Rock (65) disqualified for wrong-score blunder at Irish Open

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
England's Robert Rock, the player who lost a play-off to local amateur Shane Lowry last year, opened the 3 Irish Open with a six-under-par 65 at Killarney on Thursday - and then was disqualified for signing for a wrong score.
Rock, seventh in The Open two weeks ago, did not spot that his card had him down for a par on the 14th and birdie at the next instead of the other way around.
Hoping to win the £415,000 first prize for a second successive time - Lowry was unable to claim the money - the 33-year-old said: "It's my fault. I checked it, but didn't see it and it's my job to do that."
He added: "I don't think I've been disqualified for anything before. I'd have preferred it to be after an 80!"

Howell's back - with a seven-under-par 64 at Killarney

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Former Ryder Cup star David Howell's determination not to let his career sink without trace finally paid rich dividends in the 3 Irish Open at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.
Down at 479th in the world - he was ninth four years ago - Howell emerged from the wilderness with a seven under par 64 in the first round.
"I've never wanted to give up, but it's crossed my mind that if I carry on playing as I did last year I wouldn't have a career to be worried about," said the 35 year old.
Five birdies and then an eagle on the 519 yard 16th lifted Howell into a one stroke lead over Ireland's Damien McGrane and Australian left hander Richard Green.
Last year's runner up Robert Rock - he actually took the first prize of over £400,000 because the winner was amateur Shane Lowry - also handed in a 65, but was then disqualified for a scorecard mix up.
McGrane out scored his illustrious compatriots Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell by three and five shots respectively, while Darren Clarke, Michael Hoey and Paul Lawrie shot 66, and Rory McIlroy 67.
Howell, who did not drop a shot today, said: "That was nice. Haven't done that for a long time but I holed a few bombs today.
"I chipped in and I think I holed three long ones as well. As it happens, I had a few more chances that I missed but I certainly holed more than my fair share, which in fairness you normally do when you shoot 64."
Having played his best round this year, he added: "I just haven't got off to a good start all year.
"Obviously I've not been playing well, or as well as I know I can, but my form has not been that bad
"But it's pretty hard to make cuts out here when you shoot 73 in the first round, puts added pressure, and I've been dying to get off to a nice start. That fidaynally happened to."
Green, who went out in 33 and came back in 32 like McGrane, said: "I felt very comfortable when I first saw the course on Tuesday and practised and played very nicely.
"I thought this is a nice old golf course for a change that's a little bit old school. I felt very comfortable out there. I played very nicely today.
"I'm not known as one of the longer hitters out on tour, and when you get a golf course that feels like the sort of golf course that I grew up on, length wise, putting surfaces, it's nice.
"It's nice to play a golf course like that again."
McGrane, who naturally hopes to pick up where Lowry left off last year, added: "I smothered a few tee shots today which is unlike me but that's golf.
"Nothing is ever...it's never 100 per cent all the way around. But I made pars when I was struggling and I picked off the board slowly and surely and that's golf and exactly what I've done."
With talk of a possible 59 - something never achieved on The European Tour - the course held up well given that there was no more than a breeze.
Clarke, continuing a recent revival, said: "I was wrong in my initial assessment.
"This morning it would have been impossible to get Killarney playing any easier. Yes the guys will get more familiar with it, but there's so many places that they can put the pins that we just can't get at."
McIlroy, at eighth in the world the highest-ranked player on view, made eight birdies, but also threw in four bogeys.
Harrington did not drop a shot, but admitted his keenness to end almost two years without a win is making him more tense than he would like to be.
"Sometimes you find it very hard to win and then all of a sudden the floodgates open."
He should know - his first major title in 2007 was quickly followed by two more.
McDowell, hoping for the same thing after capturing The US Open last month, stated: "I just need to sharpen up across the board. I said someone would go super low, but you can defend this course by hiding the pins."
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 71
64 David Howell
65 Damien McGrane, Richard Green (Aus)
66 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Anton Haig (Rsa), Marcel Siem (Ger), Darren Clarke, Brett Rumford (Aus), Paul Lawrie, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Michael Hoey
67 Martin Wiegele (Aut), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Anders Hansen (Den), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Johan Edfors (Swe), Danny Lee (Nzl), David Drysdale, Rory McIlroy, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Mark F Haastrup (Den), David Dixon
68 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Steven O'Hara, Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington, Paul Broadhurst, Simon Khan
69 Barrie Trainor, John Parry, Ross Fisher, Robert Coles, Anthony Kang (USA), Marc Warren, Alastair Forsyth, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Markus Brier (Aut), Richard Bland, Christian Nilsson (Swe), Richard McEvoy, Sam Hutsby, Ariel Canete (Arg), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Mark Foster, Peter O'Malley (Aus)
70 Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Graeme McDowell, Peter Whiteford, Sion E Bebb, Phillip Price, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Simon Dyson, George Coetzee (Rsa), Graeme Storm, Stephen Gallacher, Richard Finch, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Bradley Dredge
71 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Peter Baker, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Simon Thornton, Marcus Fraser (Aus), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Richie Ramsay, Chris Wood, Gareth Maybin, Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Julien Quesne (Fra), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Marco Ruiz (Par), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Phillip Archer
72 Alan Dunbar, Andrew Butterfield, Andrew Tampion (Aus), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Peter Lawrie, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Anthony Wall, Damian Mooney, Gary Boyd, Oskar Henningsson (Swe), David Higgins, Sam Little, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Gregory Havret (Fra), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Steve Webster, Michael Campbell (Nzl), David Horsey, Scott Strange (Aus), Rhys Davies, Mark Brown (Nzl), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Jamie Donaldson, Tano Goya (Arg), James Kamte (Rsa)
73 David Carter, Colm Moriarty, Nick Dougherty, Cian Curley, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), David Lynn, Paul Cutler, Pablo Martin (Spa), Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Ross McGowan
74 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Joost Luiten (Ned), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Daniel Sugrue, Oliver Fisher, Jamie Elson, Carl Suneson (Spa), Justin Rose, Stephen Dodd, Shane Lowry
75 Peter Martin (Aus), Gary Murphy, David Ryan (Rsa), Paul Waring, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Barry Lane, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), James Morrison
76 Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Rafael Echenique (Arg)
77 Gary Lockerbie, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), John Kelly (USA), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Kenneth Ferrie, Gary David Cullen
78 Chris Gane, Pat Murray, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por)
79 Michael Collins, Philip Walton, Andrew Coltart
DQ: Robert Rock 65