James Byrne explains what went

wrong for him on Hawaii

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
James Byrne's first two rounds (84 and 80) in the Hawaii college tournament at the end of last week were so far out of the ordinary for the Banchory student at Arizona State University, that I E-mailed him to see if there was any explanation.
A lot of golfers are very good at talking about their good rounds; not all of them want to speak about their "bad" rounds ... but James is a notable exception.
Here's his reply:

Colin,
This tournament was competed among 22 teams, far too many for a college event, and as a result we played shotgun starts for each of the three rounds.
With severe winds only picking up after about seven holes in the first round, certain players were punished much more so than others. I had to play my last six holes into the wind and played them in +10.
In the second round, I managed to rack up an 8 on a 120yd par 3, as did my team-mate Knut, amongst others. The hole played straight down a strong wind with water short and long and was more of a guessing game than a golf hole.
I played only marginally better in the third round for a two-under-par 70, than I did the first two.
I tied at +18 with Peter Uihlein, who is coming off a phenomenal 09 season and is 5th in WAGR, so I think that tells all.
However, I did not play to my best and will have to make vast improvements.
Cheers,
James Byrne

Laetitia Beck, the Florida-based Israeli girl who won the Verizon Junior Heritage girls' championship today on Hilton Head Island (image by Cal Carson Golf Agency; click on it to enlarge).

Stephanie Meadow finishes joint seventh behind

Laetitia Beck, winner of girls' Verizon Junior title

Curtis Cup team place contender Stephanie Meadow from Northern Ireland faded from contention over the second round of the Verizon Junior Heritage - one of the United States' top Under-19 years tournaments - at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina today.

Stephanie, a student at the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy on the island, was in the picture with a Saturday round of 74 but she required 80 shots for her next round over the Harbour Links.

Her total of 154 saw Stephanie finish joint seventh, seven shots behind the winner of the 36-hole event, Laetitia Beck from Israel, a student at a golf academy in Florida. Laetitia, who is a member of Caesarea Golf Club in Israel, had rounds of 73 and 74 for 147.

She won by two shots from the favourite, 14-year-old Alexis Thompson from Coral Springs, Florida. Alexis had rounds of 73 and 76 for 149.

Last year Alexis beat Laetitia in a play-off for the title.

Miss Beck has committed herself to enrol at Duke University, Durham in North Carolina in the autumn. Duke has been the strongest team on the US women's college circuit in recent years.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 143 (72 + 71)
147 Laetitia Beck (Israel) 73 74.

149 Alexis Thompson 73 76.
150 Sierra Sims 74 76.

153 Portland Rosen 77 76, McKenzie Talbert 75 78, Juliet Vongphoumy 75 78.

154 Collins Bradshaw 76 78, Katherine Perry 75 79, Irene Jung 75 79, Brittany Mai 77 77, Stephanie Meadow 74 80, Monifa Sealy 76 78.

155 Simin Feng 77 78.

156 Jessica Korda 82 74, Alison Emrey 82 74.

158 Ri Hyang Park 75 83, Tanaporn Kongkiatkrai 78 80.

159 Daniela Lendl 80 79, Jackie Chang 80 79.

161 Suzie Lee 76 85, Minami Levonwich 78 83, Anne Marie Covar 79 82.

162 Janie Jackson 77 85.

162 Lauren Salazar 81 82.

164 Jaye Marie Green 82 82, Hally Leadbetter 79 85, Linda Luo 76 88, Joyce Kim 79 85.

168 Noriko Inoue 86 82, Harin Lee 84 84.

169 Katie Rose Higgins 78 91.

170 Yuri Otsuka 87 83.

171 Elizabeth Thompson 80 91.

LEADING BOYS' TOTALS TO COME

Some good news about Tiger at last:

He's been reunited with his family

By NICK ALLEN

Tiger Woods has been reunited with his family for the first time in over a month after leaving a rehabilitation clinic.
The world's troubled number one golfer completed a programme in Hattiesburg, Mississippi from where he was picked up by his wife Elin Nordegren.
Despite earlier reports that the couple intended to divorce they are now said to be spending time alone to work on their marriage and intend to return to their home in Orlando, Florida.
Woods was reunited with his family in time for the first birthday of his son Charlie on Monday. The couple also have a daughter Sam, 2.

Reports that he had completed his course led to immediate speculation that he could return to the golf circuit within weeks.
There are suggestions that he could play in the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona in a fortnight.
He would have to register by Friday for the tournament which is open to the top 64 players in the world.
However, his return appeared more likely to come in the Arnold Palmer Invitation in Florida, an event he has won six times, and which is played at the end of March, shortly before the Masters.

Laura Davies leads in New South Wales Women's Open

England’s Laura Davies enjoyed the English type weather to take the lead into the final round of the New South Wales Women’s Open in Sydney on Saturday. The former winner of the event took advantage of the better morning conditions to card a 2-under par 70 to finish at 5-under par 139 after 36 holes.
Overcast conditions greeted the morning field, with the wind picking up mid way through their round, while the afternoon players contended with strong gusty winds and squally showers making club selection and scoring difficult.
“Overall I played pretty well but it could have been a lot better than that had the putts gone in but I think the pins were difficult today, moreso than yesterday.” Davies said after the round. Her round included three birdies and one bogey, with her birdies all came on the par 5’s on the front nine, at the 4th, 6th and 8th holes. Her only bogey came on the 17th when she overshot the green for her second shot and couldn’t get up and down.
The former World No. 1 heads a jam-packed leaderboard with 14 players within four shots of the lead, including the three previous winners of the tournament; Davies, Joanne Mills and Sarah Oh.
The New South Wales quartet of Karen Lunn (71), Mills (70), Oh (73) and Rachel Bailey (72) and Queensland’s Katherine Hull (72) are all at four-under par, 140 total. Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley posted a 71 for 141 total, with West Australian Kristie Smith carding a 70, New South Wales Wendy Doolan, 72 and first round leader New Zealand’s Sarah Nicholson shot a 75 to be all at 141 and sharing seventh position.
Davies, will be in search of her second NSW Women’s Open title and with the experience of winning over 70 titles worldwide, she will be hard to beat.
A total of 61 players made the cut including 46 professionals who will compete for their share of the $100,000.
SCOREBOARD LATER

Left to right: Scott Crichton, Jordan McColl and Steven Maxwell.

Three Scots students in New Mexico top 15

Three Scots finished in the top 15 in Saturday's New Mexico Collegiate Cup golf tournament at Sierra de Rico Golf Club in the quaintly named town of Truth or Consequences on Saturday.
Scott Crichton from Dalgety Bay, Fife, a fourth-year student at Western New Mexico University, had rounds of 72 and 73 over the 7,012yd par-72 course for a total of 145 and a share of 10th place.
Dundee's Jordan MColl, a freshman student at New Mexico Junior College, was the first-round leader with a two-under-par 70 but a second-round 77 for 147 pushed him down to joint 12th position.
Steven Maxwell from Glasgow, a third-year student at Western New Mexico, scored 77 and 71 for 148 and a share of 15th place.

Edward Parker (Western New Mexico), a senior student from Sandbach, England, had rounds of 76 and 77 for 153 and a share of 25th place.
Chris Davis (Western New Mexico), a freshman student from London tied for 33rd place with scores of 77 and 80 for 157.

There was a play-off for the individual title between two New Mexico State Univesity students, Ryan Wood (72-69) and Will Holdridge (72-69), who tied at the head of a field of 39 players on 141. Wood won the play-off.