Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen retained a firm grip on the Lyoness Open in Austria after a third-round 68 left him 16 under par and three clear of the field.

Brilliantly led from the front by Kevin Phelan, Munster got their Interprovincial Championship campaign off to the best possible start when beating holders Connacht with two matches to spare at Royal Co Down yesterday.

Pony-tailed German Marcel Siem came up with a dream way to burst into the world’s top 100 for the first time today.

Ryder Cup captains past and present Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal are part of a 96-strong field at Sunningdale tomorrow battling for 10 places in next month’s Open Championship.

Little-known Frenchman Julien Quesne equalled the Aloha course record to become the shock winner of the Andalucian Open today.

Thomas Levet, the Ryder Cup player who broke a leg jumping in a lake to celebrate his French Open victory last July, is out of golf again with a broken rib.

England's Simon Khan will take a one-shot lead into the third round of the Portugal Masters after another day of low scoring in Vilamoura.

DUSTIN JOHNSON lit up Royal St George’s yesterday with a hole-in-one from 161 yards on the par-three 16th hole in the opening round yesterday.

American Scott Verplank has turned down the chance to act as first reserve in The Open at Sandwich tomorrow.

Thomas Bjorn, who lost the 2003 Open at Sandwich from three ahead with four to play, remains first reserve for this week’s championship.

ENGLAND’S Simon Dyson will play in next week’s British Open after American David Toms yesterday became the fourth player to withdraw this week.

England’s Simon Dyson will play in next week’s Open Championship after American David Toms today became the fourth player to withdraw this week.

Thomas Levet has followed Tiger Woods in withdrawing from next week’s Open after fracturing his shin jumping in a lake on Sunday.

RORY McILROY’S history-making US Open triumph received further recognition yesterday when he was named The 2011 Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Month for June.

JUMPING in a lake to celebrate his French Open win has put Thomas Levet out of this week’s Scottish Open — and quite possibly the British Open as well.

THOMAS LEVET described himself as living out a dream yesterday when he finally captured the French Open championship 25 years after first playing in it.

Thomas Levet described himself as living out a dream today when he finally captured the French Open championship 25 years after first playing in it.

James Morrison dropped three shots in the last two holes to only share the lead with fellow Englishman Mark Foster with a round to go at the Alstom French Open in Paris.

Less than two weeks away from his defence of the US Open title Graeme McDowell suffered the potentially devastating shock of an 81 – the joint worst round of his entire European Tour career – at Celtic Manor today.

Gregory Havret, runner-up to Graeme McDowell in last year’s US Open, withdrew from the Saab Wales Open today following the death of his father.

FORMER Irish Open champion Shane Lowry comfortably made it through the 36-hole qualifier for the US Open at Walton Heath yesterday.

Colin Montgomerie was only in joint 28th place after a level-par first round of 72 in the fog-delayed US Open qualifying event at Walton Heath today.

THE body language seemed to suggest Rory McIlroy was disinterested after recording a shock 76 on the opening day of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

GOLF: IRELAND’S Darren Clarke battled back from a double bogey at the third and a further dropped shot at the ninth, to shoot a level par 70 and lie just three shots behind leader Chris Wood at the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca.

Chris Wood claimed a three-stroke advantage at the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca as Irish and British golfers dominated the upper reaches of the leaderboard heading into the weekend.

SCOTLAND’S Elliot Saltman will be free to return to European Tour golf from next week after serving his three-month ban.

The chairman of The Open’s championship committee has dismissed as “absolute nonsense” the accusation that they showed favouritism in deciding when to stop play during the second round at St Andrews.

Rory McIlroy’s dream of becoming the youngest Open champion for 117 years turned into a nightmare with an 80 at windswept St Andrews today.

Rory McIlroy’s dream of becoming the youngest Open champion for 117 years turned into a nightmare at windswept St Andrews today.

Former champion Paul Lawrie today got the 139th Open Championship under way in near-perfect conditions at St Andrews.

The new US Open champion Graeme McDowell will have to wait until just before 2pm on Thursday when he tees off with two former winners of that title, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy at the Open in St Andrews.

Thomas Levet was left wishing he was playing at The Masters rather than commentating on it after bursting into contention at the Andalucian Open in Malaga today.

WELSHMAN Rhys Davies captured his first European Tour title with a brilliant display in Morocco yesterday.

Ross Fisher failed to make the move he was looking for when the Dubai World Championship resumed today.

There are now more Europeans than Americans in the world’s top 20 after tournament victories for Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher took them to 15th and 17th respectively – both personal bests.

An ambitious Ian Poulter saw his five-stroke halfway lead at the Barclays Singapore Open disappear after just six holes of his third round today as Thomas Levet and Japan’s Kodai Ichihara took full advantage before play was suspended.

Ian Poulter’s one-shot lead at the Barclays Singapore Open remained intact this morning as the rain-affected first round suffered another delay on the second morning at Sentosa Golf Club.

Ian Poulter shrugged off a six-week break to claim the lead midway through the first round of the Barclays Singapore Open today.

England’s Ross McGowan has moved up 61 places to 116th in the world rankings after his Madrid Masters victory.

The full list of 28 teams for golf’s World Cup in China on November 26-29 has now been confirmed.

THOMAS BJORN, chairman of the European Tour players’ committee, has heavily criticised Pádraig Harrington for his reaction to a possible tightening up of membership rules.

Steve Stricker is the new world number two after his victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship in America.

Padraig Harrington is back in the world’s top 10 after finishing joint runner-up in the opening event of the US Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs.

Korean Yang Yong-eun’s amazing victory over Tiger Woods in the US PGA Championship – the first win by an Asian-born player in any of the men’s majors - has taken him from 110th in the world to 34th.