Irish Golf News

Tralee Golf Club

Tralee's Darren O'Sullivan held off a final round charge by Mallow's Paul McCarthy to win the Kerry Group sponsored Kerry Scratch Cup at his home club on Sunday.

The local man closed with a level par 72 to win by a stoke on one-under par 215 from McCarthy, who equalled the course record with a three under 69.

Waterford's Eanna Griffin (218) was third with Cork's John Hickey and Birr's Justin Kehoe, the former tour player, a shot further back on three over.
4 John Hickey 72 76 71 219 
5 Justin Kehoe 72 73 74 21 

KERRY SCRATCH CUP, 13-14 June 2015. Tralee Golf Club (Par 72)Prize winners

1. Darren O'Sullivan (Tralee) 215
2. Paul McCarthy (Mallow) 216
3. Eanna Griffin (Waterford) 218
4. John Hickey (Cork) 219

Saturday

• 18 Hole gross (a.m.) Mark Shanahan (Castlemartyr) 69
• 18 Hole gross (p.m.) Dave Reddan (Nenagh) 70
• 36 Hole nett Raymond Kelly (4) 139 

Sunday

• 18 Hole gross Edward Stack (Ballybunion) 71

Final scores (gross)

1 Darren P O'Sullivan 71 72 72 215 
2 Paul McCarthy 74 73 69 216 
3 Eanna Griffin 74 71 73 218 
4 John Hickey 72 76 71 219 
5 Justin Kehoe 72 73 74 219 
6 Mark Shanahan 69 74 76 219 
7 Edward Stack 75 74 71 220 
8 Jack Pierse 75 71 75 221 
9 Jonathan Yates 74 73 74 221 
10 Gerard Deegan 72 77 72 221 
11 Eoghan O'Donnell 76 73 73 222 
12 Mark Morrissey 77 72 74 223 
13 Dave Reddan 77 70 76 223 
14 Tommy O'Driscoll 75 73 76 224 
15 Sean Ryan 74 75 75 224 
16 Fergal O'Sullivan 77 72 76 225 
17 Ian Spillane 76 73 76 225 
18 Raymond Kelly 74 73 78 225 
19 Eugene Smith 73 73 79 225 
20 Gerard Dunne 72 77 76 225 
21 Richard Knightly 73 75 86 234 

Cut

22 Jeff Hopkins 80 70 -- 150 
23 Declan Reidy 73 78 -- 151 
24 David O'Driscoll 74 78 -- 152 
25 Jonathan McDonnell 79 74 -- 153 
26 Thomas Mulligan 80 74 -- 154 
27 Hannes Boch 77 77 -- 154 
28 David McMahon 75 79 -- 154 
29 Andrew McCormack 81 74 -- 155 
30 Daniel Dore 79 76 -- 155 
31 Colum Kenny 78 78 -- 156 
32 Colm Crowley 77 79 -- 156 
33 Rory Hill 75 81 -- 156 
34 Mark MacGrath 73 83 -- 156 
35 Ruairi Kennelly 81 76 -- 157 
36 Robbie Pierse 77 80 -- 157 
37 Conor Byrne 80 78 -- 158 
38 Oisin Fitzgerald 80 78 -- 158 
39 Peter Sheehan 80 78 -- 158 
40 Oisin Devereux 77 81 -- 158 
41 Anton O'Callaghan 80 79 -- 159 
42 Shane McGlynn 78 81 -- 159 
43 Senan Carroll 81 80 -- 161 
44 Eric Dunlea 80 82 -- 162 
45 Declan O' Loughlin 80 82 -- 162 
46 Mike Sugrue 80 84 -- 164 
47 Tristan O'Rourke 80 86 -- 166 
48 Randal Cross 82 85 -- 167 
49 Bryan Dore 89 80 -- 169 
50 Thomas Healy 86 89 -- 175 
51 Aonghus Gannon 87 89 -- 176 
52 Darragh Fitzgerald -- 76 -- 76 
53 Garry O'Flaherty 80 -- -- 80 
- JAMES CRONIN 84 NR -- NR 
- Keith Egan 76 NR -- NR 
- Pat Fitzpatrick 81 NR -- NR 
- David Hennebery 73 NR -- NR 
- Eoghan O'Loughlin 84 NR -- NR 
 
Competition Scratch Score (CSS)

• 12 June 2015: CSS = 74 [Par = 72, SSS = 73]. 
• 13 June 2015: CSS = 73 [Par = 72, SSS = 73]. 
• 14 June 2015: CSS = 73 [Par = 72, SSS = 73].

Chris Wood. Picture: Getty

Michael Hoey and Peter Lawrie picked up € 17,700 each but Chris Wood took the Lyoness Open Powered by Greenfinity and €250,000 thanks to flawless final at Diamond Country Club.

The Englishman, starting five shots off the pace, carded a fine five under par 67 to secure his first win since the 2013 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Brilliant off the tee and clinical with the putter, he collected five birdies to finish two ahead of Rafa Cabrera-Bello on 15 under par 273.

Despite starting and finishing strongly, the Spaniard's hopes were dashed when he dropped three consecutive shots from the ninth, meaning he had to settle for a level par 72 and a 13 under total.

Grégory Bourdy had played excellently for the first three days, but his performance level took a severe dip as he registered a double bogey and five bogies in a six over par 78.

Bourdy's overnight two shot advantage evaporated just three holes in after the Frenchman failed to recover from finding the water and double-bogeyed the second and Cabrera-Bello birdied the next.

The Spaniard looked to be the favourite at that point but three bogeys in a row from the ninth brought Wood charging back into contention and the Englishman took full advantage with back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th to establish an unassailable advantage and secure the second victory of his European Tour career.

“It’s fantastic to win,” Wood said. “It was a long winter sitting at home with a cast on my wrist getting frustrated and just wanting to be out here playing and competing. 

"I have been playing well the last few weeks so I felt that a victory was coming but until the moment comes you always think when will it come?

“I played great all week and today especially. I felt that if I could beat 68 today I would have an outside chance and obviously things went my way and 67 was good enough.

“People will probably look at the result and think it was fairly straightforward but I needed to play well today and for a few other things to go my way and thankfully it all came together for me.

“I injured my wrist playing tennis last October and had to rest for five months. I came back in March and finished third in Morocco which I thought would give me a lot of confidence but then I didn’t get the results after that and played quite poorly for a few weeks. But the last month I have felt I was playing well enough to win so it has been coming.

“It has been a while since the win in Qatar but let me tell you it feels a lot better to say I am a two-time winner on Tour – it is a very special feeling to win out here so I am looking forward to celebrating this one.”

Lawrie and Hoey are still outside the top 115 who will have European Tour cards in 2016 but they improved their Race to Dubai rankings in Austria.

Hoey made seven birdies in a 69 to share 20th on five under and move to 116th in the money list while Lawrie (70) is 121st.

Simon Thornton tied for 59th on one over after a 75 and while his focus is the Challenge Tour, he’s 226th in the Race to Dubai after picking up €3,900.

Complete Fourth Round Scores:

273 C Wood (Eng) 67 69 70 67,

275 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 69 68 66 72,

278 R Rock (Eng) 71 70 71 66, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 69 69 71, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 67 73 70 68,

279 J Hahn (USA) 71 69 68 71, K Broberg (Swe) 70 72 69 68, G Bourdy (Fra) 65 67 69 78,

280 M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 70 72, G Stal (Fra) 68 68 73 71,

281 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 72 69 70, P Oriol (Esp) 70 70 73 68, D Coupland (Eng) 71 70 73 67, S Jamieson (Sco) 72 70 65 74, R Ramsay (Sco) 74 69 68 70,

282 C Del Moral (Esp) 67 76 73 66, E Espana (Fra) 75 69 68 70, S Griffiths (Eng) 73 71 66 72, R Kakko (Fin) 73 70 71 68,

283 P Lawrie (Irl) 68 71 74 70, M Hoey (Nir) 73 69 72 69,

284 M Bremner (RSA) 69 74 67 74, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 73 71 73, S Khan (Eng) 73 70 72 69, M Lundberg (Swe) 72 70 74 68, D Woltman (USA) 71 73 69 71, F Praegant (Aut) 71 73 71 69, M Nixon (Eng) 74 66 72 72, J Singh (Ind) 69 73 72 70, J Knutzon (USA) 70 74 72 68, J Quesne (Fra) 69 71 75 69,

285 L Slattery (Eng) 69 71 72 73, D Gaunt (Eng) 71 71 70 73, R Paratore (Ita) 72 70 71 72, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 73 71 71, L Jensen (Den) 71 70 69 75, R Evans (Eng) 68 73 74 70,

286 M Schneider (Ger) 72 72 69 73, B Hebert (Fra) 73 69 71 73, J Lara (Esp) 72 69 73 72, R McEvoy (Eng) 72 72 72 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 73 71 74, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 71 73 73, D Horsey (Eng) 71 68 76 71,

287 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 71 68 75, A McArthur (Sco) 71 70 73 73, J Lagergren (Swe) 73 67 76 71, J Walters (RSA) 70 73 74 70, F Fritsch (Ger) 70 70 71 76, J Huldahl (Den) 74 70 72 71, J Roos (RSA) 74 68 72 73,

288 A Ahokas (Fin) 71 72 79 66, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 73 74 71, K Ferrie (Eng) 73 69 77 69, R Bland (Eng) 71 69 75 73, C Paisley (Eng) 71 72 74 71, C Pigem (Esp) 72 65 73 78, R Santos (Por) 72 72 76 68,

289 S Henry (Sco) 70 74 72 73, S Thornton (Irl) 70 74 70 75, M Lampert (Ger) 73 70 73 73, A Wall (Eng) 71 72 73 73, M Ovesen (Den) 72 69 75 73, S Wakefield (Eng) 74 69 76 70, C Shinkwin (Eng) 69 72 75 73,

290 C Bouniol (Fra) 68 72 80 70, N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 72 73 75, S Hutsby (Eng) 74 70 75 71, V Riu (Fra) 71 73 70 76,

291 D Im (USA) 74 70 72 75, P Edberg (Swe) 71 72 77 71,

292 S Hansen (Den) 71 72 77 72,

297 L Nemecz (Aut) 73 71 73 80.

Ruaidhri McGee. Picture © Getty Images

Ruaidhri McGee took another huge step towards winning his European Tour card when he finished tied third behind Scotland’s Jamie McLeary in the KPMG Trophy in Belgium.

The Rosapenna touring professional jumped seven places to second in the Road to Oman rankings which award European Tour cards to the top 15 at the end of the season after picking up €10,400 thanks sensational final round of 68 that featured six back nine birdies.

It was also a good week for Lurgan’s Gareth Shaw as he closed with a 70 to finish tied fifth on nine under and clinch a start in the Najeti Open Presented by Neuflize OBC at Aa Saint-Omer from next Thursday.

Joint overnight leader McLeary held off a series of final round charges, carding six birdies a 67 to win by a shot from Dutchman Taco Remkes (67) on 13 under with McGee’s final hole bogey dropping him into a share of third with Stiggy Hodgson on 10 under.

It was the 34-year old Scot’s first Challenge Tour title six years and it came after an exciting final day.

