Today's other news of golf
Dalgleish again
Colin Dalgleish will get another chance to avenge the narrow defeat his side suffered in the Walker Cup at Royal County Down earlier this month after the R&A yesterday reappointed the Scot as the Britain and Ireland captain for the 2009 encounter at Merion, Pennsylvania, writes Paul Gallagher.
Despite Britain and Ireland narrowly losing to the Americans 12½-11½ at Newcastle, Dalgleish was praised for his thorough preparations and the camaraderie that he instilled in his young team. Even though coming up just short, the dramatic fightback by his side in the final day singles - after losing all four morning foursomes - was one of the most absorbing memories in the history of the Walker Cup.
Dalgleish also captained the B&I team in last year's St Andrews Trophy when they beat Continental Europe 15-9 at Marianske Lazne in the Czech Republic.
The 46-year-old will captain B&I at the St Andrews Trophy in 2008 before focusing on the Walker Cup once more in September 2009.
Sugrue struggles
Daniel Sugrue, the only Irishman in the field, made a disappointing start to the European Challenge Tour's Dutch Futures tournament.
The Killarney professional carded a first round of five over par 77 at the Golfclub Houtrak on the outskirts of Amsterdam to lie in a tie for 91st place, leaving himself an uphill battle to make the halfway cut.
Spain's Pablo Larrazabal emerged as the first round leader after an opening 68 took him to four under par.
First round: 68 - P Larrazabal (Spn); 69 - P Whiteford (Sco); B Mason (Eng); 70 - G Rojas (Arg); F Valera (Spn); M Lundberg (Swe); A Grenier (Fra); J Larsen (Nor); P Nilbrink (Nor); F Delamontagne (Fra); S Davis (Eng); J Wade (Aus); 71 - I Van Weerelt (Ned); M King (Eng); Oliver Whiteley (Eng); T Dykes (Wal); J Foret (Fra); 72 - A Oldcorn (Sco); M Maritz (Rsa); A Schmidt Hansen (Den); E Little (Sco); A Hay (Sco); G Acosta (Arg); M A Carlsson (Swe); J Mellor (Eng); J Abbate (Arg); R Russell (Sco). Irish: 77 - D Sugrue.
Nicholson shines
Rookie Sarah Nicholson of New Zealand took the overnight lead following the first day's play at a rain-beaten UNIQA Women's Open in Austria.
The 22-year-old shot a five-under 67 to take a two stroke clubhouse lead at Golfclub FÃhrenwald in Wiener Neustadt. She has played in only five European events so far this season with a best finish of tied 28th in Northern Ireland. Sweden's Elin Ohlsson was the next best placed player on three-under-par.
Nicholson was one of a handful of players to have completed a full first round before first round play was suspended for the day due to darkness. Heavy rainfall caused tournament officials to suspend play by more than five-and-a-half hours at 8.50am.
The first 10 groups - playing off two tees - managed less than an hour's play before the first round was halted as rain continued to batter the course.
First round play will now be completed this morning, with some time to spare in case of any further weather delays. The event will be reduced from 72 holes to 54 holes.
Leading competed first round scores: 67 - S Nicholson (NZl), 69 - E Ohlsson (Swe), 70 - LKristin Saether (Nor), L Pace (Rsa), N C Booth (Eng), 72 - F Seeholzer (Swi), 73 - T Plucksataporn (Tha), S Heath (Eng), 74 - N Angehrn (Swi), H Salonen (Fin), 75 - S Carlborg (Swe), A Cvitan (Swe), 76 - S Lee Bregman (Rsa), AL Caudal (Fra), S Dickens (Eng), 77 - K Borjeskog (Swe), E Esterl (Ger), T Calzavara (Ita), M Hochwimmer (Am) (Aut).
Melbourne hosts
Australia's Royal Melbourne Golf Club will host the Presidents Cup for a second time in 2011, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced yesterday.
Royal Melbourne became the first Cup venue outside the United States for the 1998 edition of the biennial team competition between the US and the Internationals.
Australia was chosen as host country for 2011 earlier this year before the PGA Tour decided on Royal Melbourne as the venue course over Kingston Heath Club, the Metropolitan Club and Royal Sydney.
