TIGER AND STEINBERG TOO COSTLY A DUO FOR I M G TO KEEP

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE

By JEFF RITTER

Tiger Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, split with IMG last week, and details of the fall-out are slowly trickling out. The latest news describes the revenue IMG lost after several of Woods' big-money sponsors bailed in the aftermath of Tiger's sex scandals. 
Steve Elling of CBS Sports cites a Sports Business Journal report, and concludes that that Tiger-Steinberg duo were simply too pricey for the agency to keep around.

In a scenario that some had posed last week, potentially casting aside Tiger Woods as a client won't exactly take a heavy toll at IMG, the sports-management giant that has represented the fading former No. 1 since he turned pro in 1996.

Woods and his agent apparently were too expensive to keep.

According to a report in Sports Business Journal, the income generated by Woods for IMG had fallen to $1.1 million in 2010, after the sex scandal had hit, and that wasn't nearly enough to offset the contract and annnual bonuses of his longtime agent, Mark Steinberg.

Steinberg's contract was up for renewal and last week, but IMG severed ties rather than renew.

IMG agreed to a reduced percentage with Woods on his endorsement earnings, and as his deals disappeared in the wake of his scandal and lacklustre play, the income dollars dwindled. 

The source cited in the SBJ report stated that IMG cleared $7.8 million on Woods' endorsement earnings in 2007 but that the number cratered after the scandals hit and he lost rich deals with Gatorade, AT and T, Accenture and others.

The source told SBJ that Steinberg "would have made about $3 million this year in salary and bonuses, significantly more than the fees Woods would have generated."

Woods still hasn't commented on whether he will remain with Steinberg

ONLY FOUR SCOTS SURVIVE CUT IN EUROPRO TOUR EVENT

Only four Scots survived the 36-hole cut in this week's PGA EuroPro Tour event over the New Course at Burhill Golf Club, Surrey today. Ellon's Ross Cameron and Stephen Gray (Hayston), in the top three positions overnight, sagged in the heat of the second round. Cameron added a four-over-par 76 to his opening 67 and is joint 10th on 132, six shots behind new leader Stuart Archibald (68-69). Cameron had an eagle 3 at the second and a birdie at the 17th but too many unforced errors - bogeys at almost every second hole - knocked him back. Gray slipped back to a share of 34th place on 146, following a 68 with a 78 which included a triple bogey 8 at the long fifth. The other Scots still in the tournament are Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey) and Scott Henry (The Carrick on Loch Lomond). Stewart slashed six shots off his first round with a 69 for level par 144 and a share of 18th place. The Highlander had six birdies in all. Henry has moved up to joint 26th, thanks to a 69, which included an eagle 3 at the 13th, for 145. On the wrong side of the cut at 147 were Martin Lawrence (Newmachar) on 149 (76-73), Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel) on 151 (77-74), Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw) on 152 (74-78), Steven Mackie (Dunnikier Park), also on 152 (80-72), Ed Wood (Crow Wood) on 153 (76-77), Lee Harper (Archerfield Links) on 157 (79-79), Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie) on 159 (80-79) and Ian Redford (St Andrews New) on 162 (80-82). SECOND-ROUND TOTALS  Par 144 (2x72) 137 Stuart Archibald (Eng) 68 69. 138 Billy Fowles (Wentworth) 67 71, Graeme Clark (Doncaster) 71 67. 141 Daniel Wardrop (Didsbury) 71 76. Scots' scores 143 Ross Cameron (McDonald Ellon) 67 76 (T10). 144 Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey) 75 69 (T18). 145 Scott Henry (The Carrick on Loch Lomond) 76 69 (T26). 146 Stephen Gray (Hayston) 68 78 (T34). MISSED THE CUT (147 or better qualified) 149 Martin Lawrence (Newmachar) 76 73. 151 Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel) 77 74. 152 Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw) 74 78, Steven Mackie (Dunnikier Park) 80 72. 157 Lee Harper (Archerfield Links) 79 78. 159 Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie) 80 79. 162 Ian Redford (St Andrews New) 80 82. +No second-round score listed on EuroPro Tour website for Zack Saltman who had an 81 in the first round.

ANDREA PAVAN SETS PACE WITH A 63 ON CHALLENGE TOUR

FROM SARAH GWYNN

European Challenge Tour Press Officer

Andrea Pavan made a blistering start to the Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda, carding a sublime nine under par 63 in the first round to lead by two shots.

