US PGA Tour Scoreboard
VERIZON HERITAGE
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
THIRD ROUND LEADERS
Par 213 (3 x 71)
200 Brian Gay 67 66 67.
203 Tim Wilkinson 71 67 65.
204 Lee Janzen 65 70 69.
205 Todd Hamilton 68 66 71.
206 Briny Baird 69 72 65, Davis Love 70 67 69.
207 Tom Lehman 70 69 68, Tim Petrovic 68 70 69, Alex Cejka 64 71 72.
208 Luke Donald 73 70 65, Jose Coceres 74 67 67, Bob Estes 68 71 69.
Selected score:
212 Paul Casey 73 70 69.

US Nationwide Tour Scoreboard
ATHENS REGIONAL FOUNDATON CLASSIC
Athens, Georgia
THIRD ROUND LEADERS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
204 Bob Burns 74 63 67.
206 Rich Barcelo 66 73 67, Patrick Sheehan 66 69 71.
207 Cameron Percy 69 72 66, Skip Kendall 68 70 69.
Selected score:
211 Michael Sim 68 71 72 (jt 19th).

Death of highly respected Irish

golf writer Jack McGowan (79)

FROM THE IRISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
The death has occurred of Jack Magowan (79), the highly respected golf journalist who spent more than 50 years covering golf for many publications, most notably The Belfast Telegraph where he still had a weekly column.
During his lengthy career, Jack would be found at every type of sports event, from the North of Ireland Amateur Championship to the International arena where he covered sports such as boxing and swimming.
“Jack was a gentleman and his approach to journalism was of the highest order. He will be missed by everyone in The Golfing Union of Ireland. Our thoughts are with his family at this time” said Seamus Smith, General Secretary of The Golfing Union of Ireland.
One of Jack’s main interests was Golf, and in an interview with UTV Sport recently, he had this to say about Ireland’s latest golfing sensation, Rory McIlroy:
"The lad's manners and modesty have impressed everyone who has ever met him," he says. "He's from a very good family. His dad was a scratch golfer and a man who has never run about shouting about his son. His mum, meanwhile, just says she hopes he remains 'a nice boy'. I doubt there is a problem. He's never been an ego-strutting, look-at-me kind of player and I don't think he'll ever try to rise above his station."
WATCHING RORY'S PROGRESS
Magowan was there when Rory was eight years old and already hitting the ball arrow straight off the tee and almost 200 yards. He was there when the kid appeared on Ulster TV and reprised his washing machine trick. And he was close by a few years ago when a whippet-thin McIlroy ripped it round the fabled links of Royal Portrush in an extraordinary 61 blows, 11 under par.
"He gives the ball a tremendous belt," says Magowan. "He has a syrupy swing, he's very elastic and his method is very, very sound. Whether he will still be able to belt it like he now does in 10 years' time is another thing, but, for now, he is very Seve-like. I used to play with guys like Harry Bradshaw and Fred Daly, but the man he reminds me most of is Christie O'Connor senior. Rory has the same sort of magical short game as 'Himself'.
"He's certainly the best Irish ­teenage golfer I've ever seen. Padraig Harrington? Well, Padraig wouldn't have compared to him at the same age. I mean Rory was off plus-4 when he was 16. That's some going. And I have to keep reminding myself how young he still is. I was up at his club, Holywood, talking to him after he won in Dubai this year and I could sense him starting to get edgy. So I asked him what was the matter and he said, 'I am sorry Jack but I have to go to pick my girlfriend up from school.' Now here he is about to play his first Masters."
Unfortunately Jack didn’t get to see Rory in the Masters – his death coming as McIlroy teed it up at Augusta.

European Challenge Tour report

Gary Boyd maintains ‘United’

