Choi leads Skins with £75,000 birdie,
Mickelson earns $25,000 for eagle

K.J. Choi, playing in his first LG Skins Game, using a sharp short game and dead-eye putting to take the first-day lead in the 26th annual event at Indian Wells, California on Saturday.
Choi rolled in a 4ft birdie putt worth $75,000 on the third hole.
That gave him the lead over Phil Mickelson, who earned $25,000 with an eagle 3 on the fourth hole. Two-time defending champion Stephen Ames and Rocco Mediate, playing in his first Skins Game, were shut out on the first nine holes.
With the foursome halving the final five holes of the front nine, $900,000 of the event's $1 million purse is still alive for Sunday's final nine holes.
"Everybody here is a good player, good games and good short-game players," Choi said. "I was just really focused on 100 yards and inside."
The focus paid off for Choi, who missed a 12-foot birdie on the first hole that could have won a skin but then made four birdies in the next seven holes. Playing the best golf of the foursome, Choi halved the second hole with Mediate with birdies, then won the $75,000 carry-over money on the third hole with an easy birdie while Mickelson and Ames missed the green long and Mediate missed a 90-foot birdie putt.
Choi also birdied the sixth hole from six feet and the eighth hole from five feet, but was tied both times in the format that only gives money to the outright winner of a hole.
With the foursome halving the final five holes Saturday, the first hole on Sunday will be worth $250,000.
"That's a lot of money on the first hole," said Ames, who won $650,000 of his $675,000 in the 2007 Skins Game on the final hole Sunday. "We'll see how well everyone sleeps tonight."
"It's going to be a very interesting first hole of the day," Mickelson said. "We are all going to be a little bit nervous, a little bit tight trying to make birdie, because the guy who gets that first skin is going to be able to freewheel it a little bit the back nine."
• As is customary at the LG Skins Game, all four participants have agreed to donate 20 percent of their winnings ($200,000) out of the $1 million purse to their favourite charities. Ames is playing for The Stephen Ames Foundation, while Mickelson is playing for the Phil and Amy Mickelson Charitable Gift Fund. Mediate is playing for Small World Big Life, and Choi is playing for the K.J. Choi Foundation.

Things we bet you did not know about Mission
Hills, the Chinese venue for golf's World Cup

