,Gary Murphy 71 -1.
Peter Lawrie 73 +1.