front in Tusker Kenya Open

Gary Boyd maintained his stranglehold on the Challenge Tour’s Tusker Kenya Open and revealed victory, plus a Manchester United triumph in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton, would give him the ultimate weekend sporting high.
Saturday is traditionally known as ‘Moving Day’ in golfing parlance but the exact opposite was the case at the Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi amongst the main protagonists as the 22 year old Old Trafford fanatic began the day with a five shot lead and ended it in exactly the same position.
A rollercoaster round of level par 71 gave the Englishman an 11 under par aggregate of 202 with his nearest challenger – in the second event of the 2009 Challenge Tour season – being his fellow countryman Andrew Butterfield, who posted a one under par 70 for 207.
Three players – South Africa’s David Hewan, France’s Victor Riu and Carl Suneson of Spain – shared third on five under par 208, but the day, as the majority of the week has been, belonged to Boyd.
“This is my first Challenge Tour event of the season and it would be superb to get off to the best possible start with a victory,” he said. “I plan to play as much as possible on the Challenge Tour this year and try to graduate to The European Tour that way.
“I got off to a good start in my first year on the Challenge Tour last year but I couldn’t capitalise on it. Maybe I lost a bit of confidence along the way but it felt like I had to take almost a step back to take a step forward. But now I feel I’m definitely moving in the right direction.”
Three-putt bogeys at the second and third holes were eased by a good spell around the turn where he birdied three holes out of five from the seventh and although he dropped another shot at the 15th, he finished in style, getting up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the par five 18th.
Should he continue in a similar vein, he will be a difficult man for the rest of the field to catch and Boyd admitted he had already dreamt about how he would like to spend Sunday night.
“I’ve had a look at the timings and because we’re two hours ahead of the UK here in Kenya, the United semi will kick-off at 6pm our time,” he said. “It would be lovely to sit down with a beer in my hand to watch that with the Kenya Open trophy beside me.
“However, I won’t be taking anything for granted. There are still 18 holes to go and anything can happen out here especially if the conditions are the same as today because the blustery wind made it quite tricky at times. But I will be giving it my best shot.”
Over the winter, Boyd spent some time working with his good friend Ian Poulter in America and with the European Ryder Cup star being a fervent Arsenal supporter, Boyd admitted there would be a good deal of banter flying back and forth between the pair over the next couple of days with Arsenal facing Chelsea in the other FA Cup semi-final.
“You never know, if we both Arsenal and United make it through, maybe Ian will treat me to a ticket for the final,” he said.
SCROLL DOWN FOR THIRD-ROUND SCOREBOARD

European Challenge Tour Scoreboard
TUSKER KENYA OPEN
Muthaiga Golf Club, Nairobi
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3 x 71)
202 G Boyd (Eng) 67 64 71,
207 A Butterfield (Eng) 67 70 70,
208 D Hewan (RSA) 70 66 72, C Suneson (Esp) 69 67 72, V Riu (Fra) 69 71 68,
209 L James (Eng) 70 68 71, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 71 67 71,
210 P Golding (Eng) 74 70 66, S Juul (Den) 66 71 73, O Floren (Swe) 71 73 66,
211 R McEvoy (Eng) 70 71 70, M Bremner (RSA) 69 73 69, E Molinari (Ita) 71 71 69, F Calmels (Fra) 71 74 66, J Grillon (Fra) 70 71 70, R Gonzalez (Arg) 72 71 68, J Forestier (Fra) 72 70 69,
212 M Kramer (Ger) 68 69 75, J Quesne (Fra) 71 71 70, A Willey (Eng) 73 70 69, A Marshall (Eng) 67 72 73, R Coles (Eng) 69 72 71, P Gustafsson (Swe) 68 76 68, M Rominger (Sui) 67 74 71, A Mellor (Eng) 73 72 67, C Gane (Eng) 73 70 69,
213 A Haindl (RSA) 72 72 69, M Wiegele (Aut) 70 73 70, A Shah (Ken) 70 73 70,
214 G Houston (Wal) 71 68 75, M Haastrup (Den) 70 70 74, K Brink (Swe) 74 71 69, J Morrison (Eng) 72 72 70, G Jackson (Eng) 68 74 72, K Jorgensen (Den) 73 69 72, J Axgren (Swe) 71 71 72, T Feyrsinger (Aut) 70 73 71, C Brazillier (Fra) 71 69 74,
215 B Vaughan (RSA) 73 69 73, L Moolman (RSA) 68 72 75, J Larsen (Nor) 71 71 73, A Wagner (Arg) 69 69 77,
216 T Charamba (Zim) 71 71 74, A Odoh (Ngr) 71 70 75, S Walker (Eng) 74 71 71, G Shaw (Nir) 71 73 72, T Cruz (Por) 75 69 72, R Cairns (Zim) 72 73 71, J Billot (Fra) 72 70 74, B Miarka (Ger) 75 69 72,
217 T Ferreira (RSA) 71 71 75, B Taylor (Eng) 73 71 73,
218 N Cheetham (Eng) 73 71 74, M Tullo (Chi) 72 73 73, G Hutcheon (Sco) 70 71 77, A Bruschi (Ita) 76 69 73,
219 J Kiondo (Ken) 75 70 74, J Sköld (Swe) 68 76 75, L Bond (Wal) 69 76 74,
220 I Pyman (Eng) 71 73 76,
221 A Murray (Irl) 69 73 79,
222 A Bernadet (Fra) 70 70 82,
223 A McArthur (Sco) 69 76 78,
227 P O'Keeffe (Irl) 70 74 83,

