Reed Leads Day Two at Fota Island

Paul Reed produced one of the best rounds of the competition to go into the final day of the Audi Cork Irish Masters with a one-shot lead.

Reed (Bristol and Clifton) went round in 67 (-5) on Thursday at the Fota Island Resort in Cork, Ireland to lead the race to the £10,000 top prize.

His performance included two eagles – at the par-five fourth and also at the par-five 18th – and he is one ahead of Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw, East Lothian) and Daniel Sugrue (Killarney).

McAllister, who has played on the Tour for the last two seasons, will claim his highest ever finish if he can beat the tied 14th he recorded in August 2009 at the Marriott Tudor Park in Kent.

Ireland’s Ruaidhri McGee and England’s Sandeep Grewal produced two of the finest rounds of the day as they both went round in -4 (68) to comfortably make the cut.

McGee (Rosapenna, Donegal) shot 72 on Wednesday but made seven birdies, one bogey and one double bogey, while Grewal (Heswall, Merseyside) included six birdies and two bogeys in his round.

Daniel Wardrop (Didsbury, Manchester) looked to be heading home early after a score of 76 (+4) on Wednesday but he saved himself with a -5 (67) on Thursday.

Jamie Abbott, a winner at event one at Wensum Valley, Norfolk, held a share of the lead at the start of play but a run of four bogeys in six holes looks to have ended his chances of another victory.

This event is the sixth in the EuroPro Tour season and a total of 56 players made the cut, which came at +3, although Order of Merit leader Chris Hanson was not one of them.

Hanson, who has won two of the five events of the season so far including last week at Galgorm Castle, suffered a miserable day as his round of 81 (+9) included double bogeys at the fifth and 16th.

Graeme Clark, second in the money list, will also not be playing on the final day at Fota Island as he could not recover from three bogeys in four holes and missed the cut by two shots.

Memories - 2003 Nissan Irish Open

The Nissan Irish Open returns to one of the great courses of Irish and, indeed, World golf this week when Portmarnock, near Dublin, hosts the event. The course has not staged the Irish Open since 1990 but prior to that was a regular venue.

Opened in 1894 as a nine hole course then two years later as an eighteen hole facility, the course became twenty seven holes in 1971. Surprisingly, given modern day trends, much of the work was done by the various club committees in place at the various construction stages, with advice from professional advisers. The original design work had been done, in the main, by the brainchild behind the project, W.C. Pickeman who had rowed across to the peninsula of Portmarnock in 1893. There had been a small private golf course on the land until then but things soon changed.

There are some stunning and brilliant holes at Portmarnock and is one of the must play courses on a golfing trip to Ireland.

Recent winners of the event have included Soren Hansen, Colin Montgomerie, Patrick Sjoland and Sergio Garcia but the last winner at Portmarnock was Jose Maria Olazabal.

The field includes local favourite Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn Peter Lonard, Phillip Price, Ian Poulter and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Australasians other than Lonard are Peter O’Malley, Peter Fowler, Richard Green, Jarrod Moseley, Michael Campbell, Brett Rumford, Terry Price, Stephen Scahill and Greg Turner.

Courtesy www.iseekgolf.com

McIlroy Defends Open Preparations

Andy Murray with McIlroy

Rory McIlroy has revealed that the media frenzy which followed his US Open triumph meant he had no other option than to take a three-week break from competitive golf.

The Northern Irishman has been criticised by Colin Montgomerieand others after he skipped the recent French Open in order to stay at home and prepare for the upcoming Open Championship.

Responding to the criticism, the US Open champion said on his website after practising at Royal St George's: "Some people may have wondered why I chose to go from one major straight to another without anything in between and the answer is simple.

"Because of what happened at Congressional and the way it became such a big deal (he was the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923 and did it with a record score and by an eight-shot margin) I wanted to get everything out of the way and sorted so that when I did start playing again I could just concentrate on golf.

Stern test

"If I had gone to France I just would not have been able to practise or prepare properly.

"Every time I play I want to go out there with a chance to win and that wouldn't have happened.