When the leaders went out, 30 players were within three shots of the lead, but McLeary soon accelerated ahead with three consecutive birdies from the second.

At one stage the Edinburgh man had a four stroke advantage, but it was down to one by the time he reached the 18th. Knowing a par would be good enough to win, he duly delivered.

“I’m as happy as Larry,” said McLeary. “I was actually more nervous at the start than at the finish. I hit a poor tee shot off the second and I got lucky. Normally when I’m nervous I don’t drive the ball well, and that happened today.

“I three-putted the 14th to put myself back into the pack a bit, but apart from that I played well.

“When you’re leading you want to get off to a good start. The worst thing is when you make a couple of early bogeys. So I was glad to start well.

“My short game was a lot better than it was yesterday, so that was where I made the score.

“I knew there were a lot of people close, and three shots can go in one hole if you make a mistake. I tried not to look at the leaderboards, and once I was three under through four I knew I’d given myself a bit of a cushion.”

McLeary lost his European Tour last year after finishing 152nd in The Race to Dubai, but now has his sights set on returning to the top tier.

“This gets the monkey off my back as I’ve earned a sizeable chunk – it takes the pressure off a bit,” he said.

“You don’t want to be going into the second half of the season chasing your tail. I’ll be able to go into the lucrative events at the end of the season able to relax a bit. I’ll go to the Rolex Trophy now, which is one of my favourite events, and the Grand Final and all the China events. I’m very happy.”

McGee, 24, started the final day tied for seventh, two off the lead held by McLeary and Frenchman Charles-Edoard Russo (74).

The Derry man turned in level but then six birdies on the back nine with bogeys at the 14th and 18th denying him the chance of a maiden win.

He’s still in a great position to win his card through the rankings with the top 15 earning promotion.

And it was also a good week for Shaw, who earned € 6,507 for his share of seventh to move up to 47th.

Richard Kilpatrick’s 68 gave him a share of 31st worth € 1,248 while Stephen Grant (€586) was pleased to close with a 68 for joint 50th.

David Rawluk (€304) shot 77 to end up 72nd on 10 over.

Final scores:

275 J McLeary (Sco) 71 67 70 67, 

276 T Remkes (Ned) 67 67 75 67, 

278 S Hodgson (Eng) 72 69 70 67, Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 69 70 71 68, 

279 G Porteous (Eng) 72 68 71 68, G Boyd (Eng) 67 69 75 68, Gareth Shaw (Nir) 68 73 68 70, 

280 T Tree (Eng) 72 72 67 69, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 71 74 69 66, F Calmels (Fra) 75 68 71 66, Z Scotland (Eng) 71 69 71 69, 

281 J Smith (Eng) 72 69 72 68, B Stow (Eng) 74 69 71 67, S Jeppesen (Swe) 71 74 69 67, J Glennemo (Swe) 67 78 73 63, B Hemstock (Eng) 72 68 73 68, T Gornik (Slo) 72 67 72 70, O Bekker (RSA) 70 71 69 71, J Heath (Eng) 71 66 76 68, 

282 W Besseling (Ned) 71 74 70 67, C Russo (Fra) 71 64 73 74, A Hartø (Den) 74 67 71 70, D Frittelli (RSA) 71 69 72 70, R Davies (Wal) 73 70 69 70, 

283 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 71 68 70 74, P Whiteford (Sco) 68 72 75 68, S Heisele (Ger) 69 69 73 72, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 67 73 72, T Linard (Fra) 74 70 71 68, L Corfield (Eng) 69 69 73 72, 

284 Richard Kilpatrick (Nir) 70 73 73 68, J Rask (Swe) 71 70 71 72, M Röhrig (Ger) 68 74 73 69, 

285 N Kimsey (Eng) 71 70 73 71, P Howard (Eng) 71 69 70 75, 

286 A Björk (Swe) 71 67 71 77, E Bertheussen (Nor) 68 73 75 70, E Dubois (Fra) 67 73 77 69, 

287 T Pieters (Bel) 76 69 71 71, M Trappel (Aut) 71 67 76 73, D Huizing (Ned) 75 69 71 72, J Winther (Den) 65 69 78 75, G Drakeford (Aus) 70 67 79 71, D Ulrich (Sui) 72 70 73 72, J Stalter (Fra) 79 64 72 72, 

288 M Rominger (Sui) 75 67 74 72, J Harrison (Eng) 72 71 73 72, A Eckhardt (Fin) 71 73 71 73, S Einhaus (Ger) 69 74 71 74, 

289 J Billing (Swe) 70 73 75 71, C Aguilar (Esp) 76 69 75 69, A Domingo (Esp) 67 76 73 73, J Lima (Por) 70 70 72 77, Stephen Grant (Irl) 74 71 75 69, P Dwyer (Eng) 70 70 77 72, C Hanson (Eng) 76 69 71 73, A Snobeck (Fra) 70 69 79 71, J Cafourek (Cze) 72 68 73 76, A Romano (Ita) 70 70 75 74, 

290 P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 72 73 73 72, J Wilson (Aus) 71 73 72 74, D Kemmer (USA) 71 71 73 75, J Robinson (Eng) 73 69 73 75, 

291 A Gee (Eng) 73 69 78 71, C Brazillier (Fra) 73 71 77 70, J Colegate (Eng) 70 75 73 73, P Doherty (Sco) 69 75 76 71, 

292 Z Lombard (RSA) 68 77 69 78, F Laporta (Ita) 75 70 75 72, 

293 J Watts (Eng) 69 75 77 72, 

295 J Maw (Eng) 68 77 77 73, 

298 David Rawluk (Irl) 75 70 76 77

Maynooth University and West Waterford's Gary Hurley

Maynooth University's Gary Hurley will be gunning for some revenge when he meets American world No 34 Jack Maguire in the final singles session at the Palmer Cup on Sunday.

The Americans claimed seven and a half of 10 points from Saturday’s singles session to extend their lead to 13.5-6.5 at Rich Harvest Farms with Hurley falling 6 and 5 to Florida State sophomore Maguire.

The pair will meet again on Sunday with the USA needing just two points from the 10 singles to get the 15.5 points they need to reclaim the Palmer Cup.

Europe would retain the Cup with 15 points or better which means that they need nearly every thing to go their way at the Chicago venue — the opposite of Saturday's eventual session.

Thomas Detry claimed the first point four Europe with a dominating 5 and 4 victory against Lee McCoy.

Ollie Schniederjans was victorious the second match for Team USA, downing world No 1 Jon Rahm, 2 and 1. 

That was as good as it got for Europe. 

Hunter Stewart won the first four holes in his match against Mathias Eggenbeger and raced to a 6 and 5 decision before Maguire downed Hurley.

Maguire began birdie-eagle to go two up and birdied the fourth to extend his lead to three holes before Hurley cut the lead to 1-up with a birdie on No. 5 and an eagle at the seventh. However, Maguire won five straight holes beginning from the eighth to put the match away.

Robby Shelton ran Team USA’s winning streak to four in a row when he beat Rowin Caron, 3 and 2.

Max Rottluff put Europe back on the board, downing Carr Vernon, 1-up but after Kyle Jones and Adrian Meronk halved their match, Team USA won the final three matches of the day.

Anders Albertson defeated Clement Sordet, 2 and 1, Beau Hossler only led after the first and 18th holes in his 1-up victory against Mathias Schwab while Maverick McNealy won the day’s final match, 2 and 1, over Pep Angles.

Final round singles matches tee off at 8:00 am Sunday.

Palmer Cup, Rich Harvest Farms, June 13United States 13.5, Europe 6.5Third Round Singles

• Thomas Detry, Europe def. Lee McCoy, United States, 5 and 4
• Ollie Schniederjans, United States def. Jon Rahm, Europe, 2 and 1
• Max Rottluff, Europe def. Carr Vernon, United States, 1-up
• Kyle Jones, United States halved Adrian Meronk, Europe
• Robby Shelton, United States def Rowin Caron, Europe, 3 and 2
• Hunter Stewart, United States def. Mathias Eggenberger, Europe, 6 and 5
• Anders Albertson, United States def. Clement Sordet, Europe, 2 and 1
• Jack Maguire, United States def. Gary Hurley, Europe, 6 and 5
• Beau Hossler, United States def. Matthias Schwab, Europe, 1-up
• Maverick McNealy, United States def. Pep Angles, Europe, 2 and 1

Final Round Singles

• 8:00 am: Anders Albertson, United States vs. Clement Sordet, Europe
• 8:09 am: Hunter Stewart, United States vs. Thomas Detry, Europe
• 8:18 am: Beau Hossler, United States vs. Pep Angles, Europe
• 8:27 am: Maverick McNealy, United States vs. Adrian Meronk, Europe
• 8:36 am: Ollie Schniederjans, United States vs. Max Rottluff, Europe
• 8:45 am: Carr Vernon, United States vs. Mathias Schwab, Europe
• 8:54 am: Jack Maguire, United States vs. Gary Hurley, Europe
• 9:03 am: Kyle Jones, United States vs. Rowin Caron, Europe
• 9:12 am: Robby Shelton, United States vs. Mathias Eggenberger, Europe
• 9:21 am:  Lee McCoy, United States vs. Jon Rahm, Europe

Gregory Bourdy. Picture: Getty Images

Peter Lawrie had 35 putts in a third round 74 to damage his chances of a big payday in the Lyoness Open Powered by Greenfinity in Austria

As Lawrie's hopes of a big cheque faded with his fall to tied 26th on three under, Grégory Bourdy saw his overnight four-shot advantage halved by Spain's Rafa Cabrera Bello at Diamond Country Club.

Bourdy appeared to be in an excellent position to claim his fifth European Tour title when, having resumed his round following a 95-minute lightning delay, he regained his four-shot lead on the back nine after an early Cabrera-Bello onslaught closed the gap to one.

The Frenchman's only blemish on the 15th - his first since his tenth hole on Friday – coupled with three birdies in four holes from Cabrera-Bello left him just one clear, but Bourdy managed to double that cushion with a fourth birdie on the 16th.

Cabrera-Bello, winner of this event six years ago, reached the turn in 31 courtesy of three birdies and an eagle in his first seven holes before the weather delay halted the Spaniard's momentum.

When play resumed, he bogeyed the 11th and 14th, but fought back with consecutive gains on 15 and 16 to sign for a six under par 66.

Another player to suffer from the lightning delay was Chris Wood. The Englishman, having started his round with three consecutive birdies, was forced to take a penalty drop on the ninth when he fired his tee shot right into the trees and, after returning to finish the hole, could only register a double bogey.

Wood, who won a BMW i8 for a hole-in-one en route to a fourth-place finish at the recent BMW PGA Championship, responded by birdieing the next and last during a round of 70 that left him five shots off the pace.

Michael Hoey's 72 left him tied 33rd on two under alongside Simon Thornton, who posted a two under 70.

"It was another good round because it was difficult today, especially with the suspension of play so three under was a good score," Bourdy said. "After the delay the wind was a bit stronger which made it a bit more difficult but I think I did quite well at the end."

Cabrera Bello felt he'd had a really good day, starting with a birdie at the first and then holing out for eagle at the third.

"Also making two birdies on the par fives – the 15th and 16th on the back nine – was really important for my confidence and to close the gap on Greg going into tomorrow," the Spaniard said.