Finch's six-birdie burst gives

him China Open lead by one

Richard Finch birdied six holes in a row around the turn en route to a third round 66 which gave the Englishman a one shot lead over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño going into the final round of the Volvo China Open at Beijing CBD International Golf Club.
Finch was on 208, the Spaniard 209 with Markus Brier and Ashley Hall - who set a course record 65 today - sharing third place on 211.
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, who had an altercation with a professional course photographer during his second round, moved up to joint 15th position with a 70 for 216 - eight shots behind the leader. On the same mark is Anglo-Scot Scott Drummond after a 71.
Andrew Coltart, the third of only three Scottish entries (all of whom survived the halfway cut), had a 72 for 218.
Montgomerie later tried to explain away his latest outbursts as a result of some people's lack of understanding about golf etiquette.
While on his way to a 73 in his Friday round, Monty yelled at a photographer who was taking photos during his swing. He later told a TV cameraman in his line of sight to move, shouting: "Don't film me" as he searched for his ball.
Montgomerie told BBC Radio 5 on Saturday that China "is an emerging nation golf-wise."
He says sometimes the Chinese, Koreans and Thais and emerging countries in the Far East tend not to understand or appreciate the etiquette of the game.
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
208 Richard Finch 71 71 66
209 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 70 68
211 Markus Brier (Aut) 67 73 71, Ashley Hall (Aus) 75 71 65
212 David Dixon 72 73 67, Scott Strange (Aus) 70 73 69, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 71 72, Simon Dyson 69 73 70
213 David McKenzie (Aus) 68 74 71, Ho-sung Choi (Kor) 70 68 75, Mark Brown (USA) 71 77 65, Graeme Storm 72 71 70
214 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 73 71 70
215 Stephen Dodd 74 71 70
216 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 72 72 72, David Gleeson (Aus) 74 73 69, Colin Montgomerie 73 73 70, Gareth Maybin 76 70 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 73 71, Scott Drummond 75 70 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 75 71, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 74 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 71 72, Paul McGinley 74 67 75
217 Ki joon Song (Aus) 71 75 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 73 73 71, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 73 72, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 74 69 74, Miles Tunnicliff 74 74 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 74 73 70
218 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 77 70, Craig Scott (Aus) 71 74 73, Nick Dougherty 68 79 71, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70 74 74, Simon Wakefield 76 69 73, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 72 72
219 Richard Bland 76 71 72, Won-Kyoung Heo (Kor) 72 72 75, Chris Wood 72 74 73, Andrew Coltart 74 73 72, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 75 72, Kyung-nam Kang (Kor) 76 70 73, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 74 72 73, Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 77 72, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 76 70 73, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 72 73 74, Pablo Martin (Spa) 75 73 71
220 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 72 75, Chris Gaunt (Aus) 74 74 72, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 74 74 72, Kyong-jun Moon (Kor) 73 74 73, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 73 75 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 72 74, A-Shun Wu (Chn) 74 72 74, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 73 73 74, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 75 74
221 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 73 75, Paul Waring 72 76 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 76 70 75, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 74 76, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 72 75, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 75 73 73
222 Wil Besseling (Ned) 72 76 74, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 76 71 75, Michael Long (Nzl) 73 75 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 75 71 76, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 72 74 76, Jae Hoon Jung (Kor) 75 71 76
224 Damien McGrane 72 74 78, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 76 71 77
225 Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 73 74 78
227 Wi-joong Kim (Kor) 75 72 80
234 Jun Zhou (Chn) 76 72 86

Michael Sim sharing seventh place in US

Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim is in joint seventh place at the halfway stage of the US Nationwide Tour event, the $550,000 Athens Regional Foundation Classic at Athens, Georgia.
Sims, who leads the tour's money table after winning a tournament the week before last, has had rounds of 68 and 71 for 139.
Patrick Sheehan (US) leads on 135 with scores of 66 and 69, two shots ahead of compatriot Bob Burns with 74 and 63.