"There were so many commitments and so much media to do that I would have not been able to give my best, so I decided to wait until I was absolutely ready.

"I didn't touch a club for 10 days after the US Open and then after just hitting balls on the range at home it did feel good when I finally got out on the course again."

McIlroy went on to reveal that he was one of the first players to catch a glimpse of the course layout at Sandwich and he believes the venue will produce a stern test when play gets underway.

"I went down to Royal St George's on Tuesday and Wednesday so that I could get a good look before too many people were there," he added.

"The practice was great because we had one calm day and one when the wind got up so I got a great feel of what we can expect.

"It wasn't my first visit because I remember playing the 2005 home internationals there and also the British Amateur the following year. And, more important, I like the course.

"Some people think it's a bit quirky in places, but I believe it's a good test of golf.

"I don't think the rough will be as heavy as they'd like it, but it will still be tough.

"For me it's quite different to a lot of the other links courses because the greens at Sandwich are quite undulating with some pretty severe slopes in places.

Disappointed

"In some cases you can't just run the ball up, you have to fly the ball all the way to the green and that's ok by me.

"It's not that it suits any particular player because the standard is such that anybody teeing up these days has a chance."

Former world number one Tiger Woods is a notable absentee from the major event as his struggles with injury continue.

And 22-year-old McIlroy, while disappointed not to have one of the sport's greats in attendance, admits the American's absence makes the path to victory somewhat easier.

"Tiger Woods won't have a chance this year because unfortunately he has not recovered from his injuries," he added.

"It's always a disappointment when Tiger isn't in the field because people want to see him play and he brings so much to the game.

"On the other hand, when he isn't there it increases my and everybody else's chances, but I'd certainly prefer him to be there."

Paul McGinley Makes 500 Milestone

O'Grady makes presentation with McGinley [Getty]

Paul McGinley joined an illustrious group at this week’s Barclays Scottish Open when he became just the 20th player to make 500 European Tour appearances.

The 44 year old from Dublin – who was presented with an engraved silver ice bucket by European Tour Chief Executive George O’Grady to mark the occasion – is the third Irishman to reach the landmark, following in the footsteps of Eamonn Darcy, who made 610 appearances, and Des Smyth, veteran of 594 European Tour events.

McGinley’s first appearance was in the 1989 Irish Open as an amateur and he won his European Tour card at the 1991 Qualifying School, making his debut as a professional in the 1992 Johnnie Walker Asian Classic.

In the subsequent 19 years he has amassed more than €10million in prize money and won four European Tour titles, his first victory coming in the 1996 Hohe Brücke Open in Austria. He went on to capture the Oki Pro-Am the following the year in Madrid before defeating Paul Lawrie and Darren Lee in a play-off at the 2001 Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open.

His fourth and most significant career victory came in the 2005 season ending Volvo Masters, when he held off the challenge of Spaniard Sergio Garcia at Valderrama.

“The Volvo Masters was probably my biggest win and is a great highlight of my career,” he said.” I’d lost to Michael Campbell in the World Match Play final which hurt a lot so it was great to come back and win at Valderrama a month later. Losing to Michael is the one I really regret. He had just won the US Open and I was down the whole match which was played over 36 holes and I got him back to all square with six to play and then lost, having fought my way back. Anybody’s career has highs and lows though and going on to the Volvo Masters was a definite high.”

Perhaps his most notable achievement however has been his role in The Ryder Cup, where his fierce competitiveness came to the fore as he helped Europe to three consecutive victories over the United States, memorably holing the winning putt on his debut in 2002 at The Belfry.

“It’s been quite a successful period for European Tour players and I like to think that I’ve been part of that with our successes in The Ryder Cup, where we have turned the momentum from losing most Ryder Cups to winning most of them,” he said.

“Being part of the turning of the tide in Ryder Cup’s has been great. We won three in a row and they were the three that I played in. That has provided a base for the success that European players are now having in majors.

“Holing the winning putt in The 2002 Ryder Cup at the Belfry was probably the highlight of my career and is what I will be remembered for. I’ve played three Ryder Cups and I’ve never lost in a Seve Trophy Team or a Ryder Cup Team. It’s a great record and I’ve also never lost a singles match.