“The eagle early in the round was a nice surprise and very funny because last night I had dinner with some of the Spanish guys and we were talking about how Miguel always holes out from the fairway and makes all these holes in one. I was saying how I never hole out from the middle of the fairway and then today I finally make one. There you go.

“I feel good about my game at the moment. The last few weeks have been good and I am happy with my game and what I am doing. I am aiming to peak during the best part of the season and I seem to be doing that which is great for tomorrow and great for the next couple of months.”

Wood struggled to hole putts but said he was still confident about his chances.

"I need to go out here and try to post a low score and put some pressure on them – if I can shoot something close to 66 it might be enough.”

Complete Third Round Scores:

201 G Bourdy (Fra) 65 67 69,

203 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 69 68 66,

206 C Wood  (Eng) 67 69 70,

207 S Jamieson  (Sco) 72 70 65, M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 69 69 69,

208 M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 70, J Hahn (USA) 71 69 68,

209 G Stal  (Fra) 68 68 73,

210 S Griffiths (Eng) 73 71 66, C Pigem (Esp) 72 65 73, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 67 73 70, M Bremner (RSA) 69 74 67, L Jensen (Den) 71 70 69,

---

213 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 68 71 74; 214 Michael Hoey  (Nir) 73 69 72, Simon Thornton (Irl) 70 74 70.

 

Peter Fowler. Picture; Getty Images

European Senior Tour — Fowler in control at Close House

Australian Peter Fowler took a big step towards claiming back-to-back Senior Tour titles by moving four shots clear at the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship with one round to play.

The 56 year old, who won last week in Jersey, signed for a third round four under par 67 at Close House in north-east England to reach 11 under par overall, four ahead of Englishmen Philip Golding and Carl Mason, who carded rounds of 66 and 70 respectively. 

Philip Walton is nine behind after a 71

Fowler faltered with a bogey on the second hole, but came back in fine style with three birdies and an eagle before the turn on the Lee Westwood course. He traded two birdies and two bogeys on the back nine and was very happy with his day’s work.

“It was very good and it’s always good when you’re leading and can notch up another good round, it’s a big help,” he said.

“I’ve just got to play a little bit more solid than I did today and hit more greens. I didn’t hit many on the back nine and I need to consolidate that.

“I’ve played better this week than I did last week and I’ve proved to myself the last couple of weeks that you don’t have to play great to get the job done - you’ve just got to hang in there.

“It would be ideal to get an early score, but it doesn’t always work out the way you plan it. An early birdie would be a big help. I’ve just got to play the whole game and be patient. If it all falls together then that’s great.”

Mason admitted he made a tentative start – he was two over par at the turn – but recovered well and remains in contention to extend his record as the tournament’s most prolific winner.

“I made a very nervy putt for birdie at the first hole from three feet and it was the most awful stroke,” he said. “It unsettled me a little bit. Then I played a few scrappy shots after that and was struggling a bit.

“I couldn’t putt and made some bad swings but I was pleased I held on and had a good back nine. I was watching Peter putt and I remember the days when I used to putt like that.

“I’ve just got to play and make a lot of birdies and hope Peter doesn’t go mad, but he’s full of confidence and on form and will be tough to beat.”

Round 3 scores:

202 P Fowler (Aus) 68 67 67, 

206 C Mason (Eng) 68 68 70, P Golding (Eng) 72 68 66, 

207 G Manson (Aut) 69 73 65, 

210 M Martin (Esp) 69 74 67, 

211 Philip Walton (Irl) 70 70 71, 

222 Des Smyth (Irl) 75 74 73; Jimmy Heggarty (Nir) 74 74 74, 

WD R Rafferty (Nir) 73 73 WD, 

Tralee Golf Club

When the 2015 Kerry Scratch Cup was launched, we wondered who could beat defending champion Richard Knightly around spectacular Tralee over 54 holes. So far nine players are pulling it off.

The Royal Dublin man, a shock semi-finalist in last year's "South", did the crucial bit by making the cut for the top 21 after 376 holes, carding rounds of 73 and 75 for 11th place on four over 148.

Darren P O'Sullivan (71 72) and the big hitting Castlemartyr left-hander Mark Shanahan (69 74) are tied for the lead on one under 143, one clear of Waterford's Eanna Griffin and former Challenge Tour player Justin Kehoe. 

Kerry Scratch Cup, TraleeAfter 36 holes - Qualifiers

1 Darren P O'Sullivan 71 72 143 

2 Mark Shanahan 69 74 143 

3 Eanna Griffin 74 71 145 

4 Justin Kehoe 72 73 145 

5 Jack Pierse 75 71 146 

6 Eugene Smith 73 73 146 

7 Dave Reddan 77 70 147 

8 Raymond Kelly 74 73 147 

9 Jonathan Yates 74 73 147 

10 Paul McCarthy 74 73 147 

11 Tommy O'Driscoll 75 73 148 

12 Richard Knightly 73 75 148 

13 John Hickey 72 76 148 

14 Fergal O'Sullivan 77 72 149 

15 Mark Morrissey 77 72 149 

16 Ian Spillane 76 73 149 

17 Eoghan O'Donnell 76 73 149 

18 Edward Stack 75 74 149 

19 Sean Ryan 74 75 149 

20 Gerard Dunne 72 77 149 

21 Gerard Deegan 72 77 149 

Non-qualifiers

22 Jeff Hopkins 80 70 150 

23 Declan Reidy 73 78 151 

24 David O'Driscoll 74 78 152 

25 Jonathan McDonnell 79 74 153 

26 Thomas Mulligan 80 74 154 

27 Hannes Boch 77 77 154 

28 David McMahon 75 79 154 

29 Andrew McCormack 81 74 155 

30 Daniel Dore 79 76 155 

31 Colum Kenny 78 78 156 

32 Colm Crowley 77 79 156 

33 Rory Hill 75 81 156 

34 Mark MacGrath 73 83 156 

35 Ruairi Kennelly 81 76 157 

36 Robbie Pierse 77 80 157 

37 Conor Byrne 80 78 158 

38 Peter Sheehan 80 78 158 

39 Oisin Fitzgerald 80 78 158 

40 Oisin Devereux 77 81 158 

41 Anton O'Callaghan 80 79 159 

42 Shane McGlynn 78 81 159 

43 Senan Carroll 81 80 161 

44 Eric Dunlea 80 82 162 

45 Declan O' Loughlin 80 82 162 

46 Mike Sugrue 80 84 164 

47 Tristan O'Rourke 80 86 166 

48 Randal Cross 82 85 167 

49 Bryan Dore 89 80 169 

50 Thomas Healy 86 89 175 

51 Aonghus Gannon 87 89 176 

52 Darragh Fitzgerald  -- 76 

53 Garry O'Flaherty 80 -- 

NR James Cronin 84 NR NR; Keith Egan 76 NR NR; Pat Fitzpatrick 81 NR NR; David Hennebery 73 NR NR; Eoghan O'Loughlin 84 NR NR.

12 June 12 CSS = 74 [Par = 72, SSS = 73]. 
13 June CSS = 73 [Par = 72, SSS = 73]. 

Scotland's Jamie McLeary co leads in Belgium. Gareth Shaw is one back.

Two years ago he was on the verge of playing his way onto the European Tour. He came up just short, lost form and suffered injuries but Lurgan’s Gareth Shaw is showing signs that’s he’s getting back to his best.

On Sunday he’ll go into the final round of the Challenge Tour’s KPMG Trophy just one stroke behind co-leaders Jamie McLeary and Charles-Edouard Russo, searching for a maiden win that would give him a great chance of achieving his tour dream.

After suffering an early season back injury, 29-year old Shaw has been showing signs for some weeks that he is running into form.

Four rounds in the 60s in Austria two weeks ago gave him a share of 22nd, which was his best performance since he was 12th in the Northern Ireland Open at Galgorm Castle last September.

Tied for 28th at halfway at Golf de Pierpont in Belgium this week, Shaw birdied the second, third, 15th and 16th for an immaculate, four under 68 that left him tied for four players on seven under.

The former amateur star is a lowly 109th in the money list, which awards cards to the Top 15 at the end of the season, bit knows he can make a huge leap with a win or a good finish.

Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee is ranked ninth in what is know as the Road to Oman ranking and he has another chance to improve his position in Belgium after a one under 71 left him just two off the pace on six under.

Banbridge’s Richard Kilpatrick (73) is tied 48th on one over with Birr’s Stephen Grant (75) tied 64th on four over with The Island’s David Rawluk a shot further back after a 76.

Scot McLeary felt right at home as a two under par 70 on a blustery day left the 34-year old tied for the lead with Frenchman Russo on eight under with Shaw, Alexander Björk, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez and Taco Remkes a shot back on seven under.

The scoring was notably higher on day three as gusty winds swirled around the Belgian venue, but McLeary took full advantage having learned his trade on the links courses of his home country.

“It’s just like playing links golf here so it suits me,” said McLeary, whose only Challenge Tour title came in the Scottish Highlands in 2009. 

“The changes in wind, the firm conditions. The bunkering is not as severe as we have in Scotland and the greens are a bit softer here, but apart from that it’s practically the same.

“If it’s as windy as this tomorrow, I know that two under will be up there. If it’s calm, it becomes a much easier course and I imagine I’ll have to shoot something in the mid-60s to win.

“The first three holes are good birdie, maybe even eagle, chances, and then it becomes a brute.

“After I played the fifth and the seventh so well – two really tough holes – I thought there was a score out there. But maybe I was concentrating on the hard holes too much, because I bogeyed eight which is an easy hole straight down wind.

“I’m happy enough. I know if I play well I’ll be there or thereabouts.”

