Kylie and Louise finish on a high but Scots come 18th of 20

Scotland's Kylie Walker and Louise Kenney put in a great last-day better-ball round of four-under-par 68 but Mark Bookless and Paul Shields could muster only another better-ball round of par 72, with one birdie between them, at The Spirit International amateur better-ball team title was won by the United States at Whispering Pines Golf Club, Trinity in Texas.
Scotland finished 18th of 20 in the combined totals. Kylie and Louise came a creditable joint ninth in the women's standings but Mark and Paul finished last of 20 in the men's table.
Study all the scores by switching over to our sister website, www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk

Sam Torrance’s Order of Merit hopes still alive

as he lies four shots off the lead in 5th place

By STEVE TODD, European Seniors Tour Press Officer
Sam Torrance’s hopes of winning the European Senior Tour Order of Merit remain alive after a one under par 71 in the second round of the OKI Castellόn Senior Tour Championship today.
The Ayrshire man needs to finish in at least the top four to edge past fellow former Ryder Cup- winning captain Ian Woosnam in the race for John Jacobs Trophy and he lies four shots behind leader Angel Franco in fifth place.
Woosnam carded a second consecutive round of 72 to finish the second day well down the field in a share of 30th place on level par.
That means Torrance, who is defending his title in Spain, will go into the final round with high hopes of winning the Order of Merit he captured in 2005 and 2006.
“I played the best I have done all season from tee to green but I couldn’t hole a thing,” said Torrance. “I missed five putts from inside five feet and ten from inside ten. I’ve still got a good chance tomorrow though, so we shall see what happens."
Paraguay’s Angel Franco will take a two stroke lead into the final round as he attempts to capture his maiden European Senior Tour title. Franco has finished runner up five times in his two years on the Senior Tour – including twice this season – but is in pole position to break his duck after a battling round of 70 in windy conditions at Club de Campo del Mediterráneo.
The big hitting 51 year old, whose opening round 64 was the lowest of his Senior Tour career, got off to a sluggish start, dropping two early shots after three-putting both the second and third holes before a birdie on the fourth.
He got into the red with further birdies on the eighth and ninth but dropped a shot on the 12th before finishing strongly with birdies on the 16th and 17th to move to ten under par, two strokes clear of Ireland’s Denis O’Sullivan who signed for a round of 68.
“It was a different course today as the wind made it difficult,” said Franco. “I putted badly as it was too windy and difficult but I fought to get a positive score. I had to concentrate a lot because of the wind.
“I’m feeling happy and relaxed but there’s one more day to go. I’m very excited about tomorrow. I’m trying to stop finishing second and I’m look forward to tomorrow’s round. I would love to have my first win at Victor Garcia’s golf course.”
O’Sullivan’s return to form with the putter continued as he carded six birdies in his second consecutive round of 68. The 61 year old, who is chasing his seventh Senior Tour victory and first since 2005, has changed his putting technique this week to use only his dominant eye when lining up.
“It’s obviously working for me unless it’s just in my head,” he said. “Putting is the part of the game I was good at when I first turned professional but it hasn’t been great of late so it’s nice to get it back.
“I probably won’t be able to putt as well when I’m under pressure tomorrow but if I can I’ll have a chance. It’s great to be contending again. When I first came on the Senior Tour I was in the final groups all the time but I haven’t been for a while so it feels good.”
American Mike Cunning, who began the season by winning The Aberdeen Brunei Senior Masters presented by The Stapleford Forum, is three shots off the pace on seven under par after carding the best round of the day – a superb 65 which included six birdies on the front nine.
Englishman Carl Mason, who is on five under par, and compatriot Glenn Ralph, who is a shot further back, are also still in contention to win the Order of Merit, which Woosnam will be hoping to retain.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
134 A Franco (Par) 64 70
136 D O'Sullivan (Ire) 68 68
137 M Cunning (USA) 72 65, M Harwood (Aus) 65 72
138 S Torrance (Sco) 67 71
139 B Longmuir (Sco) 71 68, C Mason (Eng) 68 71, G Brand (Eng) 69 70, J Bruner (USA) 67 72, J Quiros (Esp) 71 68
140 M Clayton (Aus) 70 70, G Ralph (Eng) 70 70, D Hospital (Esp) 71 69, J Rivero (Esp) 69 71, R Drummond (Sco) 66 74
141 J Chillas (Sco) 69 72, N Job (Eng) 70 71, B Cameron (Eng) 71 70
142 G Brand junior (Sco) 68 74, D Merriman (Aus) 73 69, R Chapman (Eng) 71 71, K Tomori (Jpn) 72 70, K Spurgeon (Eng) 73 69, C Rocca (Ita) 69 73, M Piñero (Esp) 70 72, C Williams (RSA) 72 70
143 D Smyth (Irl) 66 77, E Rodriguez (Esp) 72 71, G Cali (Ita) 74 69
144 L Carbonetti (Arg) 69 75, J Heggarty (NIr) 69 75, E Darcy (Irl) 72 72, P Mitchell (Eng) 69 75, I Woosnam (Wal) 72 72,
145 A Murray (Eng) 72 73, T Johnstone (Zim) 71 74,
146 D Cambridge (Jam) 76 70,
147 V Garcia (Esp) 76 71, J Bland (RSA) 69 78,
150 B Lincoln (RSA) 76 74, B Smit (RSA) 75 75,
157 G Hopkins (USA) 80 77,