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
By Laury Livsey, PGA TOUR Staff
DONGGUAN, China -- Turn to the Guinness Book of World Records, skip past the picture of the fat twins sitting on the motorcycles, ignore the entry about the oldest guy in history to tandem-parachute and forget about finding out how tall Robert Pershing Wadlow was and eventually you'll find a listing in the seminal tome for "The Largest Golf Club in the World."
Mission Hills
While Bjarne Maeland may have parachuted from a plane at the tender age of 100 and Wadlow checked in just an inch under 9 feet, Mission Hills Golf Club, it of the 12 golf courses spread over two Chinese cities -- Shenzhen and Dongguan -- holds the Guinness distinction, surpassing the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina.
Yes, Mission Hills is the largest in the world, thanks to Dr. David Chu, the brains and money behind the complex, and Chu's coterie of course designers: Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal, David Duval, Jumbo Ozaki, Zhang Lian-wei, David Leadbetter and Pete Dye.
Besides the star-studded lineup of architects, the folks at the complex located in Guangdong Province are also happy to point out that while it took Pinehurst 100 years to add its eighth course, No. 12 came on board at Mission Hills in the tenth year of the club's existence.
So, in honour of the Golden Bear, the Big Easy, Jumbo, Ms. 59, the Great White Shark, Ollie and everybody else who put their touches on designs here, we give you 12 fun facts, one for every course at Mission Hills (what, you thought we were going to come up with 216 items, one for each hole at the place?).
• The 12 Mission Hills courses employ 2,500 caddies -- all female and all in their late teens or early 20s -- who live in club-provided dormitories, six per room. With attrition factored in, the club recruits approximately 150 to 200 new caddies every year. Coco Hu from Hunan Province, has been a caddie for six years, starting when she was 18. She caddies an average of 23 rounds a month and has started to play golf herself. "I get to play once a month, and I'm still learning," she said. "The Annika Course is my favorite because it's the course done by a woman."
• Every caddie attends Mission Hills' Caddie Training Academy before ever toting a bag for real. The CTA is a three-and-a-half month school that introduces the fledgling caddies to a sport almost all of them knew nothing about before they began their employment. They first learn golf terminology in Chinese (Can you say "rescue club" in Mandarin?) and then learn the English equivalent. It's safe to say that most of the caddies who enter the program don't know a sand wedge from a sand castle. But a little more than 90 days later, and they're good to go. "I had not even heard about Tiger Woods before I began," says Katie Xia from Chongqing in the Sichuan Province, who has been caddying since 2006.
• The caddies all wear red trousers and red jackets because red in China is considered a lucky color. The club also offers, at additional cost to golfers, "golden" caddies, who happen to be the best and most-experienced among the 2,500. They wear gold uniforms because it is the color of royalty in China.
• Because of the distances between many of the greens and tees at all the courses, a caddie and cart are mandatory. Also in the distance department, so big is the course that 15 kilometers (a little more than nine miles) separate the Olazabal Course, site of this week's OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup, from the Nicklaus Course, the host of the 1995 World Cup, the first time professional golf came to Mission Hills.
• The first five courses built at Mission Hills had a distinct purpose behind them. They were designed by five men from different parts of the world: Nicklaus (North America), Els (Africa), Singh (Oceania), Ozaki (Asia) and Faldo (Europe).
• At the facility's Shenzhen clubhouse, a cement-and-marble staircase was torn apart, moved to a different location and rebuilt after a feng shui expert came in and decided it wasn't in keeping with the Chinese art or practice of positioning objects to promote positive or negative effects. We'll guess that particular set of stairs fell into the "negative" category.
Paul Lakatos
The main entry doors to the Dongguan clubhouse never close during operating hours.
• Feng shui (the Chinese words for "wind" and "water") also is the reason why the main entry doors to the Dongguan clubhouse never close during operating hours -- regardless of the weather. It also explains why Mission Hills' workers carry battery-operated, tennis racquet-looking devices to zap flies that dare enter the premises.
• What are the chances "Caddyshack" would have been as funny had Carl Spackler had to worry about large, undomesticated game animals instead of gophers? While the rodents of the big screen caused all sorts of trouble at fictional Bushwood Country Club, the biggest mischief-makers at Mission Hills are wild boars living in the nearby jungles. The tusked, omnivores come out at night and occasionally dig up the course. In case you were wondering, yes, ham, pork and bacon dishes are available in various Mission Hills restaurants.
• During the building of the Faldo course, a local farmer told construction workers to stop what they were doing so he could sort out an issue that was causing him some concern. While the farmer allowed that the property where a lake near his farm was located did belong to the club, he insisted the fish inside the lake were his. After some negotiations, Mission Hills administration capitulated, allowed the man to get out his nets, catch the fish and transplant them in a lake on his property.
• Five of Mission Hills' courses -- Norman, Leadbetter, Annika, Duval and Olazabal -- were built simultaneously. From start to finish, construction of the 90 holes took 14 months. "We had 30,000 labourers on site during that time," said Glenn Stokes, a native of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Mission Hills' golf operations manager. "It was something to see."
• In 2007, the courses saw more than 504,000 rounds played over 365 days. In 2008, the 12 Mission Hills courses are tracking just ahead of that figure with five weeks left in the year.
• Japan, Korea and Australia have more golfers traveling to Mission Hills to play than any other countries. Coco Hu acknowledges, though, that the best score she ever witnessed while caddying was a 63 on the Annika Course by a man from just down the road in Hong Kong. No word on what Coco's tip was that day