“Winning the World Cup with Padraig Harrington was a huge highlight for both of us too. To go on the world stage and win so early in our career was great. Particularly as we went to the same school and are from the same part of Dublin.”

McGinley has never been shy in showing his patriotism, with the image of the Irish flag drapped around him being one most memorable from The Belfry 11 years ago, and his compatriots have played a significant supporting part in his career.

“My first appearance as a pro was in Thailand and Des Smyth chaperoned me along with Eamonn Darcy and Christy O’Connor Jnr,” he said. “They did so for my first five years on Tour. I was great friends with Darren Clarke too and used to room with him a lot. He turned pro the year before me and we shared together for the first three or four years. 

“It’s all changed really. Now I’m the one putting an arm around some of the younger Irish guys, Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin. I’m very patriotic so anything I can do to help them but it’s not just the Irish guys, I’ll help anybody. It’s not something I impose on people but if they need advice I’m around. “

Already a member of The European Tour’s Tournament Committee, McGinley’s increasing contribution as one of the senior players on the circuit was underlined by his impressive captaincy of the Great Britain & Ireland Team at the Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros in 2009. That led to him being named one of Colin Montgomerie’s Vice Captains at The 2010 Ryder Cup and McGinley has aspirations of leading Europe himself one day.

“I really enjoyed being captain at the Vivendi Trophy a couple of years ago and I got a lot out of that,” he said. “I’d like to think maybe if I got the opportunity to be a Ryder Cup Captain I’d love to do it. But that is a long way in the future yet. I still feel I have a lot of good golf to play over the next few years. I want to really get on with my golf career. I’ve enjoyed my years on Tour very much and can’t believe how quickly they’ve gone by. I just wish it was my 200th and not my 500th appearance!”

In fact McGinley’s achievement in reaching 500 European Tour appearances is testament to his remarkable tenacity, having battled a long standing knee injury that predates his professional career. 

“I’ve missed quite a few events due to injury but I’ve always bounced back,” he said. “I guess it could have been even more than 500 appearances had it not been for the injuries. I’ve had seven surgeries over a 20 year period but I came into the game with the problem. It initially happened in Gaelic Football at 19 and I had on surgery before I came on Tour and then six on Tour.

“It’s a difficult injury for a golfer as you are always rotating on that left knee. I’ve had a lot of physio over the years but I’ve always bounced back. I’d like to think I can go on to make 600 appearances.”

PERSONAL PROFILE

FULL NAME Paul Noel McGinley

COUNTRY Ireland

BORN 16.12.66; Dublin, Ireland

RESIDENCE Sunningdale, England

HEIGHT/WEIGHT 5ft 7in 11st 7lb (170cm 73kgs)

FAMILY Wife: Alison (m. 1996); Children: Niamh (1999), Killian (2000), Maia (2002)

INTERESTS Football, West Ham Utd, music, Formula 1

TURNED PRO 1991 (plus 4)

Q. SCHOOL 1991

EUROPEAN TOUR CAREER RECORD (After 2011 Alstom Open de France)

EVENTS PLAYED 499

IN MONEY 365

TOP TEN FINISHES 79

CAREER EARNINGS €10,656,051

EUROPEAN TOUR INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE VICTORIES: Total 4

1996 Hohe Brücke Open

1997 Oki Pro-Am

2001 The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open (play-off)

2005 Volvo Masters

EUROPEAN TOUR APPROVED SPECIAL EVENTS VICTORIES: Total 1

1991 UAP Under 25’s Championship

OTHER TOURNAMENT VICTORIES: Total 4

1997 Irish PGA Championship

2000 Irish PGA Championship

2002 Smurfit Irish PGA Championship

2003 Smurfit Irish PGA Championship

RYDER CUP HISTORY

APPEARANCES 2002 (winners), 04 (winners), 06 (winners), 2010 (Vice Captain)

RYDER CUP RECORD Overall: Played: 9, Won: 2, Lost: 2, Halved: 5

TEAMS (PRO)