England pair trail by nine in Simon Bolivar Cup

England's Billy Hemstock (Teignmouth) and James Robinson (Southport) are trailing by nine shots with one round to go in the Simon Bolivar Cup team stroke-play tournament over the Barquisimeto Golf Club Course in Venezuela.
Argentina's Leandro Marelli (220) and Tomas Cocha (210) lead with a 54-hole aggregate of 430 - four shots ahead of Peru.
England are joint fourth with Brazil. Hemstock has had rounds of 71, 71 and 73 for 215, while Robinson has scored 73, 76 and 75 for 224.
SCOREBOARD
430 ARGENTINA (Leandro Marelli 74 74 72: 220; Tomas Cocha 72 71 67: 210).
434 PERU.
435 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
439 BRAZIL, ENGLAND (Billy Hemstock 71 71 73: 215; James Robinson 73 76 75: 224).
446 COLOMBIA.
451 CHILE
453 SPAIN.
457 PANAMA.
459 VENEZUELA.
460 PARAGUAY.

Colin Montgomerie relaxes with a pyramid at Giza the distinctive backdrop.

Fourth-placed Montgomerie has

three to make up on leader Tiley

FROM ALAN EWENS, Egyptian Open Press Officer
Cairo: England’s Steven Tiley will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the $200,000 Egyptian Open after a third round 68 took him to nine under overall in the region’s oldest golf tournament.
The 27 year-old Georgia State University graduate was a late arrival from last week’s Singapore Open but heads the field from Germany’s Christoph Gunther and Swiss Andre Bossert on seven under par after both players carded 67.
“Playing here is a lot different from Singapore where I hardly got to use my wedge, which is one of my strengths,” said Tiley. “Here I’m allowed plenty of wedge shots, which meant I was able to play very nicely and post a good score. I’ll just aim to do the same again tomorrow and see where it takes me.”
While Tiley will play alongside Gunther and Bossert in the final group, they know they face a last day charge from European Ryder Cup skipper Colin Montgomerie whose 69 means he lies just three shots back and will go out looking to cut the deficit just ahead of the less experienced final three ball.
Monty’s card of four birdies was again spoiled by yet another bogey on the par-4 11th – the fourth shot the Scot has given up to the hole in three days. “I don’t know what it is about that hole – if I’d played it properly I’d be ahead by now,” smiled Montgomerie, the box office draw in a tournament sponsored by Citadel Capital, Drexel, Palm Hills, SODIC, BMi, Mercedes, AAIB and the Egyptian Tourism Authority.
“But overall I can’t complain. I played OK today but just couldn’t make a putt – in fact I don’t think any of us could. I think I’ll need around a 66 tomorrow but more than anything I’m interested to see how the European Challenge Tour players handle events like this. It’s a tough job they do.”
While Monty continues to focus on landing his first title in two years, overnight leaders Carl Suneson and Thorbjorn Olesen saw their chances suffer a setback. Suneson found little joy with his putter shooting a 75 to drop into a tie for eleventh place, while Olesen produced a level par 72 and holds joint fourth on six under with Montgomerie and colourful Austrian Thomas Feyrsinger.
It was Feyrsinger who led for most of the day thanks to a birdie blitz that saw him five under for the first six holes. Unfortunately, bogeys on eight and ten were followed by a double bogey on 17 to leave him with a round of two under par 70.
On a day when the wind dropped and conditions were ideal over the JW Marriott Mirage City Golf Club, the best round of the day was a six under par 66 from Norwegian Christian Aronsen, while England’s Jamie Moul retired after feeling unwell to leave just 59 players left in the field going into the fourth and final day.
THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par 216 (3x72)

207 Steven Tiley (England) 69 70 68.

209 Christoph Gunter (Germany) 70 72 67, Andre Bossert (Austria) 69 73 67.

210 Colin Montgomerie (Scotland) 69 72 69, Thomas Feyrsinger (Austria) 69 71 70, Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 68 70 72.

211 Calle Carlsson (Sweden) 66 73 72.

212 Jaco Von Zyl (South Africa) 70 73 69, Julien Grillon (France) 66 74 72, Richard Kilpatrick (Northern Ireland) 70 73 69.

213 David Griffiths (England) 71 71 71, Leif Westerberg (Sweden) 70 72 71, Carl Suneson (Spain) 65 73 75, George Murray (Scotland) 70 71 72.

214 Andrew Marshall (England) 67 77 70, Joel Sjoholm (Sweden) 68 74 72, Steve Surry (England) 69 72 73, Ross Bain (Scotland) 70 75 69, Jan-Are Larsen (Norway) 70 70 74.

