Lowry Starts Tshwane Test

Shane Lowry fired a four-under-par 68 to lie three shots off the pace on Thursday at the Tshwane Open, despite arriving in South Africa without his clubs. With only a short practice time Lowry still managed six birdies and two bogeys on the day.

Kevin Phelan five under after 14 holeswity the Deise man set to resume play on Friday morning.

Peter Lawrie was one over through 14 with the Dubliner hoping to improve on his last three missed cuts.

Michael Hoey finished 3 under after a round of 69.

Damien McGrane ended 74 and Gareth Maybin on 75 strokes.

Leader Simon Dyson closed with birdies on his final four holes to card a seven-under-par 65 and take the clubhouse lead overnight when play was suspended due to the threat of lightning.

South African Trevor Fisher junior was also on seven under after 16 and will complete his final two holes on Friday morning.

“It’s a lovely start,” said Dyson. “It’s my lowest round in a good few years, especially on the first day. It just puts you in a nice frame of mind, a good stead, and sets it up nicely to have a good weekend.”

There are five players a shot back including four-times European Tour winner Darren Fichardt. South Africans have won 10 of the last 13 European Tour events on home soil.

England’s Ross Fisher, who has not won since 2010, is also on six under.

Dyson says improvement with the putter was key to his first-round success.

“Putting has been the letdown for the last few weeks, but me and my caddie had a chat about what I’m doing wrong. We spent about an hour and a half on the putting green yesterday and I managed to get a good feel for it,” Dyson said.

“I holed a good six-footer for par at the first and then about a 40-footer for birdie at the second and that was it, I was off and running.”

Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate is the longest course in European Tour history. It has four par-five holes, including the monstrous 685-yard fourth.

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Irish Trio Make Dunhill Cut

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Kevin Phelan, Damien McGrane and Gareth Maybin made the cut at the Alfred Dunhill Championship  at Leopard Creek on Friday, with Peter Lawrie, Michael Hoey and Simon Thornton out of the weekend mix.

The European Tour Rookie, Phelan, signed for a second round 74 to share 49th place with a number of others, including McGrane who went around in two strokes less on Friday. 

Maybin was also amongst the 49th place ties after a round of 75.

Charl Schwartzel and Morten Ørum Madsen are set to go head-to-head again this weekend at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Madsen claimed his maiden European Tour title at last week’s season-opening South African Open Championship, playing alongside former Masters Tournament champion Schwartzel in the final group on Sunday.

And the pair will tee off last at Leopard Creek Country Club on Saturday after both reached eight under par.

Schwartzel claimed this title for a second time by a whopping 12 shots last year, and despite sharing the lead the 29 year old was not entirely satisfied with a second straight 68.

“Last year was quite a high standard, but I must say the course is playing more difficult,” said Schwartzel after his bogey-free round.

“Towards the end I hit the ball a little bit better, but in the beginning I wasn’t very comfortable with the whole thing.

“You just adapt a little bit and hit slightly different lines. They’re not necessarily going to give you birdies, but they also keep the bogeys off the card. If I can feel a bit more comfortable then I’ll hit more aggressive lines then I might make a few more birdies.

“It’s just one of those courses where the targets I look at are all in the right places,” he said, “and also, I’ve got comfortable on these greens.”

Overnight leader Madsen had a rollercoaster round, the Dane taking a double-bogey seven on the 13th but bouncing back with three birdies in the next five holes and an eagle at the par five second from 15 feet.

However, he then dropped shots at the next two holes and double-bogeyed the fifth before birdies at the sixth and eighth completed a 71 to lie eight under par.

“I’ve got a bunch of confidence right now,” he said. “I really believe that I’m going to hit good shots on pretty much every shot. I’ve heard it’s tough to come out the week after you’ve won and play well. I felt pretty good building up to this week and I just wanted to go out there and put some solid shots together.

“I wasn’t expecting to go out and shoot 65 today. I knew I was playing well, so I wanted to put a decent round together. I won last week and I’m over the moon happy, so everything that happens this week is icing on the cake. I’m just trying to enjoy the ride.”

Two players who made plenty of birdies were former Ryder Cup pair Ross Fisher and Søren Hansen, who share third on seven under par. 