Aberdeen boy Sim and Allenby share

lead with one round to go Down Under

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Australia's Robert Allenby and Aberdeen-born Michael Sim, pictured above, share a two-stroke lead going into the final round of an enthralling Sportsbet Australian Masters at Huntingdale, Melbourne.
Chasing his third Sportsbet Australian Masters title, Allenby landed a rare and precious albatross en route to a five under par 67.
But alongside him at ten under is his third round playing partner Sim, the 24 year old former World No 1 amateur who is starting to realise his potential after two years disrupted by stress fractures in his lower back.
Huntingdale member Ashley Hall sits alone in third place two shots off the pace following his 68, while Rod Pampling (70), Anthony Summers (71) and Englishman Steve Webster (70) are at seven under.
No fewer than seven players either held the lead outright or shared it during the third round including overnight leader Tim Clark who surrendered 28 places following his disappointing four over 76.
While short on details, Allenby could recollect having scored albatrosses twice before, but never in a setting with so much at stake.
While the 35-year-old agreed his holing out with a 244yd three-wood second at the par-5 seventh will be up there forever as a career highlight, he insisted it is the big picture that counts.
"The most important thing was just to put myself in position," Allenby said.
"I did a lot of good things out there today so I'm pretty happy with my performance."
Sim's day did not start well - he bogeyed the first and the third and when Allenby's albatross dropped, the West Australian had slipped five behind his playing partner.
But Sim worked his way back into it with a hat-trick of birdies at the sixth, seventh and eighth and began to believe that something special was happening when he dropped a 12 foot putt for eagle at the 607yd par-5 14th.
"I just hit the ball solid today, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and just gave myself a lot of opportunities," was Sim's simple summation of his round.
The stakes and the pressure will be ramped up when Sim and Allenby pair up again on Sunday for what Sim believes may develop into match-play.
"You've just got to stick to your game plan," he said.
"It's the first time for me in a final group and that's going to be different. There's going to be people out there supporting Robert because he's from Victoria and I've just got to stay in the moment, stay within each shot and if it happens, it happens."
Allenby said he was primed and ready for the contest.
"They all want to take me on, that's the nature of the beast," he said.
"I think it's awesome that Michael is playing so well. He will be a great player. I'm excited for him and looking forward to the challenge that he throws out."

Sim is 24. He emigrated with his parents from Aberdeen in the early 1990s, when he was seven years old, to Perth, Western Australia.

Two years ago, having won an event on the Nationwide Tour and earned promotion to the US PGA Tour, he was diagnosed with a lower back stress fracture and missed the opening months of the season. He lost his US Tour player's card, having played in only seven events.

+SCROLL DOWN FOR THE AUSSIE MASTERS THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

Australia, Spain level with

one round to go in China

Australia and Spain are neck and neck going into the final round of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup after a thrilling third day in China saw Richard Green and Brendan Jones draw level on 22 under par.
While Day Two belonged to Spain, after Miguel Angel Jiménez and Pablo Larrazabal’s breathtaking display in the foursomes, the third day of four-ball, better-ball honours went to Australia as Green and Jones combined for a nine under par 63 to catch the front-running Spanish pair.
Australia made the faster start as they immediately set about closing the four stroke lead held by Spain overnight, making three birdies in the first four holes against one by Spain. An eagle on the seventh, however, seemed to ignite the Spaniards and at the turn they were three in front. The three stroke margin remained intact until a dramatic change of fortunes on the 15th.
The last four holes of the Olazábal Course are notoriously tough and Spain, who had looked to be totally in control of the championship, bogeyed the par five 15th while Australia eagled when Jones holed from six feet. The three-shot swing put the two teams level and while Spain edged ahead with a birdie on the 16th, Australia moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on the last.
Jones holed the five footer on the final hole to match Spain’s 54 hole total and said: “I missed a little putt on the last hole yesterday, and I had the same sort of length putt today. I made up for it today. We feel a lot better now walking off the golf course with a birdie, as opposed to a bogey. It's a solid round of golf and we are right where we want to be.”
Both countries have won the World Cup title four times and are joint third in the list of all-time winners. A classic head-to-head contest over the final 18 holes lies ahead in the foursomes.
The final day reverts to foursomes as the teams compete for the honour of winning the 2008 Omega Mission Hills World Cup.


