GOLF: Walker Cup star Nick Dougherty, who turned down an invitation to play in this week's Lancome Trophy in Paris to compete in the European Tour School stage one qualifier, opened up with an eventful level par 70 at Carden Park's Cheshire course.
The 19-year-old from Chorley club Shaw Hill, a professional for less than a month, admitted: "It was a struggle because I did not play well. I missed several greens, especially when the wind got up, and had to scramble a lot of pars."
Best of the Irish was Blanchardstown's John Kelly, whose two-under-par 69 at Carden Park left him two shots of the lead held by three players.
RUGBY: Wales and British Lions star Scott Gibbs has confirmed his retirement from international rugby. Gibbs won 53 caps for Wales and was a Lions tourist on three occasions. His decision to call it a day at Test level had been widely expected. He will continue playing club rugby for Swansea.
RUGBY: The final of the European Cup will be played at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. In a break with tradition, European Rugby Cup Ltd, the tournament organisers, have decided to name the final venue prior to the start of the competition.
Cardiff staged the first two finals in 1996 and 1997.
OLYMPICS: A meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne has reiterated that the Salt Lake City Winter Games will go ahead in February despite security fears following the World Trade Centre terrorist atrocity.
IOC director general Francois Carrard said the scenario of a jet-liner catastrophe had been one that Olympic security chiefs had always borne in mind since the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes.
Carrard said the main security responsibilities still rested with Salt Lake City organisers, who will report to the IOC today.
SOCCER: Rangers were handed a multi-million pound European lifeline yesterday as common sense finally prevailed in the club's long-running dispute with UEFA. For the second week running, Rangers were hours away from being expelled from the UEFA Cup for refusing to travel to Russian crisis republic Dagestan.
Yesterday UEFA announced the tie with Anzhi Makhachkala would now be a one-leg affair on Thursday, September 27th, at a still-to-be-decided neutral venue.
SOCCER: Middlesbrough's hopes of adding South African striker Benni McCarthy to their armoury have been dashed after he was refused a work permit for the second time. The club were confident that their appeal against the initial decision by the Department of Employment to reject McCarthy's application would be successful, but now they have had to shelve plans to bring the 23-year-old Celta Vigo frontman to England.