Ryder Cup 2002 (winners), 04 (winners), 06 (winners), 2010 (Vice Captain)

Alfred Dunhill Cup 1993, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00

World Cup 1993, 94, 97 (winners), 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 08

Vivendi SeveTrophy 2002 (winners), 05 (winners), 09 (Captain) (winners) 

Royal Trophy 2006 (winners), 07 (winners), 09

TEAMS (AM)

Walker Cup 1991

Irish Youths, Seniors 1987-91

AWARDS

1996 Tooting Bec Cup

2005 European Tour Shot of the Year

2007 Tooting Bec Cup

Rory McIlroy Fulfils a Busy Week

Cockiness and swagger serve him on the golf course, but there's much more to golf's young phenomenon, Rory McIlroy.

The U.S. Open winner might hang with tennis great Rafael Nadal, knock back some Heinekens or slip the electronic dance sounds of Swedish House Mafia into his iPod.

Such tidbits are rolling out these days from the 22-year-old hero of Holywood, Northern Ireland, who won the tournament by eight strokes and instantly drew comparisons to Tiger Woods.

"I didn't realize how much my life would change, even in the last 10 days," McIlroy said on "Piers Morgan Tonight," aired Thursday.

As Woods has done over the years, McIlroy simply left the competition in the dust. He was the youngest winner of the tournament since the legendary Bobby Jones in 1923.

For someone under a spotlight these days, the athlete with a tousle of hair looked at ease during his interview with Morgan.

"To me, I won a golf tournament and that was the end of it," McIlroy said. But it really is bigger than that."

He paid tribute to his parents, who both worked when he grew up. His father, Gerry, held down three jobs and was a "calming influence" during the U.S. Open, said McIlroy, an only child.

The U.S. Open gave the golfer a shot of redemption after his final-round meltdown at the Masters in April.

"If anything it made me more determined to prove to people and myself that I wasn't ... a choker," McIlroy said.

While saying he was inspired by Woods, McIlroy isn't one to compare himself.

But he doesn't feel intimidated, either.

"I don't want to feel inferior to any other golfer in the world," he told Morgan. "If you do that, you give them an advantage from the start."

While the young McIlroy has one major championship, Woods has 14, including three U.S. Open wins. Woods, 35, has had no PGA wins since taking a brief leave from the game in late 2009 after admitting infidelity.

Life on the tour can bring its own problems, McIlroy conceded.

"You need a good team around you to keep you grounded."

McIlroy, who plays in the British Open next month, said he and girlfriend Holly Sweeney are a "normal couple." They have two dogs and she is completing her university degree.

A fan of boxing and soccer, McIlroy said he doesn't want the flash of fame to affect him.

After all, there are more tournaments to win.

"I'm very confident in my own abilities. I believe in myself," McIlroy said. "I'm not playing for money. I'm playing for a place in history."

Piers Tonight - CNN - Rory McIlroy

Five Players Share Lead Day One

Five players share the lead after a thrilling opening day of the Audi Cork Irish Masters at the Fota Island Resort in Cork, Ireland.

The event, the sixth of the 2011 EuroPro Tour season, features the best up-and-coming British and Irish golfers with more than 150 men battling for the £10,000 top prize. This was the first time the Tour had held an event at Fota Island, a venue that had previously hosted the Irish Open on the main European Tour.

Conditions were very wet at the start of the day and Jamie Abbott was an early clubhouse leader as his flawless round of -4 (68) included birdies at the second, seventh, tenth and 18th.

Abbott (Fynn Valley, Suffolk, pictured) won the opening event of the season at Wensum Valley, Norfolk but failed to make the cut at the other two EuroPro Tour events he has played this year.

However, Abbott was later joined on -4 by England’s Ian Ridgway, South African Darryn Lloyd, Scotsman Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw, East Lothian) and Ireland's Neil O'Briain, who would have had an overnight lead if had not double bogeyed the 18th.

Graeme Dunlea (Adare, County Limerick), Paul Maddy (Gog Magog, Cambridgeshire) and Adam Hodkinson are a shot further back on -3 (67). It promises to be a fantastic, hard-fought competition as more than a dozen players are on -2 after rounds of 68.

