Golf-Madsen and Schwartzel on course to resume rivalry

 

November 29, 2013 12:25 PM

MALELANE, South Africa, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Defending champion Charl Schwartzel and Dane Morten Orum Madsen look set to renew last week's South African Open rivalry after ending Friday's second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship as joint leaders.

Former U.S. Masters champion Schwartzel, who last year romped home by 12 strokes for the third-largest winning margin in European Tour history, returned a second successive 68 for an eight-under-par total of 136 at Leopard Creek on the border of the Kruger Park.

Madsen, who played alongside Schwartzel in winning the South African title last Sunday, overcame two double bogeys to finish with three birdies in the last five holes for a one-under 71 for his round.

Ryder Cup players Ross Fisher of England and Soren Hansen of Denmark both produced the best rounds of the day, seven-under-par 65s, on the picturesque course, putting them one off the lead on 137.

South African Tyrone van Aswegen and Englishman Richard Finch were a further shot back although Finch, who lost his tour card last year and is playing by invitation, might have been further up the leaderboard.

He was the early frontrunner on Friday but two bogeys and then a double bogey on his last three holes saw him finish with a 70.

Double major winner John Daly missed the cut as he continued his comeback from an elbow tendon injury in only his second tournament since surgery in July.

The American's three-over 73 left him on 147 for the first two rounds, three shots above the cut. (Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Tony Goodson)

Madsen and Schwartzel on course to resume rivalry

 

November 29, 2013 12:29 PM

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Charl Schwartzel of South Africa tees off on the 14th hole during the second round of the inaugural Turkish …

MALELANE, South Africa (Reuters) - Defending champion Charl Schwartzel and Dane Morten Orum Madsen look set to renew last week's South African Open rivalry after ending Friday's second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship as joint leaders.

Former U.S. Masters champion Schwartzel, who last year romped home by 12 strokes for the third-largest winning margin in European Tour history, returned a second successive 68 for an eight-under-par total of 136 at Leopard Creek on the border of the Kruger Park.

Madsen, who played alongside Schwartzel in winning the South African title last Sunday, overcame two double bogeys to finish with three birdies in the last five holes for a one-under 71 for his round.

Ryder Cup players Ross Fisher of England and Soren Hansen of Denmark both produced the best rounds of the day, seven-under-par 65s, on the picturesque course, putting them one off the lead on 137.

South African Tyrone van Aswegen and Englishman Richard Finch were a further shot back although Finch, who lost his tour card last year and is playing by invitation, might have been further up the leaderboard.

He was the early frontrunner on Friday but two bogeys and then a double bogey on his last three holes saw him finish with a 70.

Double major winner John Daly missed the cut as he continued his comeback from an elbow tendon injury in only his second tournament since surgery in July.

The American's three-over 73 left him on 147 for the first two rounds, three shots above the cut.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Tony Goodson)

Adam Scott holds 2nd-round lead at Australian Open

November 29, 2013 1:30 PMAP - Sports

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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland watches as his ball flies after teeing off on the first hole on the …

SYDNEY (AP) -- Adam Scott held a two-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy as the tournament's star players moved to the top of the Australian Open leaderboard at Royal Sydney on Friday.

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Scott shot 2-under-par 70 for a two-round total of 12-under 132. McIlroy, playing in the morning and avoiding the rain and storms that later hit the course, had a 65.

Scott and McIlroy will play together on Saturday in the third round.

''It was always going to be a day where you just had to hang on,'' Scott said of the tough conditions. ''He (McIlroy) is one of the best players in the world so I'm going to have to bring my best game.''

Australian Richard Green shot 66 and was three strokes behind Scott, who is trying to add the Australian Open to his Australian PGA and Australian Masters titles to become the second player after Robert Allenby in 2005 to capture the Triple Crown of Australian majors.

McIlroy felt lucky to have escaped the worsening conditions.

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Kevin Streelman of the United States left, gets a lift in a marshal's cart after he retired ill on t …

''The weather wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be and the wind didn't pick up,'' he said. ''So I knew we could take advantage of that, and the greens were a little bit softer as well.''

Defending champion Peter Senior had an 81 Friday and did not make the cut.

Kevin Streelman, who played with Matt Kuchar in the American team at last week's World Cup, retired on the fourth hole due to an eye infection. Playing for the first time in Australia, he was later taken to hospital for treatment.

Streelman, playing with Scott and Jason Day, shot 70 in the opening round Thursday and began Friday's round with a birdie.

But as his eye condition worsened, he had a 5 on the par-3 third and a bogey on the par-4 fourth before deciding to retire.

''It's pretty rough right now but we'll see what we can do,'' Streelman said. ''The doctor said it was pretty badly infected.

''I've been trying to do some drops but I started getting dizzy and it's the first time I've ever (withdrawn) at a tournament ... I'm really sad to do it.''

Streelman won the PGA Tour's Tampa Bay Championship in March and finished second with Kuchar behind Day and Scott in the team event at the World Cup at Royal Melbourne.

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Adam Scott of Australia tees off on the second hole during the second round of the Australian Open g …

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John Young Kim of the United States watches his ball fly after teeing off on the 17th hole during th …

Golf-OneAsia drop inaugural tour championship from 2013 schedule

 

November 29, 2013 11:56 PM

SYDNEY, Nov 30 (Reuters) - OneAsia have dropped their inaugural Tour Championship from the 2013 schedule after failing to secure enough big name players for the $2 million tournament.

The event was announced in May and scheduled to take place at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China next month but will now be part of an expanded 2014 schedule, a spokesman for the Asia-Pacific tour said.

"The tournament promoters set a high bar for the inaugural championship, but unfortunately several of the targeted players already had commitments, so the first edition has been postponed until next year," he said.

"It has been a year of consolidation both for OneAsia and the industry in general, but we expect to shortly announce an outline of our expanded 2014 schedule which already includes a confirmed new tournament, the Fiji International, co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia."

The decision to postpone the Tour Championship means this week's co-sanctioned Australian Open will be the ninth and final individual event of the year.

Australian Matthew Griffin now looks certain to secure the tour's Order of Merit, barring a spectacular collapse over the final two days at Royal Sydney. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Greg Stutchbury)

OneAsia drop inaugural tour championship from 2013 schedule

 

November 30, 2013 1:27 AM

SYDNEY (Reuters) - OneAsia have dropped their inaugural Tour Championship from the 2013 schedule after failing to secure enough big name players for the $2 million tournament.

The event was announced in May and scheduled to take place at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China next month but will now be part of an expanded 2014 schedule, a spokesman for the Asia-Pacific tour said.

"The tournament promoters set a high bar for the inaugural championship, but unfortunately several of the targeted players already had commitments, so the first edition has been postponed until next year," he said.

"It has been a year of consolidation both for OneAsia and the industry in general, but we expect to shortly announce an outline of our expanded 2014 schedule which already includes a confirmed new tournament, the Fiji International, co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia."

The decision to postpone the Tour Championship means this week's co-sanctioned Australian Open will be the ninth and final individual event of the year.

Australian Matthew Griffin now looks certain to secure the tour's Order of Merit, barring a spectacular collapse over the final two days at Royal Sydney.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Greg Stutchbury)