Continental Europe fought back to lead two of the five fourball matches against Great Britain and Ireland during the early stages of the second round of the Vivendi Seve Trophy at St-Nom-La-Breteche.

Open champion Padraig Harrington’s bid for a third Alfred Dunhill Links championship title was gathering pace in the second round of the £2.5m (€3.6m) event at St Andrews.

DARREN CLARKE and top caddy Billy Foster are to be reunited as a partnership at the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, on August 12-15 for the third time.

Tiger Woods ignored the distractions of a camera-happy spectator to zoom up the leaderboard in the third round of the 132nd Open championship.

English rookie Nick Dougherty and Swedish Ryder Cup player Joakim Haeggman both carded five under par rounds of 66 to share the early clubhouse lead on the opening day of the Murphy’s Irish Open at Fota Island.