Rose's good start in bid to
clinch Ryder Cup debut

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Justin Rose has taken another step towards winning his first Ryder Cup cap - but only after a night when he wondered if he was ever going to get to sleep.
Although Dutchman Rolf Muntz was the star of the opening round of the KLM Open in Holland with a six under par 64, Rose is among those chasing him hard.
Having pulled out of the FedEx Cup first leg in America to try to clinch his Ryder Cup debut, the world number 12 had a bogey-free 67.
Former British amateur champion Muntz, no longer a European Tour card holder and forced to qualify for the event, was in the first group out, so he avoided the worst of the weather.
He still had to capitalise, of course, but did with six birdies and commented: "It's awesome playing in front of your home crowd and it was a gorgeous round - the kind you plan on paper and it actually works out."
Rose lies eighth on the Ryder Cup table and therefore needs to avoid three players going past him by the end of next week.
The only one of the leading candidates to score better than him was Dane Soren Hansen, currently in the 10th and last automatic spot, a mere £213 ahead of German Martin Kaymer. Hansen hit back from a double bogey on the ninth with what he called a "spectacular" inward 30 and shares second place with England's John Bickerton.
Oliver Wilson, lying ninth in the race and playing with Rose, led when he turned in 31, but in the end had to settle for a one under 69.
Kaymer could do no better than 72, while defending champion Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty, currently 13th and 14th, both double-bogeyed the ninth and 10th in rounds of 70 and 73 respectively.
A bad day for Open amateur star Chris Wood became even worse on Thursday night when he was given a two-stroke penalty for a wrong drop.
Wood, playing his second event as a professional, was taken back out onto the Kennemer course and had his par 4 on the fifth hole turned into a double bogey 6.

DARREN CLARKE ALL OUT TO IMPRESS
SKIPPER FALDO OVER NEXT TWO WEEKS

Darren Clarke believes he would be "a good addition" to Europe's Ryder Cup team - if he can show he is in form over the next two weeks.
No longer able to qualify automatically, Clarke is competing in this week's KLM Open at Kennemer and next week's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in Scotland to try to impress captain Nick Faldo.
"I've got to play well to have a chance of a wild card," said the man who was an inspiration to Ian Woosnam's team two years ago when he won all his three games just six weeks after his wife Heather died of breast cancer.
He said: "I'm desperate to make it - I'd love to. I'm doing everything I can, but whoever Nick picks I'm sure it will be the best team.
"If I don't play well these two weeks I'd have no complaints if I don't get picked - it would be totally acceptable. The first tee of a Ryder Cup is not the place to be if you're not flying on all cylinders."
Clarke put himself into the picture with a victory in China in April and three weeks ago finished sixth in the Bridgestone world championship in Ohio.
Missing the halfway cut in the US PGA straight afterwards may not look good on paper, but Clarke insisted: "I actually played okay there.
"I'd be the first to say so if I was terrible, but I wasn't."