Round 3 scores:

208 J McLeary (Sco) 71 67 70, C Russo (Fra) 71 64 73, 

209 Gareth Shaw (Nir) 68 73 68, T Remkes (Ned) 67 67 75, A Björk (Swe) 71 67 71, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 71 68 70, 

210 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 69 70 71, P Howard  (Eng) 71 69 70, O Bekker (RSA) 70 71 69, 

211 T Tree (Eng) 72 72 67, G Boyd  (Eng) 67 69 75, Z Scotland  (Eng) 71 69 71, T Gornik (Slo) 72 67 72, L Corfield  (Eng) 69 69 73, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 67 73, S Hodgson (Eng) 72 69 70, G Porteous (Eng) 72 68 71, S Heisele (Ger) 69 69 73, 

212 D Frittelli (RSA) 71 69 72, J Winther (Den) 65 69 78, R Davies (Wal) 73 70 69, A Hartø  (Den) 74 67 71, J Lima  (Por) 70 70 72, J Rask (Swe) 71 70 71, 

213 J Smith (Eng) 72 69 72, J Cafourek (Cze) 72 68 73, B Hemstock (Eng) 72 68 73, J Heath  (Eng) 71 66 76, 

214 M Trappel  (Aut) 71 67 76, N Kimsey (Eng) 71 70 73, Z Lombard  (RSA) 68 77 69, S Einhaus (Ger) 69 74 71, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 71 74 69, F Calmels  (Fra) 75 68 71, S Jeppesen  (Swe) 71 74 69, B Stow (Eng) 74 69 71, 

215 W Besseling  (Ned) 71 74 70, A Romano  (Ita) 70 70 75, A Eckhardt (Fin) 71 73 71, J Robinson (Eng) 73 69 73, D Huizing (Ned) 75 69 71, D Kemmer (USA) 71 71 73, M Röhrig (Ger) 68 74 73, D Ulrich (Sui) 72 70 73, P Whiteford (Sco) 68 72 75, J Stalter (Fra) 79 64 72, T Linard (Fra) 74 70 71, 

216 M Rominger  (Sui) 75 67 74, J Wilson (Aus) 71 73 72, A Domingo (Esp) 67 76 73, Richard Kilpatrick (Nir) 70 73 73, E Bertheussen (Nor) 68 73 75, C Hanson (Eng) 76 69 71, G Drakeford (Aus) 70 67 79, J Harrison (Eng) 72 71 73, T Pieters  (Bel) 76 69 71, 

217 P Dwyer (Eng) 70 70 77, E Dubois (Fra) 67 73 77, 

218 A Snobeck  (Fra) 70 69 79, J Colegate (Eng) 70 75 73, P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 72 73 73, J Billing (Swe) 70 73 75, J Glennemo (Swe) 67 78 73, 

220 A Gee  (Eng) 73 69 78, F Laporta (Ita) 75 70 75, Stephen Grant  (Irl) 74 71 75, C Aguilar  (Esp) 76 69 75, P Doherty (Sco) 69 75 76, 

221 J Watts (Eng) 69 75 77, David Rawluk (Irl) 75 70 76, C Brazillier  (Fra) 73 71 77, 

222 J Maw (Eng) 68 77 77.

ADRIAN MORROW (PORTMARNOCK) PICTURE BY PAT CASHMAN

Portmarnock's Adrian Morrow dropped four shots in his first five holes and ended up settling for seventh after crashing to a final round 80 in the International European Seniors' Championship in Hungary.

Alone in second heading into the final round, three strokes behind eventual champion Clive Jones of England, two-time winner Morrow went out in six over 42 and dropped three more shots at the 10th, 12th and 13th before making his only birdie of the day at the 15th.

Final scores

He finished on 10 over 226, nine strokes behind defending champion Jones, who closed with a 74 to win by six strokes from Norway's Tore Sviland on one over 217 at Pannonia Golf & Country Club, 40 minutes west of Budapest. 

Olivia Mehaffey. Picture: Pat Cashman

Olivia Mehaffey might have failed 5 and 4 to Sweden's Linnea Strom in the semi-finals of the Ladies' British Amateur Open but the Royal County Down Ladies star will overcome her disappointment to focus on finishing a stellar season as strongly as possible.

As Strom, a player who will become her Arizona State University team mate at the end of next year, fell to Leona Maguire's Duke team mate Celine Boutier by 4 and 3 in the final., Mehaffey was already looking ahead of next week's Irish Ladies Close at magnificent Rosapenna, the Vagliano Trophy at Malone and Ireland's bid for a first European Amateur Team Championship for 32 years in Denmark in July.

“I think I’ll look back and I’ll be really happy,” said Mehaffey, who has won the Irish Girls Under 18, the Scottish Strokeplay and the Welsh Strokeplay titles already this year.. “Right now I am disappointed because I was so close. She was at a different standard really. 

“Playing with her at Arizona State is going to work wonders for my game when I join her there in another couple of years.”

Ladies' British Amateur results

Mehaffey admitted that her short game helped her through a difficult first day in the strokeplay qualifying, which is a credit to coaches Chris Jelly and Donal Scott

But he pointed to her improved ball-striking and credited strength and conditioning coach Robbie Cannon, one of new faces the ILGU has added to its High Performance coaching staff, as the key to her improved ball-striking.

“Robbie is great and I honestly think that’s made the difference this year,” she said. “My ball striking is so much better. I am hitting it higher when it was low before and it’s make such a big difference to by ball flight.

“I have been able to get on the inside and play a draw instead of always being over the top and low. Before I always hit over the top and I literally spent four years trying to stop and I couldn’t do it.  

“My angle of attack was really steep as well but just working this year it has come down and I stopped looking at it. Then I just noticed that with all the work I had done, it had come down naturally without doing anything to my swing.”

Certain now to make the world’s Top 100 this week, she’s determined to push on and finish the season strongly.

“I always seem to start my season well and not finish it as strongly, so I am going to stay in top of everything and keep up with my practice and be more consistent this year," she said

Boutier became the eighth French-born winner since the championship began in 1893 and qualified for the RICOH Womens' British Open, the U.S. Womens' Open and the Evian Championships.

"I am absolutely delighted," she said after finishing her match. "I have played really well across a lot of matches this week which is great, but now I am pretty tired!"
 
Strom was bidding to become the first Swedish winner since Anna Nordqvist beat compatriot Caroline Hedwall at North Berwick in 2008, but a rash of bogeys between the fifth and the thirteenth passed the initiative over to Boutier.

Overall it was a magnificent week for the Irish with seven of the 10 entrants making the matchplay, three going as far as the last 16 and with Lisburn’s Paula Grant making it into the quarter-finals.

In fact, Ireland were the only representatives from the “Home Nations” in the last 16 with three, matching Sweden and Canada. 

SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – The United States holds a 6-4 lead after the first day of the Palmer Cup at a rainy Rich Harvest Farms with West Waterford and Maynooth University's Gary Hurley playing his part in an afternoon comeback.

Europe won three of the five matches of the afternoon fourball sessions after Team USA held a 4-1 lead after the opening foursomes round that saw Hurley and Stirling's Swiss star Mathias Eggenberger beaten one up by Anders Albertson and Jack Maguire.

“We made a ton of birdies this morning, which you sometimes don’t see in that format (foursomes),” said American Head Coach Bruce Heppler. “Obviously we got off to a good start but we are playing a really good team so you knew there would be some comeback in the afternoon.

"The afternoon looked liked it was not going to go well and Hunter (Stewart) and Robby (Shelton) came back and won their match. So, we got two points out of the afternoon when it looked like it could have been a total whitewash. It’s just fun to watch these types of players play.”

Europe quickly cut into the United States’ lead by claiming the first two matches. Thomas Detry and Adrian Meronk won the first hole of the opening match of the four-ball session and led throughout in their 4 and 3 drubbing of Lee McCoy and Ollie Schniederjans.

Gary Hurley on the first tee! @GaryHurley93 pic.twitter.com/UgbeSOIgqP

— Palmer Cup (@PalmerCup) June 12, 2015

Detry birdied No. 1 and both players followed with a birdie on the second to move to 2-up. Schniederjans birdied the fifth to cut the lead to 1-up. The two sides traded Nos. 9 and 1. Detry birdied both the 11th, 12th and 15th to close the match.

In the second match the American duo of Kyle Jones and Carr Vernon held a 1-up lead from the second to fifth holes. The match was all square until No. 13 when Europe claimed back-to-back holes with a Gary Hurley birdie and both he and Mathias Eggenberger carded par on No. 14. Europe closed the match with a 3 and 2 victory with a pair of birdies on No. 16.

Team USA came from behind to claim match No. 3 when Robby Shelton and Hunter Stewart downed Rowin Caron and Clement Sordet, 1-up. Europe took an early lead with birdies from Rowin Caron on No. 3 and and Clement Sordet on No. 7 to move to 2-up. Shelton birdied Nos. 10 and 12 to even the match. Shelton would roll in another birdie on No. 17 to give the Americans their first lead. Both sides parred the final hole.

Europe claimed its third point of the afternoon when Max Rottluff and Matthias Schwab beat Anders Albertson and Jack Maguire, 2 and 1. Rottluff birdied the first and Europe led throughout. Europe moved to 3-up after back-to-back wins at Nos. 4 and 5. T

Team USA cut the led to 2-up with a Jack Maguire birdie at No. 7 but Europe claimed the next hole with a Rottluff birdie. Rottluff put Europe 4-up with an eagle No. 11 before the Americans cut the lead to 2-up thru 14.

Mathias Eggenberger and Gary Hurley at Rich Harvest Farms

Beau Hossler and Maverick McNealy won the final point of the day, downing Spain’s Pep Angles and Jon Rahm, 2 and 1. Angles birdied the first hole and Europe held a 1-up lead on four of the first six holes. The Americans moved to 1-up when it won two-straight with McNealy eagle on No. 7 and a pair of birdies on the eighth.

Europe would move the match back to all-square with a Rahm birdie at No. 10. Team USA took the lead for good with McNealy’s birdie at No. 13 anc moved to 2-up with a pair of birdies at No. 15.

Third-round singles matches tee off Saturday at 8:30 am. The event ends with another rounds of singles on Sunday

Palmer Cup, Rich Harvest Farms, June 12United States 6, Europe 4First Round Foursomes Results

Match 1: Lee McCoy/Ollie Schniederjans, USA def. Thomas Detry/Jon Rahm, Europe, 4 and 3
Match 2: Kyle Jones/Carr Vernon, USA def. Max Rottluff/Matthias Schwab, Europe, 3 and 2
Match 3: Robby Shelton/Hunter Stewart USA def. Rowin Caron/Clement Sordet, Europe, 3 and 2
Match 4: Anders Albertson/Jack Maguire USA def. Mathias Eggenberger/Gary Hurley, Europe, 1-up
Match 5:  Pep Angles/Adrian Meronk, Europe def. Beau Hossler/Maverick McNealy, USA, 3 and 2

Second Round Fourball Results 

Match 6: Thomas Detry/Adrian Meronk, Europe def. Lee McCoy/Ollie Schniederjans, USA, 4 and 3
Match 7: Mathias Eggenberger/Gary Hurley, Europe def. Kyle Jones/Carr Vernon, USA, 3 and 2
Match 7:  Robby Shelton/Hunter Stewart, USA def. Rowin Caron/Clement Sordet, Europe, 2-up
Match 9:  Max Rottluff/Matthias Schwab, Europe def. Anders Albertson/Jack Maguire USA, 2 and 1
Match 10:  Beau Hossler/Maverick McNealy, USA def. Pep Angles/Jon Rahm, Europe, 2 and 1

Third Round Singles Pairings 

Match 11: Lee McCoy, United States vs. Thomas Detry, Europe
Match 12: Ollie Schniederjans, United States vs. Jon Rahm, Europe
Match 13: Carr Vernon, United States vs. Max Rottluff, Europe
Match 14: Kyle Jones, United States vs. Adrian Meronk, Europe
Match 15: Robby Shelton, United States vs. Rowin Caron, Europe
Match 16: Hunter Stewart, United States vs. Mathias Eggenberger, Europe
Match 17: Anders Albertson, United States vs. Clement Sordet, Europe
Match 18: Jack Maguire, United States vs. Gary Hurley, Europe
Match 19: Beau Hossler, United States vs. Matthias Schwab, Europe
Match 20: Maverick McNealy, United States vs. Pep Angles, Europe

Padraig Harrington

PGA Tour — Padraig Harrington's run of negative results in majors will extend to seven next week when he misses the US Open for the second year running.