“Spain had an exceptional round of golf in that format on Friday,” said Green as he looked ahead to the final round. “But I guess in regards to Spain replicating that round of golf tomorrow, I personally doubt it. I think it's going to be a little bit tougher tomorrow, obviously a lot more pressure to win the tournament, and I think a good score tomorrow is going to be anything in the 60s.”

After the third round playing their own ball, the final day is back to alternate shots and teamwork will be vital.

Green said: “We both make decisions for the team. We both go out there and do as good as we can for Australia, and that's what it's all about, for both of us. We both feel very proud to represent Australia and no one stands above the other.”

Spain lit up the Omega Mission Hills World Cup on day two with their camaraderie and outstanding play and while the third day fell short of that expectation, they remain tied for the lead and right in the hunt.

“We had not as good of a round as the first round, with more mistakes today,” said Larrazabal. “But, we are still leading. So we know if we are playing like yesterday, we are going to win the tournament. ”

Jiménez added: “Like Pablo says, you know, the game today is not at the level of the first two days. We made a lot of mistakes. On the 15th we dropped a shot, and in this format, that's like killing yourself.

“But at the end, we are five under par for a total of 22 under, and we hope tomorrow to keep on the same level of the game that we have as yesterday and before yesterday and keep in contention. We are playing not as solid as the first two rounds, but still, we feel solid and strong enough.”

Sweden, the pre-tournament favourites, are four shots adrift on 18 under par after Robert Karlsson, The 2008 European Tour Number One, and Henrik Stenson, carded a 66, while Germany lie a further shot back on 17 under par following the 68 of Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka.

Ireland lie fifth on 15 under par going into the final 18 holes after shooting 66 while the United States team are level with Japan on 14 under par after rounds of 69 and 68 respectively.

Home heroes Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong finally came alive in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup, combining superbly for ten birdies as they carded a 64 to move off the bottom half of the leaderboard.

The 43 year old Zhang brilliantly produced a chip-in birdie on the demanding 18th hole to erase the bitter memories of their double bogey in Thursday’s opening fourball.

“Finally, we have a smile on our face. We were four under after five holes which was a great start. On 18, we were quite nervous on the tee after what happened on Thursday and then none of us hit the fairway.

“But I told Liang to not give up and to aim for a par. My lie was bad in the rough but luckily my chip shot found the hole. It was a great shot. Today’s performance made us feel like we were the best team in the world today,” said Zhang.

The final day reverts to foursomes as the teams compete for the honour of winning the 2008 Omega Mission Hills World Cup.

SCROLL DOWN FOR THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

World Cup Scoreboard
MISSION HILLS GOLF CLUB, CHINA
THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
194: SPAIN (Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pablo Larrazabal) 64-63-67, AUSTRALIA (Richard Green, Brendan Jones) 63-68-63
198: SWEDEN (Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson) 65-67-66
199: GERMANY (Martin Kaymer, Alex Cejka) 62-69-68
201: IRELAND (Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley) 65-68-68
202: JAPAN (Ryuji Imada, Toru Taniguchi) 66-68-68, UNITED STATES (Ben Curtis, Brandt Snedeker) 64-69-69
204: DENMARK (Soren Hansen, Anders Hansen) 65-75-64, PHILIPPINES (Angelo Que, Marciano Pucay) 67-72-65, CANADA (Graham Delaet, Wes Heffernan) 64-71-69
205: FRANCE (Gregory Havret , Gregory Bourdy) 68-75-62
206: ENGLAND (Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher) 69-74-63, THAILAND (Prayad Marksaeng, Thongchai Jaidee) 69-73-64
207: ITALY (Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari) 70-73-64, SOUTH AFRICA (Rory Sabbatini, Richard Sterne) 70-70-67, PORTUGAL (Tiago Cruz,Ricardo Santos) 67-73-67, FINLAND (Roope Kakko, Mikko Korhonen) 69-70-68
208: CHINA (Liang Wen-chong, Zhang Lian-wei) 69-75-64, NEW ZEALAND (Mark Brown, David Smail) 65-75-68
209: CHILE (Felipe Aguilar, Mark Tullo) 67-76-66, SCOTLAND (Alastair Forsyth, Colin Montgomerie) 68-73-68, INDIA (Jeev Mikha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa) 67-72-70, SOUTH KOREA (Bae Sang-moon, Kim Hyung-tae) 68-70-71
211: GUATEMALA (Pablo Acuna, Alejandro Villavicencio) 69-76-66
212: CHINESE TAIPEI (Lin Wen-tang, Lu Wen-teh) 68-75-69
214: WALES (Bradley Dredge, Richard Johnson) 69-77-68, MEXICO (Daniel De Leon, Osca Serna), 66-77-71
220: VENEZUELA (Miguel Martinez, Raul Sanz) 71-74-75

