Irish trio beat the elements to open a 10-shot ITC lead

TOURNAMENT ROUND-UP/PGA OF EUROPE: Ireland, well served by Greenore's Robert Giles, are turning the International Team Championship into a procession in which not even second-placed Scotland seem to have the remotest chance of catching them on the final day.

Rounds of five under by Giles, a four-under by St Margaret's John Kelly, and a non-counting 75 from Liam Brady - magnificent golf in the circumstances - meant that even rounds of 71 each by the Scottish pair of Sam Cairns and Robert Arnott were nowhere near good enough to maintain a challenge at Roda, Murcia, in Spain.

Now cushioned by a lead of 10 shots - 16-under-par 416 compared to Scotland's six under - in the championship supported by Calidona and Glenmuir, only a crash of world banking proportions would deny Ireland their second ITC title and their first for 10 years, when Giles was also a member of the team.

Behind this pair of runaways, England recovered well with rounds of 67 by Paul Simpson and 71 by Paul Wesselingh to claim third place, while Wales and Germany are fourth on plus-four and Netherlands and Italy are joint-sixth on plus-six.

EUROPEAN TOUR: South African Tim Clark and Australian Scott Hend led the Australian Masters after a storm-interrupted first round at Huntingdale yesterday.

The pair fired five-under-par 67s in windy conditions to move two shots clear of England's Daniel Wardrop and Australians Anthony Brown, Michael Wright and Chris Downes.

"You could afford to be aggressive downwind but into the wind you had to be cautious," said Hend. "I needed two different games out there."

Clark, world number 43, was forced off the course by the storm but returned to pick up two birdies. "I was starting to drop shots before they called us off and I was lucky to come back out and make a few birdies," he said.

Brown, Wardrop and Wright completed opening 69s and Downes will finish his first round today. Two-times major champion John Daly made seven bogeys and a late eagle on the way to a disappointing four-over-par 76.

Gareth Maybin also had a disappointing day, dropping shots at the last three holes for a 77.