The Dubliner 43, shot a level par 70 in the second round of the FedEx St Jude Championship to miss the cut by four shots when he needed a win to make the Top 60 in the world who qualified from Sunday's world rankings.

Graeme McDowell is safely into the field for Chambers Bay but has other problems to solve after missing the cut by eight strokes following rounds of 76 and 73..

Harrington has now failed to qualify or failed to make the weekend in a major since he finished 54th behind Phil Mickelson in the 2013 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Since then he's missed the cut in the 2013 US PGA, failed to qualify for the 2014 Masters and US Open, missed the cut in the 2014 Open, the 2014 US PGA and the 2015 Masters before failing to qualify for the US Open.

As for the FedEx St Jude Classic, Brooks Koepka (64-67) leads by one from Austin Cook on nine under with Phil Mickelson (68-69) tied 22nd on three under.

Web.com Tour — Power five backSeamus Power is five shots off the lead with four holes of his second round to complete in the rain-delayed Rust-Oleum Championship in Ohio.The West Waterford man, who had opened with a four under 67, had one birdie and one bogey on his front nine and five pars to start the journey home when play was suspended.He's tied for 30th behind Dawie van der Walt. who shot a one-under 70 on Friday morning for a share of the 36-hole lead with Dustin Bray (66), Shane Bertsch (65) and Peter Malnati, who has played 16 holes. ScoresHeavy thunderstorms moved into the Cleveland area shortly after noon and ultimately caused two delays that totaled 4 hours, 20 minutes. Darkness eventually halted play at 8:30 p.m. with 72 players, including Power, still to complete their second rounds Lakewood Country Club.Play will resume on Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m.

Taco Remkes. Picture: Getty Images

Challenge Tour — McGee best of the Irish

Dutchman Taco Remkes and Dane Jeff Winther were tied at the top at the halfway stage of the KPMG Trophy in Belgium, on a day when Frenchman Charles-Edouard Russo set a new course record.

Russo signed for a flawless eight under par 64 in the morning, before Remkes and Winther went one better than his nine under par total with rounds of 67 and 69 respectively in the afternoon.

Remkes, 30, had an eagle, six birdies and three bogeys, while Winther birdied the last two holes to move into a share of top spot at Golf de Pierpont.

Rosapenna's Ruaidhri McGee (70) is the best of the Irish, five off the pace on five under with Gareth Shaw (73) seven off the lead. Stephen Grant and David Rawluk made the cut on one over but Cian Curley and Mick McGeady missed out.

Round 2 scores:
134 T Remkes (Ned) 67 67, J Winther (Den) 65 69
135 C Russo (Fra) 71 64; 136 G Boyd  (Eng) 67 69; 139 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 69 70; 141 Gareth Shaw (Nir) 68 73; 143 Richard Kilpatrick (Nir) 70 73; 145 Stephen Grant  (Irl) 74 71,  David Rawluk (Irl) 75 70.

Cut - 150 Cian Curley (Irl) 76 74; 154 Mick McGeady (Irl) 82 72

Peter Fowler

European Senior Tour - Walton chasing FowlerPeter Fowler stepped up his bid for back-to-back Senior Tour titles by moving into a one stroke lead at the halfway stage of the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship.Continuing the fine form which led to his fourth Senior victory in Jersey last week, the Australian, who celebrated his 56th birthday on Tuesday, edged ahead of England’s Carl Mason on seven under par with a second round 67 at Close House in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Frenchman Jean Pierre Sallat added a level par round of 71 to his opening 68 to remain on three under, with Ireland’s Philip Walton and England’s Philip Golding are a further shot back at two under par, five off the lead.135 P Fowler (Aus) 68 67; 136 C Mason (Eng) 68 68; 139 J Sallat (Fra) 68 71; 140 P Golding (Eng) 72 68, P Walton (Irl) 70 70; 146 R Rafferty (Nir) 73 73; 148 J Heggarty (Nir) 74 74; 149 D Smyth (Irl) 75 74; 151 D O'Sullivan (Irl) 77 74.

Adrian Morrow. Picture: Pat Cashman

Portmarnock's Adrian Morrow is three shots off the and chasing down his third International European Seniors' Amateur Championship in Hungary.

Winner of the title at Oceanico's Old Course in Portugal in 2008, when there was an Irish 1-2-3, Morrow won again in Austria in 2012.

Scores

Now he's lurking again after a second successive 73 at Pannonia Golf & Country Club left him alone in second place on two over.

Defending champion Clive Jones, playing out of Golf de Toulouse, leads by three on one under after adding a 73 to his opening 70.

Rory McIlroy headed to Chambers Bay via Whistling Straits last night insisting he can repeat his heroics of last summer.

The world No 1 might have missed his last two cuts but as he stopped in Wisconsin for a media day for August's PGA Championship, he revealed that he's rested after nearly two weeks off and gunning for more major glory.

"I didn't touch a golf club last week. I had played five weeks in a row, and mentally, I was ready to have a little break," McIlroy said. "I just got away from it, did some other things I enjoy, got back to Florida on Sunday and started to practice."

He will play first practice round a Chambers Bay on Saturday feeling his game is in "great shape."

And having won The Open, the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA last summer and he's looking for something similar this year.

"I'm rested after the Irish Open and I've had a good few days of practice back home in Florida," he said at Whistling Straits. "I'm gearing up for the second major of the year next week at Chambers Bay and feel the game's in really good shape and feel I can have another summer not to dissimilar to last year."

As for Chambers Bay, he said: "It's a bit of an unknown for everyone. From what I've heard, it's going to be sort of different. At the end of the day, I'm competing against the same players I've been able to beat before. Hopefully, I get there again."

After the US. Open, McIlroy is playing two courses he knows well for majors, with The Open heading back to St Andrews followed by a return to Whistling Straits where he contended for his first major in 2010 but missed the playoff by a shot.

"They were courses I played well on, course I had fond memories of," he said. "Maybe you put a little bit more pressure on yourself for those, but over the course of the season, I build myself up for those four big ones. I feel like I still have three good chances to add to my major tally.

"I've won four. I'd love to win a fifth, and hopefully when I do win a fifth, I'd love to win a sixth. I don't want to put any sort of burden on myself of giving myself a number. If I set myself a target, and I don't get there, but I still have one of the best careers of all time, does that mean I'm a failure?"

The USGA published the US Open tee times on Friday with McIlroy grouped with defending champion Martin Kaymer and US Amateur champion Gunn Yang of Korea.

Graeme McDowell is with Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and Matt Kuchar; Shane Lowry with Ben Martin and Stephen Gallacher, and Darren Clarke with two-time former US Open winner Lee Janzen and amateur sensation Oliver Schniederjans.

Pádraig harrington missed the cut in the FedEx St Jude Classic and failed to qualify for the US Open for the second year running.

All Times PDTThursday (June 18), hole #1 / Friday (June 19), hole #10

7 a.m. / 1 p.m. – Michael Putnam, University Place, Wash.; Marcus Fraser, Australia; TBD

7:11 a.m. / 1:11 p.m. – Garth Mulroy, South Africa; Richard Lee, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Lucas Bjerregaard, Denmark

7:22 a.m. / 1:22 p.m. – Jason Allred, Scottsdale, Ariz.; (a) Kyle Jones, Snowflake, Ariz.; Cody Gribble, Dallas, Texas

7:33 a.m. / 1:33 p.m. – Phil Mickelson, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Bubba Watson, Bagdad, Fla.; Angel Cabrera, Argentina

7:44 a.m. / 1:44 p.m. – Wen-Chong Liang, People's Republic of China; David Hearn, Canada; Hiroyuki Fujita, Japan

7:55 a.m. / 1:55 p.m. – Robert Streb, Shawnee, Kan.; (a) Lee McCoy, Athens, Ga.; TBD

8:06 a.m. / 2:06 p.m. – George McNeill, Fort Myers, Fla.; Masahiro Kawamura, Japan; Cameron Tringale, Mission Viejo, Calif.

8:17 a.m. / 2:17 p.m. – Henrik Stenson, Sweden; Francesco Molinari, Italy; Brandt Snedeker, Nashville, Tenn.

8:28 a.m. / 2:28 p.m. – Jim Furyk, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; Miguel Angel Jimenez, Spain; Colin Montgomerie, Scotland

8:39 a.m. / 2:39 p.m. – Brooks Koepka, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Russell Henley, Macon, Ga.; Byeong-Hun An, Republic of Korea

8:50 a.m. / 2:50 p.m. – Jason Dufner, Cleveland, Ohio; Marc Warren, Scotland; Matt Every, Jacksonville, Fla.

9:01 a.m. / 3:01 p.m. – Brandon Hagy, Los Angeles, Calif.; (a) Matthew NeSmith, North Augusta, S.C.; Sebastian Cappelen, Denmark

9:12 a.m. / 3:12 p.m. – (a) Nick Hardy, Northbrook, Ill.; Alex Kim, Fullerton, Calif.; Rich Berberian Jr., Derry, N.H.

Thursday (June 18), hole #10 / Friday (June 19), hole #1

7 a.m. / 1 p.m. – Troy Kelly, Lakewood, Wash.; Seuk Hyun Baek, Republic of Korea; Cameron Smith, Australia

7:11 a.m. / 1:11 p.m. – John Parry, England; TBD; (a) Jack Maguire, St. Petersburg, Fla.

7:22 a.m. / 1:22 p.m. – Timothy O'Neal, Savannah, Ga.; Stephan Jaeger, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Kurt Barnes, Australia

7:33 a.m. / 1:33 p.m. – Gary Woodland, Topeka, Kan.; Victor Dubuisson, France; John Senden, Australia

7:44 a.m. / 1:44 p.m. – TBD; Morgan Hoffmann, Jupiter, Fla.; Bernd Wiesberger, Austria

7:55 a.m. / 1:55 p.m. – Marcel Siem, Germany; Alexander Levy, France; Brian Harman, St. Simons Island, Ga.

8:06 a.m. / 2:06 p.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Japan; Graeme McDowell, Northern Ireland; Matt Kuchar, St. Simons Island, Ga.

8:17 a.m. / 2:17 p.m. – Dustin Johnson, Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Adam Scott, Australia; Sergio Garcia, Spain

8:28 a.m. / 2:28 p.m. – Martin Kaymer, Germany; (a) Gunn Yang, Republic of Korea; Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland

8:39 a.m. / 2:39 p.m. – Patrick Reed, Houston, Texas; Chris Kirk, Milton, Ga.; Jamie Donaldson, Wales

8:50 a.m. / 2:50 p.m. – Webb Simpson, Charlotte, N.C.; Keegan Bradley, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Kevin Na, Diamond Bar, Calif.

9:01 a.m. / 3:01 p.m. – (a) Sam Horsfield, England; Shunsuke Sonoda, Japan; Oliver Farr, Wales

9:12 a.m. / 3:12 p.m. – Kevin Lucas, Folsom, Calif.; Pat Wilson, Andover, N.J.; (a) Cole Hammer, Houston, Texas

Thursday (June 18), hole #1 / Friday (June 19), hole #10

1 p.m. / 7 a.m. – Jason Palmer, England; Roberto Castro, Atlanta, Ga.; Andres Romero, Argentina

1:11 p.m. / 7:11 a.m. – (a) Denny McCarthy, Rockville, Md.; D.A. Points, Windermere, Fla.; Shiv Kapur, India

1:22 p.m. / 7:22 a.m. – (a) Bryson DeChambeau, Clovis, Calif.; Blayne Barber, Auburn, Ala.; Billy Hurley III, Annapolis, Md.

