Heggarty still on course for seniors card

Sports Digest/Golf: Ireland's Jimmy Heggarty is tied for fourth place after the third round of the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School final in Portugal.

Heggarty shot a second successive 69 to remain right in contention for a card.

Former Senior Major champion Stewart Ginn and Bertus Smit, who enjoyed a brilliant amateur career before turning professional five years ago, head the list of 41 players who have made it through to the last round.

Ginn, who won the Ford Seniors Players' Championship on the US Champions Tour in 2001, carded a 68 to tie Smit at the top of the leaderboard on seven under par 206, three ahead of Hegarty.

It was the Australian's third consecutive below-par score at the Pinta Course and would have been even better but for a sloppy three-putt at the short 17th.

Smit, who won over 100 Amateur Open titles in his native South Africa before turning pro, carded a rare birdie four at the difficult 596-yard closing hole for a round of four under par 67.

A total of six full cards and eight conditional cards are available for the 2006 European Seniors Tour.

BADMINTON: Chloe Magee, the Donegal 16-year-old, celebrated her first international outing for Ireland at yesterday's Celtic Triangular International in Perth with a singles win which helped her side to 3-2 defeat of the Welsh.

Earlier, Ireland had suffered a whitewash at Scottish hands with Magee losing out to world circuit player Yuan Wemyss.

But the side came back to beat the Welsh with Magee, three times winner on the home circuit this season, beating Hariett Johnson 11-5, 5-11, 11-7.

Keelin Fox and Ruth Kilkenny beat Johnson and Kerry Ann Shepperd 15-11, 15-13 in the women's doubles while, in the mixed, Huang Bing and Donal O'Halloran, both on the comeback from injury, made light work of the Welsh opposition beating Paul Le Tocq and Shepperd 15-7, 15-2.

GOLF: Tiger Woods shot a five-under-par 67 to lead by three strokes after the first round of the Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii.

USPGA champion Phil Mickelson was in second place on 70 while US Open winner Michael Campbell dropped away in the closing holes but was in third after a one-over 73.

Fiji's Vijay Singh had a disastrous seven at the par-three 11th and finished on 75.