Note: Better-ball used in first and third rounds, foursomes in second and final rounds.

Australian Masters Scoreboard
HUNTINGDALE GC, Melbourne
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
206 Michael Sim (Aus) 72 66 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 66 67
208 Ashley Hall (Aus) 73 67 68
209 Steve Webster 71 68 70, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 68 70, Anthony Summers (Aus) 70 68 71
210 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 75 64 71, Nathan Green (Aus) 72 68 70, David Horsey 71 68 71
211 Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 69 71, Scott Hend (Aus) 67 73 71, Craig Scott (Aus) 72 72 67, Michael Wright (Aus) 69 70 72, Daniel Wardrop 69 71 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 73 67 71
212 Scott Laycock (Aus) 73 67 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 73 71 68, Jamie Donaldson 72 67 73, Peter Senior (Aus) 70 72 70, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 72 72 68
213 Steve Alker (Nzl) 75 68 70, Johan Skold (Swe) 72 68 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 70 71, Simon Griffiths 70 74 69, Adam Crawford (Aus) 71 71 71, Brad Lamb (Aus) 73 72 68, David McKenzie (Aus) 72 70 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 67 70 76
214 Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 70 73, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 70 72 72, Marcus Higley 72 71 71, Andre Stolz (Aus) 73 70 71, Phillip Archer 73 71 70, Michael Curtain (Aus) 72 71 71, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 71 71
215 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 77 68 70, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 74 71 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 71 70 74, Michael Long (Nzl) 72 71 72, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 74 70 71, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 72 70 73, Andrew Tschudin (Aus) 74 70 71
216 James H McLean (USA) 75 69 72, James Morrison 73 69 74, Martin Rominger (Swi) 76 68 72, Dale Marmion 76 69 71, Tony Carolan (Aus) 74 68 74, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 74 71 71, Craig Spence (Aus) 72 72 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 71 73
217 Aaron Black (Aus) 70 74 73, Lee Slattery 78 67 72, Rob Harris 72 72 73, Bradley Hughes (Aus) 72 71 74, Ryan Haller (Aus) 76 69 72, Scott Draper (Rsa) 73 71 73, Cameron Percy (Aus) 74 71 72
218 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 73 71 74, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 76 69 73, Ewan Porter (Aus) 70 71 77, Vernon Sexton-Finck (Aus) 70 74 74, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 74 71 73
219 Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 74 68 77, Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 75 70 74, Steve Jones (USA) 74 70 75
220 Anthony Brown (Aus) 69 76 75, Oliver Fisher 72 73 75
221 Scott Strange (Aus) 75 68 78
222 Tim Wise (Aus) 71 73 78
224 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 74 70 80

Argentina golf rained off on Friday

Heavy rain washed out Friday's round of the Juan Tailhade Cup international men's amateur tournament at Los Lagartos Country Club, Argentina.
There are four Scots in the field - Scott Borrowman (Dollar), Greg Paterson (St Andrews New), Philip McLean (Peterhead) and Mark Bookless (Sandyhills).