Martin Laird misses US cut but eight strokes

Brian Gay leads at halfway in

Verizon Heritage tournament

American Brian Gay charged into the halfway lead at the Verizon Heritage as former Open champion Todd Hamilton made a timely return to form.
Gay shot a five-under-par 66 at Harbour Town Golf Links thanks to six birdies on the front nine that got him out in 30. A bogey at the 11th was the only blemish as Gay fell back to nine under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of fellow American Hamilton.
Hamilton had scored his first top-20 finish of the campaign last week with a tie for 15th at The Masters having made the cut for only the third time in 10 starts in the final season of his five-year exemption on the US PGA Tour for winning the 2004 Open at Troon.
One shot further back at seven under is Germany's Alex Cejka, who posted a level-par 71 having shot an opening 64 on Thursday to secure the first-round lead, and American Lee Janzen, who carded a 70.
Rod Pampling of Australia posted a 68 for the second day in a row to reach midway at six under and in fifth place while former US PGA champion Davis Love III was on five under following a 67.
Rory Sabbatini of South Africa was in the clubhouse with a 68 that took him to four under in a five-man group.
Spanish veteran Jose Maria Olazabal opened with a three-under 68 and the two-time Masters champion followed that with a second-round 71 to stay at three under at the halfway mark in a group including Tom Lehman and Ernie Els, who also hit a 71.
Els' South African compatriot Trevor Immelman slipped down the leaderboard with 74 having shot a 66 on day one and will resume on Saturday at two under, as will England's Greg Owen, who shot a 71 and Jeev Milkha Singh of India.
English duo Paul Casey and Luke Donald both carded 70s to move to one over while Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy undid a good round with a double bogey at the par-four 18th that sent him down to one over with a 71.
SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 142 (2 x 71)
133 Brian Gay 67 66
134 Todd Hamilton 68 66
135 Lee Janzen 65 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 64 71
136 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 68 68
137 Davis Love III 70 67
138 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 68, Tim Petrovic 68 70, Ted Purdy 67 71, Scott Verplank 72 66, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 67, Tommy Armour III 70 68
139 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 71, Bob Estes 68 71, Charley Hoffman 70 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 71, Ken Duke 69 70, Tom Lehman 70 69, Scott Piercy 69 70, Tommy Gainey 71 68
140 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 66 74, Shaun Micheel 72 68, Heath Slocum 72 68, Greg Owen (Eng) 69 71, Matt Weibring 70 70
141 Aron Price (Aus) 68 73, Zach Johnson 70 71, Matt Kuchar 71 70, Mark Wilson 72 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 71 70, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 71, Jose Coceres (Arg) 74 67, Boo Weekley 69 72, Briny Baird 69 72
142 Brad Adamonis 74 68, Bill Lunde 73 69, Colt Knost 74 68, Lucas Glover 74 68, Chris Couch 73 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 68 74, Stewart Cink 72 70, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 70, Ben Crane 73 69, George McNeill 71 71, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 70
143 Vaughn Taylor 71 72, Woody Austin 70 73, Charles Howell III 69 74, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 72 71, Justin Leonard 70 73, Dean Wilson 69 74, Bo Van Pelt 73 70, Jason Dufner 70 73, Chris DiMarco 72 71, Cliff Kresge 68 75, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 71, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 75 68, Paul Casey (Eng) 73 70, Jeff Maggert 68 75, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 73 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 73 70, Jonathan Byrd 70 73
144 Spencer Levin 72 72, Brendon De Jonge 72 72, Michael Letzig 73 71, Robert Garrigus 70 74, Steve Lowery 73 71, Greg Kraft 72 72, Will MacKenzie 73 71, Joe Durant 73 71, Michael Allen 72 72, Steve Marino 71 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 76 68, Brett Quigley 72 72, Glen Day 71 73, Nicholas Thompson 73 71
MISSED THE CUT
145 Dudley Hart 73 72, Tim Herron 73 72, Eric Axley 73 72, John Senden (Aus) 74 71, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 74, Webb Simpson 71 74, Bob Tway 72 73, Jeff Klauk 72 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 72, Bill Haas 68 77, Jim Furyk 74 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 73 72
146 Kevin Na 70 76, Brian Davis (Eng) 72 74, Michael Bradley 76 70, Cameron Beckman 76 70, Corey Pavin 72 74, Brandt Snedeker 70 76, Troy Matteson 76 70, John Mallinger 70 76, Matt Bettencourt 75 71
147 Charles Warren 73 74, Mark Brooks 75 72, Steve Flesch 77 70, Billy Mayfair 77 70, Tom Pernice Jnr. 78 69, Chez Reavie 74 73, Brian Bateman 73 74, Dustin Johnson 71 76, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 76, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 73 74
148 Brad Faxon 77 71, Chris Stroud 73 75, Jeff Quinney 73 75, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 76 72, Marc Turnesa 78 70, James Driscoll 73 75
149 Kirk Triplett 71 78, Ryan Palmer 73 76, Kevin Streelman 71 78
150 Mark Anderson 74 76, Fred Funk 77 73, D.J. Trahan 71 79
151 James Nitties (Aus) 74 77, Jason Bohn 78 73
152 Billy Andrade 74 78, Kent Jones 74 78
153 John Rollins 80 73, Martin Laird (Sco) 77 76
155 Parker McLachlin 80 75
156 Cory Schneider 79 77