Chris Hanson (Woodsome Hall) and Graeme Clark (Doncaster) are first and second in the Order of Merit respectively, but both need solid rounds on Thursday if they are to make the cut.

Hanson, who has won two of the five tournaments so far in 2011, described his round as ‘very average’ as he made birdies at the 10th and 17th but a bogey at the 15th and double at the par-four sixth left him on +1 (73).

Graeme Clark is also on the same score, although he made a good start with two birdies in the first four holes of the front nine but bogeys at three of the next four saw him drop down the leaderboard.

Andy Shakespear (Benton Hall, Essex) held a share of the lead with four birdies in the opening five holes but it proved to be much ado about nothing as he made three bogeys in his next six holes.

All of the entrants will play a second round on Thursday and at the end of that the top 50 plus ties will advance to the final round on Friday where the overall champion will collect £10,000.

The action is being filmed and Matchroom sport will produce a two-hour highlights package that will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Wednesday, July 20.

Galea Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

A Canadian sports doctor whose high-profile clients have included Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to bringing unapproved drugs, including human growth hormone, into the United States to unlawfully treat professional athletes.

Dr. Anthony Galea, a healing specialist from Toronto who was sought out by the biggest names in sports, was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on charges that he smuggled human growth hormone and other substances into the United States and lied to border agents to avoid getting caught. He faces similar charges in Canada.

Some of the U.S. charges were dismissed with his plea.

Galea, who wasn’t licensed to work in the United States, was accused of treating 20 professional athletes at their homes, hotels and friends’ houses from October 2007 to September 2009.

The indictment did not identify any clients, but prosecutors said they included golfers, professional baseball and football players and others.

Galea, 51, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, eliminating the need for a trial — along with the likelihood that evidence and witness statements could publicly reveal information about who he visited or billed.

Galea, who’s married with seven children, agreed to forfeit $275,000 before sentencing Oct. 19. He was released until sentencing, at which he could get up to two years in prison.

The doctor, who has a vocal cord disorder, answered the judge politely in a croaking voice and said he wouldn’t appeal.

Woods, who recently announced he would skip the British Open next week because of “minor injuries” that haven’t fully healed, has said he’s been treated by Galea but didn’t receive performance-enhancing drugs. The New York Mets’ Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran also have acknowledged talking to federal authorities during the investigation.

Rodriguez, the New York Yankees’ star slugger, told Major League Baseball officials that he didn’t receive performance-enhancing drugs from Galea after the doctor told The Associated Press he had prescribed anti-inflammatories for him.

Prosecutors alleged some athletes received injections of HGH, banned by major sports, and Actovegin, a derivative of calf’s blood not approved for use in the United States. They also said some athletes were given intravenous Actovegin drips and platelet-rich plasma therapy, a treatment used to speed healing that involves extracting blood from patients and re-injecting just the plasma.

Galea was widely known for using platelet-rich plasma therapy. He became the focus of Canadian and U.S. authorities’ attention in September 2009, when his assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, was stopped at the border in Buffalo with a small quantity of human growth hormone, Actovegin and vials of foreign homeopathic drugs.

Catalano is scheduled to be sentenced later this month after pleading guilty to a count of lying to border agents. As part of her plea, she’s been cooperating in the investigation.

The U.S. criminal complaint charged Galea with conspiracy, smuggling, distributing human growth hormone and introducing an unapproved drug into interstate commerce.

U.S. charges of smuggling, conspiring to lie to federal agents and defraud the U.S. government and distributing HGH were dismissed with Galea’s plea.

In October 2009, Canadian authorities charged Galea, the former team doctor of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, with selling Actovegin, conspiracy to import an unapproved drug, conspiracy to export a drug and smuggling.

Galea was accused of making multiple trips to U.S. cities from 2007 to 2009 to meet with athletes from Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the Professional Golfers’ Association and injecting at least seven with a drug mixture containing human growth hormone.

He was accused of injecting at least one NFL player with Actovegin and providing a retired player with human growth hormone after his playing days had ended. He billed three football players about $200,000, prosecutors said.