215 Sandeep Grewal (England) 73 74 69, Craig Smith (Wales) 70 74 71, Gareth Shaw (Northern Ireland) 74 72 69, Peter Kaensche (Norway) 73 72 70, Alexandre Kaleka (France) 72 73 70.

Selected scores:

216 Kyron Sullivan (Wales) 66 73 71, Rob Harris (England) 72 72 72 (jt 27th).

218 Philip Golding (England) 69 79 780, Ian Keenan (England) 71 71 76, Simon Dunn (Scotland) 71 74 73, Dale Marmion (England) 71 73 74 (jt 33rd).

219 Andrew Butterfield (England) 74 73 72 (jt 37th).

220 Scott Jamieson (Scotland) 70 79 71 (jt 42nd).

221 Lee Corfield (England) 78 75 69 (jt 58th).

222 Matthew Mills (England) 70 79 73, Ally Mellor (England) 74 75 73 (jt 44th).

223 Ben Evans (England) 73 77 73, Daniel Wardrop (England) 74 74 75 (jt 51st).
227 Steven Wilson (Wales) 79 74 74, Matthew Dearden (Wales) 75 77 75 (jt 54th).

Retired: Jamie Moul (England) 69 73 -.

Phil Mickelson takes over lead in Shanghai,

two ahead of Woods, Watney after Round 3

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS WEBSITE
Former champion Phil Mickelson takes a two stroke lead over world number one Tiger Woods and fellow American Nick Watney into the final round of the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions after carding a five-under-par 67 in Shanghai.
World number two Mickelson shipped just his second bogey of the week as he added to Friday's flawless 66 as the 2007 champion progressed to 14-under-par overall.
Two-time runner-up Woods followed up back-to-back rounds of 67 with a battling two-under 70, while Watney sank mammoth eagle putt at the last to sign for the same third-round score.
=======================

Click on links below for more golf news
Lee takes joint lead
Maruyama closes in
Bo on song
Kim spurns Dubai riches
European Tour's official website

=======================
Ryan Moore continued the American domination as back-to-back birdies sealed a round of 70 to improve to 11 under, with Race to Dubai leader Lee Westwood, who lost in a play-off to Mickelson two years ago, in the hunt a further shot off the pace after a sparkling seven-under-par 65.
Westwood had progressed quietly through the first two days in Shanghai with rounds of 70 and 71, but made his mark with a flawless five-under-par 31 front nine.
He sandwiched his only bogey of the day at the 15th between two further gains.
And, after a birdie putt agonisingly lipped out on 17, a mammoth drive down the final fairway led to an eighth birdie of the day.
"I didn't really make a a big improvement, I just sank a few more putts. I felt like I was lacking a bit of rhythm with my stroke for the first couple of days," he said.
"I tried to free it up and putt with a bit more rhythm and let the putter flow and I rolled a few in and made a couple of four or five footers to keep the momentum going."

ALL THE THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
202 Phil Mickelson (USA) 69 66 67
204 Nick Watney (USA) 64 70 70, Tiger Woods (USA) 67 67 70
205 Ryan Moore (USA) 66 69 70
206 Lee Westwood 70 71 65
208 Anthony Kim (USA) 67 69 72, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 68 70 70
209 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 72 67 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 71 68, Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe) 67 72 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 74 69
210 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 67 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 71 68, Brian Gay (USA) 69 69 72, Paul Casey 67 73 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 69 70
211 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 70 69 72, Rory McIlroy 73 68 70, Shane Lowry 66 74 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 74 65, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 66 76
212 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72 71, Pat Perez (USA) 68 69 75, Ross Fisher 70 70 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 71 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 69 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 69 73, Matt Kuchar (USA) 68 72 72
213 Jason Dufner (USA) 69 71 73, Simon Dyson 72 69 72
214 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 75 70 69
215 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 72 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 71 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 70 70 75, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 71 74 70, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 72 69 74, Padraig Harrington 74 69 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 72 74
216 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 72 75, Oliver Wilson 71 72 73, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 74 71
217 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 69 72 76, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 73 73 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 72 74
218 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 74 68 76, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 72 71 75, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 73 73 72
219 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 72 75, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 74 73, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 73 73 73, Martin Laird 72 74 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 74 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 73 72
220 Jerry Kelly (USA) 71 75 74, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 81 69 70, Ian Poulter 72 69 79, Stewart Cink (USA) 71 74 75, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 71 74 75, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 75 68 77
221 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 77 71, Danny Lee (Nzl) 74 71 76, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 76 72 73, Steve Marino (USA) 77 70 74, Sean O'Hair (USA) 74 71 76, C Muniyappa (Ind) 74 69 78
222 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 74 74 74
223 Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 73 70 80
224 Nick Dougherty 68 80 76, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 77 71 76
225 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 78 73
226 Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 76 76, Mark Murless (Rsa) 71 76 79, Thomas Levet (Fra) 77 77 72
227 Anthony Kang (USA) 75 76 76, Wei-Huang Wu (Chn) 74 78 75
228 Nathan Green (Aus) 79 77 72, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 78 76 74, Ashun Wu (Chn) 74 71 83