England’s Fisher carded a joint best-of-the-day seven under par 65 in the morning session, while Dane Hansen’s identical score came in the afternoon.

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Phelan and Whitson at School

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Kevin Phelan and Reeve Whitson started brightly in their attempts to overcome the opening hurdle in the scramble to secure European Tour cards in the First Qualifying Stage Section C Ribagolfe, Portugal.

Both Waterford's America-based Phelan, who played in all four rounds in the US Open in June, and the rapidly improving Whitson from Mourne fired highly respectable rounds of two-under-par 70 in Lisbon.

Phelan and Whitson are tied for 10th, five strokes behind round one leader Thomas Pieters.

Nicholas Grant has a lot of work to do following an opening 75, three-over-par after two double-bogeys.

Justin Pieters fired a seven under par round of 65 on Tuesday to carve out a two stoke lead at the Ribagolfe, Portugal.

The Belgian has been under the guidance of compatriot Nicolas Colsaerts, and he put that experience to good use in making nine birdies on Tuesday. He also dropped a couple of shots in his first 18 holes, but that did not take the shine off an otherwise sublime performance in Lisbon.

Pieters is now handily placed to be one of those in 24th place and ties who will progress to the second stage.

Two strokes back are American Daniel Berger who carded six birdies and two bogeys in his first eight holes en route to a five under par opening score, and Chile’s Martin Ureta.

Three Spaniards – Vicente Blasquez, Eduardo Larrañaga and Diego Suazo – are all at four under par and in a tie for fourth, and they are alongside Canada’s Jordan Krantz.

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GB&I Trail in Walker Cup

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The United States will head into the final day of the Walker Cup with an 8-4 advantage over Great Britain and Ireland.

It had looked promising for the visiting side when they established a two and a half to one and a half advantage after the morning foursomes but they were blown away in the afternoon session on The National Golf Links of America in New York.

The US were victorious in six of the eight singles with only Nathan Kimsey and Gavin Moynihan avoiding defeat for GB&I.

Kimsey claimed a half from his clash with Justin Thomas while Moynihan enjoyed a 2&1 victory over Patrick Rodgers.

The afternoon struggles were in stark contrast to a morning session which GB&I edged.

The first match was halved with GB&I winning the next two before the United States won the final foursome of the session.

The first match-up saw home pair Cory Whitsett and Bobby Wyatt refuse to let the visiting duo of Kimsey and Max Orrin capitalise on the one up lead they held on six occasions.

Instead each time Whitsett and Wyatt came back to tie including on the 18th hole when Orrin hit his eagle putt 12 feet past the hole with Wyatt sinking a two-foot birdie to win the hole and halve the match.

Next up was Sheffield's Matthew Fitzpatrick, who became the first Englishman since 1911 to win the US Amateur Championship - propelling him to number one in the world amateur golf rankings - and also win the Silver Medal at July's Open Championship at Muirfield.

He was partnered by Neil Raymond and they went one up against Jordan Niebrugge and Nathan Smith at the par-four fifth, a lead they held until the 15th. The GB&I duo won the par-five 18th when Raymond hit an eagle attempt to three feet and Fitzpatrick calmly rolled the ball in for a one up victory.

Raymond told www.usga.org: "To go out in foursomes over here and get the first solid point on the board was very important. I was just really happy to get it done.

"I believe in my ability, and obviously believe in the world number one [Fitzpatrick] over here."

The visitors moved further ahead when Garrick Porteous and Rhys Ough defeated Michael Weaver and Todd White, three and one.

Victory was clinched at the 372-yard 17th. Welshman Pugh hit his wedge approach shot to four feet. Weaver also hit a fine wedge approach to seven feet, but White missed the birdie attempt and Porteous' birdie was conceded to give GB&I victory.

Pugh said: "It gets my [competitive] juices flowing playing for Great Britain and Ireland. It's an honour and brings the best out of me."

The hosts then hit back in the final match of the session, Rodgers and Thomas defeating Moynihan and Kevin Phelan two and one.

The United States took a lead they never relinquished on the 15th before Rodgers recorded the clinching birdie on the 17th, hitting a 111-yard wedge to six feet.

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