In-form Lawrie just one shot adrift of leader Garrido

GOLF/EUROPEAN TOUR:Peter Lawrie put himself in a strong position going into the weekend at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles yesterday as he carded a 69 to move to seven under and a five-way tie for second spot, one shot behind leader Ignacio Garrido.

An eagle three at the par-five second gave Lawrie the perfect start to his second round, and although he bogeyed the third he would make birdies at the ninth and 12th to get to seven under.

A bogey at the 13th was quickly recovered on the next hole and he made par at the closing four holes to finish alongside first-round leader Mark Foster, Kenneth Ferrie, Thomas Bjorn and Lorenzo Gagli of Italy.

Damien McGrane slipped down the leaderboard to two under after a one-over-par 73, while Simon Thornton (74) and Michael Hoey (73) just made the cutline of level par.

Shane Lowry missed out by one shot after a 73, with Paul McGinley enduring a nightmare 80 on the course where he may lead Europe at the 2014 Ryder Cup to finish on 10 over.

US TOUR:Tiger Woods has already been told he will be part of America's team for the Presidents Cup in Melbourne in November.

Despite falling down the world rankings, giving his worst-ever performance in a Major at the USPGA Championship two weeks ago and missing out on the FedEx Cup play-offs, Woods has already been given an assurance by Couples that he will win his seventh cap on November 17-20th.

“I told him that he’s going to be on the team,” said Couples.

“The question came up and there’s no reason for me to wait until September 26 to pick Tiger.

“He’s the best player in the world forever. Is he playing well right now? No.

“He almost won Augusta (The Masters) four months ago, so you don’t do that by playing poor golf.”

With Woods not scheduled to play again before the team is decided, Couples will have astonished many people with his early decision. Ten players qualify off a points list that runs through the FedEx Cup play-off series for the next month and Couples cannot be sure yet who will be in need of his other wild card pick.

JACQUES LEGLISE TROPHY:Dermot McElroy, one of the rising stars of the Irish game, secured a vital singles point which helped Great Britain and Ireland to a narrow halfway advantage over the Continent of Europe in the match in Spain yesterday.

Having failed to open his account in the foursomes with Welsh Boys champion David Boote the Ballymena teenager made amends in the afternoon at Neguri.

He soon got into his stride against French boy Florian Loutre and established a useful lead by the turn and held firm to be three up with four holes to play.

He then won the 16th to claim victory after Callum Shinkwin and Toby Tre had given Britain and Ireland a flying singles start with wins. The other two Irish lads Gavin Moynihan and Gary Hurley played together in the foursomes and secured a share of the spoils but both lost their singles matches.

The foursomes ended with Great Britain and Ireland leading 2.5-1.5 and the singles were shared 4-4. Great Britain and Ireland need to share the honours today to regain the Trophy.