1:33 p.m. / 7:33 a.m. – Geoff Ogilvy, Australia; Ernie Els, South Africa; Retief Goosen, South Africa

1:44 p.m. / 7:44 a.m. – Bo Van Pelt, Jenks, Okla.; Charlie Beljan, Mesa, Ariz.; Tony Finau, Lehi, Utah

1:55 p.m. / 7:55 a.m. – Lee Janzen, Orlando, Fla.; (a) Oliver Schniederjans, Powder Springs, Ga.; Darren Clarke, Northern Ireland

2:06 p.m. / 8:06 a.m. – Daniel Summerhays, Fruit Heights, Utah; Thomas Aiken, South Africa; Danny Lee, New Zealand

2:17 p.m. / 8:17 a.m. – Jordan Spieth, Dallas, Texas; Jason Day, Australia; Justin Rose, England

2:28 p.m. / 8:28 a.m. – Tiger Woods, Hobe Sound, Fla.; Rickie Fowler, Murrieta, Calif.; Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa

2:39 p.m. / 8:39 a.m. – Jimmy Walker, Boerne, Texas; Zach Johnson, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Ian Poulter, England

2:50 p.m. / 8:50 a.m. – Ryan Moore, Las Vegas, Nev.; Anirban Lahiri, India; Erik Compton, Coral Gables, Fla.

3:01 p.m. / 9:01 a.m. – (a) Jake Knapp, Costa Mesa, Calif.; Tyler Duncan, Columbus, Ind.; Matt Mabrey, Little Rock, Ark.

3:12 p.m. / 9:12 a.m. – Michael Davan, Hoopeston, Ill.; (a) Davis Riley, Hattiesburg, Miss.; Andrew Pope, Orlando, Fla.

Thursday (June 18), hole #10 / Friday (June 19), hole #1

1 p.m. / 7 a.m. – Tom Hoge, Fort Worth, Texas; Brad Fritsch, Holly Springs, N.C.; Tjaart van der Walt, South Africa

1:11 p.m. / 7:11 a.m. – Brad Elder, Dallas, Texas; (a) Beau Hossler, Mission Viejo, Calif.; Jamie Lovemark, Scottsdale, Ariz.

1:22 p.m. / 7:22 a.m. – Ryo Ishikawa, Japan; Luke Donald, England; J.B. Holmes, Campbellsville, Ky.

1:33 p.m. / 7:33 a.m. – Lucas Glover, Tequesta, Fla.; (a) Bradley Neil, Scotland; Marc Leishman, Australia

1:44 p.m. / 7:44 a.m. – Ryan Palmer, Colleyville, Texas; Joost Luiten, Netherlands; Danny Willett, England

1:55 p.m. / 7:55 a.m. – TBD; George Coetzee, South Africa; Alexander Noren, Sweden

2:06 p.m. / 8:06 a.m. – Brendon Todd, Atlanta, Ga.; Branden Grace, South Africa; Thongchai Jaidee, Thailand

2:17 p.m. / 8:17 a.m. – Billy Horschel, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; Paul Casey, England; Lee Westwood, England

2:28 p.m. / 8:28 a.m. – Bill Haas, Greenville, S.C.; Charl Schwartzel, South Africa; Hunter Mahan, Dallas, Texas

2:39 p.m. / 8:39 a.m. – Shane Lowry, Republic of Ireland; Ben Martin, Greenville, S.C.; Stephen Gallacher, Scotland

2:50 p.m. / 8:50 a.m. – Charley Hoffman, Las Vegas, Nev.; Camilo Villegas, Colombia; Tommy Fleetwood, England

3:01 p.m. / 9:01 a.m. – Mark Silvers, Thunderbolt, Ga.; (a) Brian Campbell, Irvine, Calif.; Cheng-Tsung Pan, Chinese Taipei

3:12 p.m. / 9:12 a.m. – TBD; Jared Becher, Reno, Nev.; Samuel Saunders, Fort Collins, Colo.

(a): amateur

2015 U.S. Open Championship – Par & Yardage

Chambers Bay will set up between 7,200 and 7,600 yards and will play to a par of 36-34--70 when No. 1 is a par 5 and No. 18 is a par 4.
The course will play to a par of 35-35--70 when No. 1 is a par 4 and No. 18 is a par 5.

Chambers Bay Hole By Hole                                   
Hole    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    Total
Par 5/4    4    3    4    4    4    4    5    3    36/35
Yardage 598/496 399 198/163 495 488 495 508  614 224/217    
                                                
                                                   
Hole    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17    18    Total
Par    4    4    4    4    4    3    4    3    4/5    34/35
Yardage 468/436  537/500 311/281 534 546/521 246/167/123 423 218/172 525/60

The success of Royal County Down Ladies' Olivia Mehaffey in reaching the morning semi-finals should ensure a full turn out from her "ain folk" as she bids to follow in the footsteps of the 2012 champion from Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, Stephanie Meadow, writes the LGU.

Meadow, who triumphed at Carnoustie, was the first Irish player to win the Ladies' British Open since Lilian Behan at Ganton in 1985.

Match results

Mehaffey, who won't be 18 until October, has had a magnificent early season of triumphs, and reaching the last four of the "British" is the icing on the cake although the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe at Malone GC, Belfast the week after next will be another career highlight.
 
Olivia beat a possible Vagliano Trophy opponent, Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom, a US college player who is ranked No 3 in Europe, by two holes. That took Mehaffey through to the quarter-finals in which she beat Canada's Maddie Szeryk (Canada), conqueror of GB and I Vagliano Trophy team selection Meghan MacLaren in the first round of the match-play.

The winner of three events in a row this season — she completed a hat-trick of Irish Girls titles before taking the Helen Holm Scottish Strokeplay and the Welsh Ladies Strokeplay titles — Olivia had to come up with five birdies to win by one hole, the ability to do so under pressure, the stamp of a class player.

The match was all square after 13 but Mehaffey then birdied the long fourteenth and the short fifteenth to surge two up in sight of the clubhouse. Szeryk was not ready to throw in the towel. She won back the 16th but Mehaffey held her at bay with halves at the last two holes.

She now plays Sweden's experienced Linnea Strom, winner of the Spanish Women's Open amateur title last year, and runner-up in the same event this season. Coincidentally both Mehaffey and Strom are bound for Arizona State University — the Swede this year, Mehaffey in 2016.

Strom, 19, won her quarter-final by 2 and 1 against 26-year-old Australian Joanna Charlton who had toppled world No 1 amateur Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) by 3 and 1 with four-under-par figures in the morning third round. Charlton never touched the same heights after lunch and was two down to her Swedish opponent after 12 holes before she raised her own hopes of a comeback with an eagle 3 at the 13th and a birdie 2 at the 15th to square the match.

But it was so far and no further for the Australian who will be returning to Europe for the Ladies European Tour Q School later in the year. Strom's par 4 was good enough to win the sixteenth and the Australian conceded the seventeenth and the match by 2 and 1.

@paula_grant: Reached the quarterfinals of the British Am and found out I got a little first in my degree, overall a pretty good week ☺️

— Paula Grant (@paula_grant) June 12, 2015

The second semi-final will be between the highest remaining seed, No 3, Celine Boutier from France, and a Duke University colleague of the player who replaced her as World No 1, Leona Maguire. Boutier had a bag of 6 birdies in winning her quarter-final by 4 and 2 against Olivia Cowan, German-born daughter of an English club pro in that country.

Celine birdied 4 in a row - seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, to take a 4-hole stranglehold in the match. In fact, she went five up with a par at the 11th before Cowan made a final move to pull the fat out of the fire. Olivia birdied the thirteenth and fourteenth to get back to "only" three down, but Boutier's sixth birdie of the round at the sixteenth finished the match.

Boutier will now tee it up against Charlotte De Corte (Belgium) who beat Ireland's Paula Grant (Lisburn) by 3 and 2 in the fourth quarter-final. Two up at the turn, De Corte made that three with a par at the 11th, Grant won the thirteenth but a birdie 2 by her opponent at the fifteenth virtually put an end to Paula's quest for the title, which was eventually ended on the sixteenth green.

Leona Maguire's impressive run in the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship was stopped in its tracks, by 26-year-old Australian Joanna Charlton, in the last 16.

The Melbourne player beat the top seed by 3 and 1, with four-under-par figures including a spectacular finishing burst of birdie-birdie-eagle to win the fourteenth, fifteenth and seventeenth holes at the Portstewart links in Northern Ireland, after an extremely tight match had looked certain to need extra holes to settle it.

"I've been under par in all my wins this week but this was the best I've played," said Joanna Charlton who was a semi-finalist in the Australian women's amateur championship earlier this year and beat Leona's twin sister Lisa in the first round of the match.

Best of luck to this flying legend tomorrow in the semi finals of British Amateur @OliviaMehaffey

Grégory Bourdy. Picture: Getty Images

Peter Lawrie admitted he played poorly but he knows he still has a chance of a big cheque in the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity in Austria.

The Dubliner, 40, shot a one under 71 at Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg to lie seven shots behind France’s Grégory Bourdy (65 67), who leads by four on 12 under compatriot Gary Stal and England’s Chris Wood.

“I did well to shoot the score I did,” said Lawrie, who is fighting to regain his place on tour having lost his card last year. “A couple of bad shots here and there but I hung in there and one under is a good reflection of how I played.

“You know the situation I am in. I have to fight as hard as I can. This morning was the time to shoot a good score with no wind and the greens a little bit softer. But I couldn’t manage it and made a couple of stupid bogeys here and there that I kept off my card yesterday. 

“But I am here for the weekend and in a decent position - a good bit off the lead but not too far off second place. We’ll just see what happens at the weekend. One day good, one day bad. Hopedully that is my bad day out of the way for the week.”

Lawrie is tied eighth on five under while Michael Hoey bounced back from his opening 73 with a 69 to make the cut with two shots to spare on two under.

Simon Thornton (70 74) made it on the mark but Kevin Phelan (74 75) missed by five and Damien McGrane (77 77) by 10 while Gareth Maybin was forced to withdraw. 

Four-time European Tour winner Bourdy had been flawless on day one and was in similarly rich form with five birdies on the back nine after starting at the tenth.

The 33 year old, whose most recent victory came in Wales a couple of years ago, had a first bogey of the week on the first to check his progress, before a fist-pump followed his 13th birdie of the week on the sixth after an outstanding tee shot to five feet.

Stal claimed a maiden European Tour title in Abu Dhabi either side of top-five finishes in South Africa and Dubai, while Wood won a BMW i8 at Wentworth last month for a hole-in-one as he finished fourth in The European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship.

Three birdies in his last four holes, including a tap-in at the last after a brilliant tee shot, propelled Stal into a share of second, while Wood also finished strongly, with birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th.

Spanish pair Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Carlos Pigem share fourth on seven under, while home favourite Bernd Wiesberger’s gallant second round of five under 67 was just not enough to make the cut after Thursday’s damaging opening round of 79.

