Golf:Rory McIlroy was in good company for the opening two rounds of the €4.1 million Honda Classic but he, Luke Donald and defending champion Camilo Villegas, were blown off course in difficult blustery conditions in Florida.
McIlroy and Donald, last week's WGC Matchplay winner, laboured to opening three over 73s, while Villegas slumped to a nine over 79.
After the trio set off from the 10th it was McIlroy who fared best in the opening exchanges to play his first five holes in level par, courtesy of a birdie at the 10th and a dropped shot at 12.
It was to be the 21-year-old's only birdie of the day as three further bogeys followed in testing conditions at the PGA National course.
Donald was quickly undone by a triple bogey at the 11th, his second, while he traded two birdies against two bogeys on the front nine.
As for Villegas, it was a miserable day at the Palm Beach venue where the Colombian failed to make a single birdie. By day's end he recorded five bogeys and two double bogeys at the fourth and sixth.
US Open champion Graeme McDowell was one of the late starters playing alongside Vijay Singh and Rickie Fowler. McDowell opened with a bogey at the first and was three over through 14 holes.
The early clubhouse target was set by American Spencer Levin, who cared a three under 67.
The 26-year-old Levin, runner-up last week in Cancun, kept up his good form with four birdies and one bogey for a one-shot lead over Australian Stuart Appleby, South African Charl Schwartzel and American Kyle Stanley, who all returned 68.
World number two Lee Westwood of Britain was three shots back after a 70 He could reclaim the number one world ranking from Germany's Martin Kaymer with a solo third place finish or better.
Playing the back nine first, Westwood got off to a slow start with bogeys at 12 and 17 but recovered with four birdies against two more bogeys on his closing nine.
Meanwhile John Daly is suing organisers of the Honda Classic, claiming he injured himself while trying to stop his backswing after being distracted by a fan taking his picture while he was playing in the 2007 tournament.
The two-time major winner filed a complaint in a Florida court yesterday seeking $15,000 (€10,700) in damages, alleging he aggravated an old injury as a female patron took a flash picture of him during the 2007 event.
Under the rules of entry for the tournament, spectators are prevented from taking cameras on to the course.
Daly, who withdrew from the tournament, alleges in the complaint that security was negligent because they allowed her on the course with a camera and failed to remove her after he told them she had a camera.
At the time of the incident, the woman was a resident of the complex where the tournament was being held and it was not clear whether she went through standard security screening.
In 2008, Daly smashed a spectator's camera into a tree when the individual tried to take his photograph at the Australian Open in Sydney.
The American, whose outlandish attire and booming drives have been a massive draw wherever he plays, has steadily slipped down the world rankings since he won the 1991 US PGA Championship 1995 British Open.
He has not won a tournament since 2004 but has rarely been out of the headlines since he has spent most of his adult life struggling with alcohol, anti-depressants, gambling, binge eating and divorces.