The Italian had eight birdies, an eagle and one bogey at Golf Club Klagenfurt-Seltenheim in southern Austria to lead from Germany’s Christophe Günther, the 2009 champion, Swede Bjorn Åkesson and England’s Matthew Southgate.

Englishman Charlie Ford and Austrian Roland Steiner are another shot back at six under in the €160,000 event, and five players – including another Austrian, Christoph Pfau – are at five under.

Pavan was delighted with his score but said there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“I started off with a birdie which is always nice, but I struggled a little with my driver the whole round,” said the 22 year old, playing the event for the first time. “I played the front nine really well with my irons but even though I was five under I didn’t feel that great off the tee.

“With my irons, I was hitting it stiff all day. I almost made a hole-in-one on the fourth and put it very close on the fifth with my approach. They were pretty easy birdies.

“The back nine I think I only hit two fairways so I was always trying to work it in from the rough. Luckily I had some decent lies and could get it close a few times, and I was putting pretty well.

“I bogeyed the 12th which I wasn’t very happy with. I didn’t have a good lie in the rough and I was just trying to play it safe in the middle of the green. The only place I didn’t want to go was short left and I ended up there and made a bogey.

“I had couple of good breaks but I was happy to take advantage of those. It’s been a tough start to the year because I’ve been struggling with my confidence a bit – on the greens especially. My irons were always pretty good but I wasn’t holing many putts or going through good stretches. So today it was nice to hit good shots and make the putts. These greens are hard to read so it was even more satisfying.”

Defending champion Günther had five consecutive birdies on his front nine, prompting memories of the course record 62 he shot here two years ago en route to victory.

“I’d be lieing if I said that didn’t go through my head,” he said. “I teed off from the tenth and I’ve always found the front nine a bit tougher, so on my back nine I couldn’t quite get to ten under.

“I had one putt that maybe I should have made but holed plenty of others which don’t usually go in, so overall I’m very pleased. I felt very comfortable and I enjoy coming here.”

Åkesson attributed his fine score to his putting, saying: “I’ve been playing well for a long time now and today I played the best round of putting I’ve ever done. I played solid golf and holed so many long putts. That was why I was seven under.

“My putting has felt good all season. I’m a pretty streaky putter, but when I find it I hole a lot of putts. And today I found it.”

Steiner, who was a member of Golf Club Klagenfurt-Seltenheim in his late teens, said: “It was a great day for me with a very good end. The start was not as good as I’d expected and I had a double bogey at the third. But I know on this course if you wait and stay patient you will get your chances, especially from the 13th onwards.

“It’s a very good starting round. On this course you can always shoot low. We saw that two years ago when Christophe Günther shot a 62. It’s a pretty easy course if you’re playing well.”

There were hole-in-ones for Alexandre Chopard and Klass Eriksson, both at the eighth. Remarkably, it was also at the eighth hole that Martin Wiegele had an ace in the final round last year and the year before.

SCOREBOARD
par 72

63 A Pavan (Ita)

65 M Southgate (Eng) , B Åkesson (Swe) , C Günther (Ger)

66 C Ford (Eng) , R Steiner (Aut)

67 J Lagergren (Swe) , G Molteni (Ita) , M Ford (Eng) , C Pfau (Aut) , B Grace (RSA

68 R Santos (Por) , D Brooks (Eng) , N Bertasio (Ita) , T Remkes (Ned) , D Denison (Eng)

69 C Paisley (Eng) , P Edberg (Swe) , S Harrington (USA) , J Heath (Eng) , K Eriksson (Swe) , J Hansen (Den) , D Lokke (Den) , D Perrier (Fra) , J Garcia (Esp) , M Erlandsson (Swe) , B Barham (Eng) , J Estevez (Arg) , J Robinson (Eng) , R Hjelm (Den) , W Besseling (Ned) , C Carranza (Arg) , M Trappel (am) (Aut) 

70 A Johnston (Eng) , J Bragulat (Esp) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , A Bruschi (Ita), A Forsyth (Sco) , J Billot (Fra) , E Dubois (Fra) , A Chopard (Sui) , A Högberg (Swe) , G Watremez (Bel) , M Bliss (Can) , I Keenan (Eng) , J Abbate (Arg) , B Hafthorsson (Isl) , J Legarrea (Esp) , S Thornton (Irl) , H Bacher (Aut) , L Jensen (Den)