Complete Round Two Scores:

132 G Bourdy (Fra) 65 67,

136 G Stal (Fra) 68 68, C Wood (Eng) 67 69,

137 C Pigem (Esp) 72 65, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 69 68,

138 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 69, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69,

139 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 68 71, D Horsey (Eng) 71 68,

140 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 67 73, F Fritsch (Ger) 70 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 73 67, J Hahn (USA) 71 69, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 73, C Bouniol (Fra) 68 72, L Slattery (Eng) 69 71, P Oriol (Esp) 70 70, M Nixon (Eng) 74 66, J Quesne (Fra) 69 71, R Bland (Eng) 71 69,

141 J Lara (Esp) 72 69, R Rock (Eng) 71 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 73, D Coupland (Eng) 71 70, M Ovesen (Den) 72 69, C Shinkwin (Eng) 69 72, A McArthur (Sco) 71 70, L Jensen (Den) 71 70, R Evans (Eng) 68 73,

142 J Singh (Ind) 69 73, K Broberg (Swe) 70 72, Michael Hoey (Nir) 73 69, B Hebert (Fra) 73 69, N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 72, D Gaunt (Eng) 71 71, M Lundberg (Swe) 72 70, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 72, J Roos (RSA) 74 68, K Ferrie (Eng) 73 69, R Paratore (Ita) 72 70, S Jamieson (Sco) 72 70,

143 A Ahokas (Fin) 71 72, M Bremner (RSA) 69 74, C Del Moral (Esp) 67 76, A Wall (Eng) 71 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 73, S Wakefield (Eng) 74 69, R Kakko (Fin) 73 70, R Ramsay (Sco) 74 69, M Lampert (Ger) 73 70, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 73, P Edberg (Swe) 71 72, C Paisley (Eng) 71 72, S Khan (Eng) 73 70, J Walters (RSA) 70 73, S Hansen (Den) 71 72,

144 V Riu (Fra) 71 73, F Praegant (Aut) 71 73, S Henry (Sco) 70 74, R Santos (Por) 72 72, S Hutsby (Eng) 74 70, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 71, D Woltman (USA) 71 73, D Im (USA) 74 70, E Espana (Fra) 75 69, S Thornton (Irl) 70 74, M Schneider (Ger) 72 72, R McEvoy (Eng) 72 72, J Huldahl (Den) 74 70, S Griffiths (Eng) 73 71, L Nemecz (Aut) 73 71, J Knutzon (USA) 70 74,

CUT

145 J Barnes (Eng) 77 68, P Maddy (Eng) 74 71, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 73, S Manley (Wal) 70 75, G Storm (Eng) 74 71,

146 A Tadini (Ita) 73 73, A Marshall (Eng) 73 73, M Ford (Eng) 73 73, L Tintera (Cze) 72 74, B Wiesberger (Aut) 79 67, J Maurer (Aut) 74 72, C Lloyd (Eng) 72 74, T Murray (Eng) 75 71, T Hatton (Eng) 73 73, R Karlberg (Swe) 72 74, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 76,

147 A Bernadet (Fra) 71 76, M Crespi (Ita) 73 74, M Tullo (Chi) 75 72, M Ludwig (am) (Aut) 74 73,

148 S Fallon (Eng) 72 76, S Brown (Eng) 72 76, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 73 75, P Price (Wal) 73 75, J Legarrea (Esp) 69 79, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 72 76, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 79 69, A Korinek (Cze) 75 73, S Straka (am) (Aut) 70 78,

149 T Levet (Fra) 74 75, Kevin Phelan (Irl) 74 75, M Manassero (Ita) 75 74, R Wattel (Fra) 75 74, M Jonzon (Swe) 72 77, R Finch (Eng) 73 76, R Coles (Eng) 75 74, B Reiter (Aut) 74 75, D Dixon (Eng) 75 74, W Harrold (Eng) 73 76,

150 I Garrido (Esp) 75 75, S Kim (USA) 74 76, J Kruger (RSA) 73 77, R Gonzalez (Arg) 72 78, A Velasco (Esp) 73 77, A Klescz (am) (Aut) 77 73, M Habeler (am) (Aut) 74 76,

151 D Stewart (Sco) 78 73, J Campillo (Esp) 73 78, J Edfors (Swe) 68 83,

152 D Brooks (Eng) 75 77, T Baltl (am) (Aut) 78 74,

153 B Evans (Eng) 76 77, J Blaauw (RSA) 76 77, P Archer (Eng) 76 77, A Pavan (Ita) 72 81, P Dedek (am) (Cze) 79 74,

154 Damien McGrane (Irl) 77 77,

156 N Geyger (Chi) 80 76, L De Jager (RSA) 75 81, A Hortal (Esp) 73 83, C Pelzmann (am) (Aut) 75 81,

157 Z Bauchou (am) (USA) 81 76,

158 S Soderberg (Swe) 79 79,

161 A Pavlov (Rus) 71 90, P Tate (Eng) 81 80,

163 F Young (Eng) 81 82, R Gruber (Aut) 80 83,

165 L Astl (Aut) 85 80,

166 B Weilguni (Aut) 77 89,

WD Gareth Maybin (Nir) 76 WD, C Doak (Sco) 77 WD, S Webster (Eng) 76 RT, O Fisher (Eng) RT , J Palmer (Eng) RT.

From the moment he missed this 10 footer at the 15th, his sixth, Graeme McDowell appeared to have little confidence on the greens at TPC Southwind. Picture via PGATOUR.com

Graeme McDowell three-putted five times as Pádraig Harrington bogeyed five of his six holes for a 75 that all but wrecked his chances of grabbing the FedEx St Jude Classic win he needs to qualify for next week's US Open.

It will take a miracle now for the Dubliner to come back from 11 strokes behind leaders Brooks Koepka, Greg Owen and Ryan Palmer and win on the PGA Tour for the second time this season.

But if Harrington's hopes of making it to Chambers Bay looks bleak, McDowell's confidence in doing anything positive there must be at an all time low after he three-putted five times and used the blade 36 times in a six over 76 at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

Starting on the back nine, McDowell holed a 23 footer at the 11th to get into the red but then bogeyed the 17th and 18th (where he three-putted for the first time from 35 feet) to turn in one over.

 He'd missed a few decent chances with poor strokes on the first nine but his confidence with the putter appeared to leave him on his homeward nine as he followed a three-putt from 23 feet at the third for bogey with another three putt from inside four feet at the par-three fourth.

That added up to a double bogey five but after holing putts of four and a half and six feet on the next two greens for pars, he three-putted the seventh from 25 feet for another bogey and then followed a two-putt from 70 feet at the eighth with another three-putt from 52 feet at his final hole.

It all added up to a homeward nine of 40 and a six over round that leaves McDowell, already struggling for form this season, tied for 145th in a field of 155 following Dustin Johnson's withdrawal after nine holes with illness.

Harrington holed a six footer for a two at the fourth to dip under par but found water at the ninth and bogeyed there to turn in level before coming home in five over with those five bogeys in his last six a combination of wayward driving, loose approaches and uninspired putting.

Koekpa, Owen and Palmer shot six under 64s to led by one from Steven Alker, Brian Davis and Richard Sterne with Phil Mickelson, who will be trying to complete the career Grand Slam in the US Open, tied 20th after a 68.

Web.com Tour — Seamus Power continued his run of good form on the Web.com Tour in Ohio last night.The West Waterford man shot a four under 68 to share 11th spot in the $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship at Lakewood Country Club in Westlake.He's five behind South African Dawie van der Walt, who blasted a nine under 62 to lead by two.

Gregory Bourdy. Picture: Getty Images

Peter Lawrie insists his driving accuracy (and his confidence) is coming back after he opened with a round in the 60s for the fourth time in his last six starts in the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity.

Now it remains to be seen if he can take advantage of it and bank the juicy cheque he needs to move up the Race to Dubai and win back his card.

“Delighted to be honest with you,” Lawrie told European Tour Radio after a four under 68 left him tied for sixth, just three strokes behind leader Gregory Bourdy. 

“Four birdies, no bogeys. When you play a golf course like this with no bogeys you have done well. There’s lots of trouble out there.”

The key to Lawrie’s good humour is not simply that he’s getting lots of invitations but that he’s hitting the ball off the tee without fear for the first time in two years.

“The driver is coming back,” he said. “I was fifth in driving accuracy (in Sweden) last week and that’s the first time I’ve been in the Top 10 in two years so the signs are good. I am coming back and starting to play nicely.”

The Dubliner, 40, missed just three of 14 fairways yesterday and as a result he missed just three greens.

“It’s confidence really. I have worked really hard with Jamie Gough and got my swing really efficient now and I can hit at the ball. My phrase is, ‘hit it like I hate it,’ and it’s working well.”

Asked if he was “:taking out frustrations”, he smiled and said: “Absolutely. This is what tournament life brings, lots of frustration, but I am starting to see good signs so hopefully I can keep it up.”

Bourdy’s magnificent seven under par 65 saw the Frenchman sail into the first round lead, two strokes clear of Spain’s Carlos Del Moral, the English duo of Rob Dinwiddie and Chris Wood, and Germany’s Max Kieffer who all carded first round scores of five under.

Star draw Bernd Wiesberger crashed to a seven over 79, insisting: “I haven’t played that catastrophically for at least ten years.”

It was a mixed day for the rest of the Irish with Simon Thornton’s two under 70 for a share of 22nd the only other sub-par round.

Michael Hoey (73), Kevin Phelan (74), Gareth Maybin (76) and Damien McGrane (77) all have work to do to make the cut.

