Golf Digest: ROYAL TROPHY:Europe's defence of the Royal Trophy had an almost perfect start as Seve Ballesteros' team raced into a convincing lead over their Asian counterparts in the opening day foursomes at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand.
Defending the trophy they won in its inaugural year 12 months ago, Europe claimed a 3½ - ½ lead over the Joe Ozaki-captained Asians.
Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke set the tone for the Europeans with a comfortable 4 and 3 win over Korea's SK Ho and Toru Taniguchi from Japan, while Johan Edfors and Henrik Stenson gave Tetsuji Hiratsuka and Prom Meesawat little chance with a 6 and 5 hammering.
Niclas Fasth and Robert Karlsson led for all but one hole against all-Thai pairing Thongchai Jaidee and Thaworn Wiratchant before closing out the day's final match 3 and 1.
The only glimmer of hope for the Asians came in the foursomes featuring Paul McGinley and Anthony Wall against Asian number one Jeev Milkha Singh and YE Yang.
Despite trailing by two with three holes to go, the home side battled back to earn half a point but with the fourballs today and Sunday's singles ahead, Ozaki's team have a tough task ahead.
JOBURG OPEN:David Higgins shot a second 69 to trail South African trio Hennie Otto, James Kingston and Jakobus Roos by six shots at the halfway mark in the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club Johannesburg, South Africa.
The South Africans were all 11 under after playing both the par-72 West and par-71 East course, with the tournament reverting to the championship East course today.
Australian Terry Pilkadaris, whose six-under-par total took him to 10 under, is fourth while Argentinian Ariel Canete is level at nine under with two more South Africans, Dean Lambert and Louis Oosthuizen.
Roos posted the best round of the day on the West course, shooting a seven-under-par 65.
The temperamental Otto went round the course in five under.
Higgins went to the turn in 34 with birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, dropped his only shot at the 15th, but birdied the last for his second 69
Kingston was unhappy with his start, but more than overjoyed with the way he came alive at the end to finish six under par for the day.
On the second hole he hit a five iron to 15 feet and two-putted for the birdie on the par five. At the ninth, his three iron into the green left him with a 30-foot putt, which he sank.
A birdie on the 17th and eight iron in from 167 feet on the 18th gave him an eagle opportunity from eight feet out, which he took comfortably. Kingston could not truly explain his relaxed approach and said: "I enjoy the golf courses and I was very surprised on Thursday as I hadn't played a lot of golf coming into this week and to start on the tougher of the two courses.
"This morning I was getting a bit frustrated because you saw the scores from Thursday, where everyone shot the lights out of the course. To go out there and not get anything going and get one under after eight holes is a bit frustrating. I then got an eagle on nine and nothing seemed to happen on the back nine again. Then all of a sudden Sven (Struver) got on a run and I finished birdie, eagle which suddenly turned it into a good round."
US TOUR:Michelle Wie hit just one fairway in another embarrassingly poor performance in a men's tournament in the opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
She was eight over par at the turn, before steadying the ship and negotiating the back nine even with the card en route to an eight-over-par 78 at Waialae Country Club.
The 17-year-old, who finished near last in her final three men's appearances last year, always tries to pull something positive from even the most horrific of performances, and this was no different.
"I was really proud of myself in the end for making those birdies," she said. "By the end, I actually feel like I'm playing golf. I feel I have a lot of game still left in me, a lot more than today."
Wie is 15 shots off the pace set by England's Luke Donald, who signed for a seven-under-par 63. Donald, whose gallery amounted to "three or four" people at the start of the day and not many more at the end, enjoyed the serene silence to compile nine birdies in his round.
KJ Choi claimed second place after a 64 that included an eagle from nearly 50 feet at the par-five 18th. Jim Furyk and Will MacKenzie were two shots back.
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