71 D Whitnell (Eng), S Jeppesen (Swe), F Svanberg (Sui), A Ahokas (Fin), C Macaulay (Sco) , A Butterfield (Eng) , J Grillon (Fra) , L Westerberg (Swe) , N Fox (Irl) , N Bollini (USA) , C Lloyd (Eng) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , F Praegant (Aut) , R Kind (Ned) , A Maestroni (Ita) , M Larsson (Swe) , J Moul (Eng) , L Kennedy (Eng) , M Kieffer (Ger) , F Ruprecht (Aut) , G Murphy (Irl) , A Tampion (Aus) , S Little (Eng) , A Bossert (Sui) , J Campillo (Esp)

72 C Doak (Sco) , N Kearney (Irl) , R Neil-Jones (Eng) , A Signor (Ita) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , J Palmer (Eng) , G Dear (Sco) , K Le Sager (Fra) , A Haindl (RSA) , M Moser (Aut) , W Roebuck (Eng) , K Sullivan (Wal) , M Bothma (RSA) , M Cryer (Eng) , M Baldwin (Eng) , T Stewart (Aus) , A Domingo (Esp) , U Weinhandl (Aut)

73 T Leon (USA) , A Bihan (Fra) , V Almstrom (Swe) , S Piaget (Mon) , N Meitinger (Ger) , T Feyrsinger (Aut) , J Barnes (Eng) , J Maurer (Aut) , F Pogatschnigg (Aut) , D Wuensche (Ger) , W Rieder (Aut) , A Perrino (Ita) , C Vigano (Ita) , P Relecom (Bel) , O David (Fra) , M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) , M Cobo (Esp).

74 J Doherty (Sco) , J Gallagher (Sco) , M McGeady (Irl) , N Lombardi (Ita) , E Bertheussen (Nor) , B Reiter (Aut) , I Ridgway (Eng) , D Vanegas (Col) , J Caldwell (Nir) , L Astl (Aut) , A McArthur (Sco) , J Colomo (Esp) , B Neumayer (am) (Aut) , L Nemecz (am) (Aut) , C Korbler (am) (Aut) , H Amin (am) (Aut)

75 M Laskey (Wal) , J Little (Eng) , B Miarka (Ger) , E Kofstad (Nor) , E Pepperell (Eng) , M Kramer (Ger) , A Tadini (Ita) , M Palm (Swe) , J Ruth (Eng) , C Farrelly (Eng) , B Chapellan (Fra) , E Canonica (Ita) , L Bjerregaard (am) (Den)

76 S McHenry (Aus) , P Kaensche (Nor) , I Urquizu (Esp) , J Roos (RSA) , J Hepworth (Eng) , J Lopez Lazaro (Fra) , A Jacobsson (Swe) , M Delpodio (Ita) ,

77 A Friestad (Nor)

78 L Claverie (Esp)

79 G Lockerbie (Eng) , T Ferreira (RSA)

80 R De Sousa (Sui) , S Clark (Eng)

81 M Dam (Den) , E Ramsay (Sco)

ELLIOT SALTMAN GETS HOLE IN ONE BUT TRAILS AT CELTIC MANOR

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Ryder Cup stars Graeme McDowell and Peter Hanson found The Celtic Manor Resort a happy hunting ground again, but it was Keith Horne in the lead after day one of the Saab Wales Open.

Horne, 289th in the Official World Golf Ranking, did not turn professional until he was 25 and it was only last year that the Durban golfer, 40 next week, kept his European Tour card.

Coming home in a five under 30 gave him a seven under 64 and put him top of the leaderboard.

“We'll see if it keeps going for the next couple of days,” he said. “I did some work with Hennie Otto on the range and I've been doing some work with my coach, but just a couple of key thoughts that I changed on to the golf course, and they clicked and I just stuck to them for the whole round.

“I was a little bit too nervous to stray from them, and I think that helped a lot out there, because I couldn't get ahead of myself, the way I've been playing lately. So I just stuck to my key thoughts all the way around and got pretty comfortable.”

Paired together for the opening round at the scene of Europe’s triumph last October, Swede Hanson fired a six under par 65 to tuck in just behind South African Horne.

