McGinley gets place

Golf: Paul McGinley will play in the World Matchplay Championship in Melbourne on January 3rd-7th because 17 of the world's top 64 players have so far said no to the tournament. And 20 others have yet to make their intentions known.

McGinley, ranked 68th in the world, will thus get a crack at the £700,000 first prize - Ryder Cup points are on offer too. The other player to benefit from the scratchings is Andrew Coltart.

Darren Clarke defends the title he memorably won by beating Tiger Woods in the final in California in February, but among those who will definitely not be at the event this time are world number one Woods, number four Phil Mickelson, number five Lee Westwood, number 11 Jesper Parnevik, number 13 Nick Price and number 16 Sergio Garcia.

Last Sunday was the cut-off point to decide the rankings for the event, but the undecided, who include Colin Montgomerie, Duval, Davis Love, Hal Sutton and Vijay Singh, have until next Wednesday to take up their places.

Tennis: Patrick McEnroe yesterday succeeded his older brother John as captain of the United States Davis Cup team. McEnroe was confirmed as the country's 38th captain following his brother's resignation last month.

The new captain's first task is to prepare his squad for February's first-round match against Switzerland in Basle. McEnroe spent nine years on the ATP Tour and played Davis Cup in 1993, 1994 and 1996 but was largely known for a doubles career from which he gleaned 16 titles.

BBC: The BBC yesterday insisted that legendary commentator David Coleman (74) had not been "axed." His contract expires at the end of the year. "It's complete rubbish," said Mike Hales, head of sports publicity. "We would not do that to a servant of the BBC of such distinction. We want to sit down and talk to David about what he wants to do."

Motor Cycling: Former World Super-bike champion Carl Fogarty has called on his old team Ducati to quit the series in which he won his four titles. Fogarty wants the Italian firm to concentrate on developing a new four-stroke machine for the Grands Prix World Championship.

Sailing: The director of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race has stepped down after an adverse finding by a coroner into the storm-swept 1998 race in which six people died in a massive storm, the host club said yesterday. Phil Thompson was singled out for criticism in a coroner's report into the 1998 race. This year's race begins on St Stephen's Day.