Rain, then fog, puts Irish PGA on hold

IRISH PGA: Torrential rain initially and then a haar that rolled in from the Irish Sea combined to guarantee a day of frustration for the assembled field in the Irish PGA Championship at The European Club yesterday, reports John O'Sullvan.

Play commenced at 8am, but was suspended one hour and 35 minutes later, a delay that would stretch to seven hours and 10 minutes.

After two attempts to resume play, the haar caused another air-horn summons to the clubhouse. At that point 20 matches were out on the course, five of them on the third hole and a further five still waiting to tee off.

Tournament leader Pádraig Harrington, who had been monitoring the unfolding events from home, eventually walked up the avenue at 5.45pm, but the most golf he managed was to hit some balls on the range ahead of his scheduled 7pm tee-time.

The world number 10 is due to head for Carnoustie on Sunday night in preparation for the British Open, but he will also try to fulfil an engagement tonight by attending the wedding reception of JP McManus' daughter, Sue Ann, who is marrying Cian Foley, in Limerick. A helicopter will facilitate his post-tournament dash.

The players will tee it up again at 7.30am this morning with Harrington expected to be off the first tee by 8.15am: the first pairing of John Kelly and Padraic O'Rourke have completed 16 holes of their second round, but the top 10 players on the scoreboard will have to play a full 36 holes today.

SENIORS TOUR: Ireland's Denis O'Sullivan is battling tiredness and a cold putter as he bids to win against the odds at the Open de France Senior de Divonne.

The Cork man added a level par 72 to his opening 69 and will head into today's final round at Golf du Domaine de Divonne four strokes off the pace on three-under-par 141.

There is a three-way tie at the top of a bunched leaderboard with former PGA Championship winner Tony Johnstone of Zimbabwe, Chile's Guillermo Encina and Australian David Good on seven-under-par 137.

Twenty players finished within five strokes of the lead, including O'Sullivan, who saw two birdies cancelled out by bogeys at the 14th and 16th holes as fatigue kicked in. "I just got tired on the back nine and totally lost concentration. The greens are beautiful, but there is a lot of movement in them, and I don't think I have holed anything outside of two feet in two days," said O'Sullivan.

Compatriot Eamonn Darcy, who had opened his account with a five-over-par 77, was 10 shots better yesterday to move back to level par.

AMATEUR: Gareth Shaw, from Lurgan, is off to sunny Spain tomorrow for a richly deserved break after beating fellow Irish international and Irish Close champion Shane Lowry of Esker Hills by one hole in a nail-biting Magners North of Ireland Amateur Championship final at Royal Portrush.

The 22-year-old, who won the title in 2005, also grabbed a little bit of revenge: "Shane beat me by one hole in the second round of the British Amateur at Royal Lytham. He is a very good player, and had a great win in the Irish Close," added Shaw.

Despite the uncomfortable conditions, it was an unusually brisk decider, a quickfire pace on the fairways, lasting three hours and seven minutes.

The closing hole was nailbiting for both Shaw and Lowry. The pair had to play three-iron approach shots against a strong wind, and both efforts finished just inside the front fringe.

Lowry rolled his putt up to seven feet short of the pin. Shaw sent his 50-footer on a straighter line, but finished on a tricky hogs-back near the hole. But he kept his nerve and the Odyssey putter did the trick.

Then it was 22-year-old Lowry's turn, and surprisingly his effort didn't threaten the hole.

In the morning semi-finals, Shaw beat Cian Curley of Newlands by 4 and 3 while Lowry eliminated Irish international colleague Richard Kilpatrick 3 and 2.

WOMEN'S AMATEUR: Ireland belied their lowly qualifying position to crush outclassed Scotland in the battle of the Celts at Castelconturbia in Milan yesterday to keep alive their hopes of winning the second flight in the European Ladies Team championship.

"It was a good performance. I only wish it had been in the first flight," said Irish captain Phil O'Gorman. A 4-1 victory was fully deserved and in the ninth place play-off today Ireland will meet France.

Co Louth's Deirdre Smith and Maura Morrin from The Curragh always had the edge over Rachel Livingstone and Roseanne Niven in a 2 and 1 foursomes win.

Tara Delaney, preparing for her first Vagliano Trophy appearance, was sent out at the top of the singles order and she had a cracking game against Scotland's most successful player, Jenna Wilson. It was nip and tuck all the way but Delaney got home on the final green.

Tara's sister, Karen, overcame Emily Ogilvy 4 and 3, while Danielle McVeigh, the Royal County Down teenager, recorded a 3 and 2 success against Michele Thomson. The former British strokeplay champion Heather Macrae collected Scotland's only point with a 3 and 2 win over Marian Riordan.

BOYS/GIRLS: Ireland kept their hopes alive of topping flight two in the Boys' Team championship in Denmark with a 4-1 win over Wales.

However, things went from bad to worse for Ireland in the European Girls Team championship in Oslo, where they lost 3-2 to the Czech Republic. Sisters Lisa and Leona Maguire won their foursomes match and Victoria Bradshaw took her singles.

US PGA: Sweden's Carl Pettersson and American Jason Dufner share the early halfway lead on 11-under-par 131 in the John Deere Classic at the Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois, yesterday.

Pettersson added a 64 to his opening 67 while Dufner shot 66.

Sharing second place are Duffy Waldorf, Kevin Sutherland and Tim Clark on 133.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Craig Stadler and Scott Hoch fired three-under-par 69s to share the early lead in the Champions Tour Open at Endicott, New York, yesterday. The US pair lead by one from a group of four including Bruce Fleisher on 70.

Des Smyth mixed three birdies with four bogeys in an opening one-over-par 73.