Defending champion McDowell, meanwhile, improved five shots on his start last year with a 67 that included a 30 foot eagle putt on the 15th – but only a par on the hole with which he is most associated.

"It's a tough second shot past my statue there," he joked about the 499 yard 16th, scene of the most important birdie he has ever made and probably will ever make.

"I hit it to about 20 feet and thought I made it, but I guess I've used all my magic up on that green."

There was enough good stuff, though, to boost his belief that he will not need a 64-63 finish this time to head into his US Open Championship title defence on the back of another win.

"It's all simmering nicely. I need to get into the mix this weekend and get the old juices flowing again."

As it was last year, this is McDowell's final tune-up event for the second Major of the season.

"I've definitely got three or four days of chilling out planned next week - maybe go and wear out a groove in my mum's couch in Portrush.

"I'm going to fly to Orlando Thursday and Pete (coach Pete Cowen) is coming in Friday."

Hanson also has a base at Lake Nona - "I can probably hit a seven iron to his house," he said - and like McDowell a year ago at Pebble Beach is relieved just to be playing in Washington in a fortnight.

The world's top 50 on May 23 qualified and he was 50th by 0.01 ranking points over Australian Aaron Baddeley. McDowell made it the same way by 0.05 points in 2010.

Hanson had eight birdies to Horne's seven, but there were also bogeys at the 13th and eighth on his card.

Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jiménez are the other two members of last year's European side taking part.

Fisher, who on Sunday week needs to be back in the world's top 50 from his current 52nd if he is to play in the US Open had a level par 71, but Jiménez managed only a 73.

The Spaniard was paired with Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, but four days after his first top-ten finish for almost three years - seventh in the BMW PGA Championship - the 47 year old Scot was twice in the water over the closing stretch and signed for a 77.

England's Steve Webster and Paul Broadhurst and Spain's Alvaro Velasco came in late with 66s to share third place, leaving McDowell in a tie for sixth

Scotland’s Elliot Saltman holed-in-one at the 211yd 17th - a hole made famous by McDowell beating Hunter Mahan to decide the Ryder Cup last October - and he followed it with another eagle at the 575yd last.

However, Saltman was left wishing his shot had come an hour earlier at the 189yd 13th. One of the sponsors' cars is the prize there, whereas his reward was a magnum of champagne.

Despite his double-eagle display, the 29 year old from the Lothians finished with a two over par 73, the same score as his brother Lloyd. Elliot had a double bogey 5 at the short third and also dropped shots at the fourth, short seventh, long 11th, short 13th and 14th. Until his eagle-eagle finish at the 17th and 18th, his only birdie had been at the eighth and he was six-over-par staning on the 17th tee.

Peter Whiteford continue his fine run of form with a one-under-par 70 to be the leading Scot in the clubhouse at 4.30. Later Aberdeen's Richie Ramsay joined him on that mark to be joint 37th.

Scott Jamieson's sudden lost of form also continued. He had a 78, the seven-over-par score as Stephen Gallacher, who played so well earlier in the week at Sunningdale to qualify for the US Open, and Colin Montgomerie.
Paul Lawrie ran up a triple bogey 7 at the 14th in returning a four-over 75.

David Drysdale and Scott Drummond had 71s.
Paul Lawrie sums up his day on his website:
I hit only four fairways today. I drove it so poorly I was surprised it was as many as four. I teed off from the 11th and had a couple of chances for birdie early on but hit it in the water at the 14th and ran up a triple bogey 7. When you drive it as poorly as I did today it makes it so hard to score. I spent three hours on the range after my round hitting balls.


LEADERBOARD

Par 71
64 Keith Horne (S Africa).
65 Peter Hanson (Sweden).
66 Steve Webster (England), Alvara Velasco (Spain), Paul Broadhurst (England).
67 Damian McGrane (Ireland), Graeme McDowell (N Ireland), Gregory Bourdy (France), Victor Dubuisson (France), Stuart Manley (Wales0, Alexander Noren (Sweden).
Scottish scores
70 Peter Whiteford, Richie Ramsay (T37)..
71 David Drysdale, Scott Drummond (T54)
72 Greig Hutcheon (T66)
73 Elliot Saltman, Lloyd Saltman (T90)
74 Steven O'Hara (T111).
75 Paul Lawrie, George Murray (T122)
78 Scott Jamieson, Stephen Gallacher, Colin Montgomerie (T144)..