Complete Round One Scores:

65 G Bourdy (Fra);

67 C Wood (Eng), R Dinwiddie (Eng), C Del Moral (Esp), M Kieffer (Ger);

68 G Stal (Fra), D Drysdale (Sco), Peter Lawrie (Irl), J Edfors (Swe), R Evans (Eng), C Bouniol (Fra);

69 J Quesne (Fra), J Singh (Ind), R Cabrera-Bello (Esp), A Otaegui (Esp), M Bremner (RSA), C Shinkwin (Eng), J Legarrea (Esp), M Korhonen (Fin), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), L Slattery (Eng);

70 S Henry (Sco), K Broberg (Swe), J Carlsson (Swe), F Fritsch (Ger), J Walters (RSA), N Colsaerts (Bel), Simon Thornton (Irl), B Ritthammer (Ger), J Scrivener (Aus), M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), P Oriol (Esp), S Manley (Wal), J Knutzon (USA), S Straka (am) (Aut);

71 S Hansen (Den), A Pavlov (Rus), V Riu (Fra), A Ahokas (Fin), J Hahn (USA), R Rock (Eng), D Horsey (Eng), D Gaunt (Eng), A Wall (Eng), R Bland (Eng), D Woltman (USA), D Coupland (Eng), C Paisley (Eng), P Edberg (Swe), A McArthur (Sco), F Praegant (Aut), L Jensen (Den), A Bernadet (Fra);

72 M Jonzon (Swe), R Karlberg (Swe), S Jamieson (Sco), S Brown (Eng), C Lloyd (Eng), R Santos (Por), T Pilkadaris (Aus), M Ovesen (Den), E De La Riva (Esp), R Gonzalez (Arg), R McEvoy (Eng), M Schneider (Ger), J Lara (Esp), A Pavan (Ita), S Fallon (Eng), C Pigem (Esp), M Lundberg (Swe), R Paratore (Ita), L Tintera (Cze), 

73 K Ferrie (Eng), J Campillo (Esp), A Velasco (Esp), J Lagergren (Swe), S Griffiths (Eng), W Harrold (Eng), M Ford (Eng), A Hortal (Esp), M Lampert (Ger), P Price (Wal), Michael Hoey (Nir), J Lando Casanova (Fra), M Crespi (Ita), R Finch (Eng), T Hatton (Eng), A Tadini (Ita), B Hebert (Fra), J Kruger (RSA), L Nemecz (Aut), R Kakko (Fin), A Marshall (Eng), J Garcia Pinto (Esp), S Khan (Eng);

74 Kevin Phelan (Irl), D Im (USA), J Roos (RSA), G Storm (Eng), J Maurer (Aut), T Levet (Fra), R Ramsay (Sco), J Huldahl (Den), P Maddy (Eng), B Reiter (Aut), S Hutsby (Eng), S Wakefield (Eng), M Nixon (Eng), S Kim (USA), M Habeler (am) (Aut), M Ludwig (am) (Aut);

75 D Brooks (Eng), M Tullo (Chi), D Dixon (Eng), R Wattel (Fra), I Garrido (Esp), R Coles (Eng), A Korinek (Cze), E Espana (Fra), M Manassero (Ita), L De Jager (RSA), T Murray (Eng), C Pelzmann (am) (Aut);

76 J Blaauw (RSA), B Evans (Eng), P Archer (Eng), Gareth Maybin (Nir), S Webster (Eng);

77 Damien McGrane (Irl), B Weilguni (Aut), J Barnes (Eng), C Doak (Sco), A Klescz (am) (Aut);

78 D Stewart (Sco), T Baltl (am) (Aut);

79 B Wiesberger (Aut), S Soderberg (Swe), B Virto Astudillo (Esp), P Dedek (am) (Cze);

80 N Geyger (Chi), R Gruber (Aut);

81 P Tate (Eng), F Young (Eng), Z Bauchou (am) (USA);

85 L Astl (Aut);

RTD ** O Fisher (Eng), J Palmer (Eng)

Jeff Winther. Picture: Getty Images

Gareth Shaw and Ruaidhri McGee continued their run of form as Denmark’s Jeff Winther made a flying start to the KPMG Trophy in Belgium.

Winther shot  a seven under par 65 to lead by two shots from a group of five players - Englishman Gary Boyd, Spaniard Agustin Domingo, Frenchman Edouard Dubois, Sweden’s Jacob Glennemo and Dutchman Taco Remkes.

Shaw is just three shots back in a share of seventh after a four under 66 that threatened to be turn into something really special after the Lurgan man turned in five under 31.

Either way, it’s a good start for Shaw, who has now shot in the 60s in six of his last nine rounds.

McGee, who is ninth in the money list, posted a three under 69 to share 13th with Richard Kilpatrick taking advantage of a rare Challenge Tour start with an eagle-birdie finish leaving him nicely place in side the top 20 after at two under 70.

Stephen Grant (74), David Rawluk (75) and Cian Curley (76) have work to do to make the cut while McGeady faces an impossible task after an 82.

Belgian Thomas Pieters did not have the homecoming he had hoped for, carding a four over par 76 in his first competitive appearance on home soil since 2008. 

The 23 year old European Tour player had three bogeys and a double in his opening nine holes, but rallied after the turn and came home in one under par. 

Round 1 scores:

65 J Winther (Den), 

67 J Glennemo (Swe), A Domingo (Esp), T Remkes (Ned), E Dubois (Fra), G Boyd (Eng), 

68 P Whiteford (Sco), E Bertheussen (Nor), M Röhrig (Ger), J Maw (Eng), Z Lombard (RSA), Gareth Shaw (Nir), 

69 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl), S Heisele (Ger), P Doherty (Sco), J Watts (Eng), L Corfield (Eng), S Einhaus (Ger), 

70 M Dobias (Sui), J Billing (Swe), A Romano (Ita), A Snobeck (Fra), J Garcia Del Moral (Esp), J Lima (Por), O Bekker (RSA), G Drakeford (Aus), Richard Kilpatrick (Nir), T Lawrence (RSA), P Dwyer (Eng), J Colegate (Eng), 

71 J Rask (Swe), Z Scotland (Eng), B Hafthorsson (Isl), D Frittelli (RSA), M Trappel (Aut), D Kemmer (USA), S Jeppesen (Swe), M Lafeber (Ned), W Besseling (Ned), A Björk (Swe), N Kimsey (Eng), J Wilson (Aus), J McLeary (Sco), S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), P Howard (Eng), C Russo (Fra), J Heath (Eng), A Eckhardt (Fin), 

72 J Lucquin (Fra), D Ulrich (Sui), S Gros (Fra), P Tarver-Jones (Eng), T Gornik (Slo), A Rai (Eng), J Smith (Eng), J Harrison (Eng), S Hodgson (Eng), G Porteous (Eng), B Stone (RSA), J Cafourek (Cze), T Tree (Eng), B Hemstock (Eng), 

73 G Houston (Wal), T Sluiter (Ned), B Parker (Eng), R Davies (Wal), V Simoni (Fra), M Fenasse (Fra), A Kaleka (Fra), R Enoch (Wal), A Gee (Eng), C Brazillier (Fra), L Goddard (Eng), J Robinson (Eng), 

74 T Linard (Fra), B Etchart (Esp), G Murray (Sco), J Kunzenbacher (Ger), B Stow (Eng), A Gabella (Sui), J Simon De Miguel (Esp), Stephen Grant (Irl), T Elissalde (Fra), N Elvira (Esp), C Mivis (Bel), A Hartø (Den) , D Markle (Can) , S Walker (Eng) , S Tiley (Eng) , O Stark (Swe) , M Orrin (Eng)

75 P Relecom (Bel), M Rocchi (Fra), David Rawluk (Irl), N Kristensen (Den), K Hesbois (Bel), F Laporta (Ita), O Lieser (Cze), A Halvorsen (Nor), S Echikson (Bel), P Figueiredo (Por), M Kramer (Ger), D Huizing (Ned), S Piaget (Mon), M Rominger (Sui), F Calmels (Fra), 

76 H Joannes (Bel), Cian Curley (Irl), J Gallegos (Esp), M Southgate (Eng), T Pieters (Bel), F Becker (Ger), C Hanson (Eng), M Søgaard (Den), C Aguilar (Esp), O Henningsson (Swe), B Chapellan (Fra), A Altuntas (am) (Tur), 

77 B Paolini (USA), R Pugh (Wal), G Watremez (Bel), K Benz (Sui), D Vancsik (Arg), M Vyncke (Bel), D Perrier (Fra), J Rutherford (Eng), H Bacher (Aut), X Ruiz Fonhof (Ned), J Doherty (Sco), D Foos (Ger) , K Subregis (Fra) , M De Craecker (am) (Bel)

78 A Rota (Ita), L Canter (Eng), R Hahn (Hun), G Parker (Eng), A De Bondt (am) (Bel), 

79 J Stalter (Fra), G Pinto (Por), A Langenaeken (Bel), A Dumont (Bel), Y Van Doren (am) (Bel), 

80 R Lenahan (USA), S Whiffin (Eng), R Megens (Bel), J Carlota (Por), 

81 D Osorio (Esp), D Suchan (Cze), C Van Wassenhove (am) (Bel), 

82 C Suk (Cze), Michael McGeady (Irl), 

83 G Seegmuller (Bel), 

84 D De Vooght (Bel), 

88 B Bojesen (am) (Den), 

RET J Elson (Eng), N Raymond (Eng), 

The buzz around Leona Maguire is growing as RTE are here to interview her! #LGUAmateurChamps pic.twitter.com/cxichQ2ny3

— Ladies' Golf Union (@LadiesGolfUnion) June 11, 2015

Just three players from GB&I made the last 16 in the Ladies' British Amateur Open at Portstewart and all three are Irish with world No 1 Leona Maguire leading the way.

The Duke University and Slieve Russell star looks almost unbeatable aving outclassed the opposition with an 11-under-par total and a six-stroke victory in strokeplay qualifying.

But while she's aware that anything can happen in matchplay, it's clearly going to take something special to stop her.

The 20-year-old was a combined 10 under par as she avoided making a single bogey and played only 27 holes to reach the last 16, beating 64th qualifier Martina Edberg of Sweden by 8 and 6 in little over 2 and a half hours in the first round before seeing off Camille Chevalier of France, who had won her opening tie by 6 and 5, by 4 and 3 after lunch

Leona now faces the 16th qualifier Joanna Charlton from Melbourne on Friday morning for a place in the afternoon quarter-finals.

Royal County Down Ladies' Olivia Mehaffey will meet Sweden's Madalene Sagstrom having beaten Lianna Bailey England's 5 and 4 and Elizabeth Prior 2 and 1.

Paula Grant beat Israel's Hadas Libman 4 and 3 in the morning and then defeat Switzerland's Kim Metraux late in the afternoon to set up a last 16 meeting with Sweden's Elin Esborn.

Scores

The par-three second at Cairndhu is one of the holes featured in the Ultimate Round

Discover Northern Ireland has drawn up a list of 18 of the most formidable and iconic holes from its world famous links to lesser known parkland courses to make up the Ultimate Round of golf.

But are they really Northern Ireland's top 18 holes? Have they missed some greats or added some that simply don't belong?

Check out the videos below to discover the gems you should be playing or visit www.discovernorthernireland.com/ultimate­round to see the full round.

Holes 1-3

Check out Castlerock Golf Club and Portstewart Golf Club with Broadcaster Liam Beckett, Michael Moss and course designer Des Giffin.

Holes 4-6

The best of Royal Portrush Golf Club and Kirkistown Castle Golf Club, with John Bamber, Charlene Reid and Paul Lappin.

Holes 7-9

Ardglass Golf Club and the world famous Royal County Down Golf Club have so much to offer. Hear broadcaster Gerry Kelly talk about the views at Ardglass and the father son duo Kevan and Reeve Whitson on what they consider to be two of the best holes in Northern Ireland, the fourth and the ninth at RCD.

Holes 10-12

Barry McGuigan talks about the 10th at Lough Erne, former Dungannon president Sean T. Hughes on the difficulty of their short, par-three ninth designed by Darren Clarke while Michael Hoey picks out the tough 13th at Galgorm Castle Golf Club. 

Holes 13-15

The 351-yard second at Ballycastle with broadcaster Gavin Andrews, the spectacular clifftop second at Cairndhu with club member Hugh Logue and the par-four 18th at Malone with club professional Michael McGee.

Holes 16-18

Belvoir Park's club professional Michael McGivern sings the praises of the par-three eighth while  Rory McIlroy's cousin Fergus explains how everyone tries to match the world No 1's feats as a 15-year old by driving the 357-yard 17th at Holywood Golf Club. Then there's the 13th at Royal Belfast Golf Club, which is a favourite of former Ireland rugby international Paddy Wallace.