Desmond and McManus vie for honour of hitting shot of day

AMATEURS Dermot Desmond and JP McManus vied for the honour of hitting the shot of the day at St Andrews yesterday.

There wasn’t a professional on the Old Course looking forward to his confrontation with the dreaded 17th, otherwise known as the Road Hole. McManus, however, was completely unfazed. He simply reached for his trusty seven wood and cut in a glorious shot that landed like a feather on the green 20 feet from the cup. He safely two putted for his net birdie. McManus and Pádraig Harrington are the defending champions and if they haven’t quite struck the heights of last year as yet, they moved nicely up the field yesterday to stand 14 under par and sharing 18th place at the halfway stage, five behind the pacesetters, Emanuele Canonica and Gianluca Vialli and Soren Hansen and the ex-Dutch soccer player, Ruud Gullit.

Unfortunately, Vialli had to return to Italy last night because of business commitments. For the final two rounds, he is replaced as a marker by Scott McPherson whose scores will not count towards the team competition. That won’t harm the chances of Darren Clarke and Dermot Desmond replacing their compatriots as Dunhill team champions. They are now tied for 7th on 16 under and with Clarke in great form and Desmond seriously good at contributing when he is most needed, they are a very decent bet to claim the glory.