Tiger Troubles in Turkey

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Tiger Woods failed to cash in as the opening round of the inaugural Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya turned into a birdie-fest.

Overnight thunderstorms and torrential morning rain meant the start was delayed by three hours and the soft greens and lack of wind at the par 72 Montgomerie Maxx Royal meant scoring conditions were ideal.

But while three players - Englishmen Paul Casey and Steve Webster along with South African Darren Fichardt all ended the day tied for the lead on seven-under - Woods could only shoot one-under in the 10 holes he managed before darkness fell.

That left the world number one down in a tie for 50th in the elite 78-man field contesting the penultimate event of the four-tournament Finals Series.

Race To Dubai leader Henrik Stenson fared better as he carded five birdies and a bogey in an outward 31 to sit on four-under after 10 but Justin Rose, despite two opening birdies, also failed to make hay and ended alongside Tiger at -1.

Woods made the ideal start by flipping a wedge to four feet at the par five opening hole and rolling in the putt for a birdie four.

After pars at two and three, he escaped with another after narrowly avoiding the water at the fourth - Rose did get wet and made bogey - before adding another three to stay at one-under after seven.

The 14-time major winner got the ball rolling again with a birdie two at the eighth but failed to get up and down at the ninth after coming up short with his approach and fell back to one-under. Woods added a par at 10 but failed to complete the 11th after the darkness quickly closed in.

Rose followed his bogey at four with another at five but birdied six before reeling off four straight pars. Stenson's only dropped shot came at two as he birdied one, three, four, seven and nine to make his move up the field.

Lee Westwood also finished the day at four-under after 11, one in front of playing partner Ian Poulter.

As for the leaders, Casey (who birdied his first four holes), and Fichardt still have four holes still to complete while fellow pacesetter Webster has six.

"I really thought you've got to get off to a quick one and I did exactly that," said Casey.

"It was foot flat to the floor today and just fire at the pins, take advantage of the soft conditions and see what happens."

In a bunched field, eight players share fourth spot - Ricardo Gonzalez, Thorbjorn Olesen, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Ricardo Santos, George Coetzee, Peter Uihlein, Thomas Bjorn and Justin Walters.

Gonzalez and Olesen were two of just 15 players to complete 18 holes as they set the clubhouse target of six-under 66.

The first round will resume on Friday at 8am local time while round two tee-times will be the same as in the original first round draw.

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Olazabal Points to Seve Trophy

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Jose Maria Olazabal has called for Ryder Cup qualifying points to be made available at the Seve Trophy in order to entice the top golfers to play in the biennial match between Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe.

Olazabal led Europe to a 15-13 win over Sam Torrance's Britain & Ireland side at St Nom La Breteche on the outskirts of Paris earlier this month but the competition was something of a damp squib.

Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald were among several leading players to shun the event and the match attracted small crowds and generated little media attention.

"We all owe something to Seve (Ballesteros)," said Olazabal of the late Spaniard who won five majors in a swashbuckling career that lit up the European Tour. "And it would be really good to see the top players competing.

"I think to make it fit as a legacy to Seve we need to have the really top players playing in it. That would make it a fantastic tournament.

"Maybe they could get points that would count towards Ryder Cup qualification. That would make it more appealing and more interesting.

"It is a team event after all," Olazabal told Reuters in an interview.

The 47-year-old Spaniard, who also led Europe to a remarkable Ryder Cup comeback victory over the United States in Illinois last year, had mixed feelings about the absence of the tour's leading lights at St Nom La Breteche.

"I was a little sad some of the top players didn't play but on the other hand I understand most of them have a tight schedule," said Olazabal.

"They were committed to the FedExCup in America and they knew they also had four very important events in the European Tour's Final Series at the end of the year that are going to be crucial for them so I guess they have to have time off here and there.

"But I've always believed the Seve Trophy can be a very important tournament," said Olazabal while attending the Nespresso Trophy final for amateur golfers in San Sebastian, Spain where the company was announced as the official coffee supplier for the 2014 Ryder Cup.

"The format is beautiful because we don't play much match play any more and the atmosphere is great.

"We all know each other really well in both teams, we try to beat each other on the golf course but after that we make sure we have a great time so it would be nice to see the top players involved more."

Olazabal, who shed tears of joy after the spectacular Ryder Cup victory at the Medinah Country Club last year, has not ruled out a possible vice-captaincy role when Paul McGinley leads Europe in the 2014 edition at Gleneagles, Scotland.

"After Medinah I don't think it could get any better than that for me," said the 1994 and 1999 U.S. Masters champion, "but if Paul thinks I could be of any help then obviously I would think about it.

"I would talk to Paul, let's put it that way."

Henrik Stenson virtually assured himself a place at next year's Ryder Cup after pocketing $11.4 million for winning the FedExCup last month and Olazabal believes the tall Swede will be a positive influence in Europe's team room.

"We have to take our hats off to Henrik, what a season he's had," said the Spaniard. "It's been quite amazing especially coming from where he has come from, quite extraordinary."

Stenson was outside the world's top 200 not long ago but a string of sparkling performances this season have sent him rocketing to fourth in the rankings.

The Swede has transformed his career in much the same way Olazabal did. The Spaniard won the 1999 Masters after battling back from rheumatoid polyarthritis in three joints of his right foot and two in his left.

"We were both at rock bottom and somehow, in different ways, we managed to find our way back to the top," said Olazabal. "You have to give every credit to Henrik in that regard.

"He is pretty much in the Ryder Cup team already. He played in it in 2006 and 2008 so he's got experience and he is a good team player.

"Henrik has a very open attitude, he's not afraid of showing his emotions and I think he will be a positive asset to the team." 

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Tiger On Firestone at WGC Bridgestone

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Tiger Woods remains on course for his eighth Bridgestone Invitational title after preserving a seven-shot lead with one round to play.

The American followed up Friday's career-equalling best 61 with a 68 to leave him on 15 under par in Ohio.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson moved into second on eight under with American Jason Dufner a shot back in third.

England's Chris Wood and Luke Donald are in a three-way tie for fourth on six under.

But there appears to be no stopping Woods, who, chasing his fifth title of the season, started his third round with consecutive birdies.

After six straight pars the 37-year-old closed the front nine with a bogey but responded with a birdie at the 10th.

Woods birdied the 13th but took a bogey at the next hole and continued the up-and-down run with a bogey at the par-five 16th followed by a birdie at the par-four 17th.

The best round of the day came from Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, who carded a 65 to move into tied seventh on five under.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy showed improved form as he shot a one-under 69 but remained well off the pace.

His first sub-par round of the week left him on level par and in a share of 17th, alongside England's Ian Poulter and Justin Rose.

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Lefy Wins Maiden Open at Muirfield

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Phil Mickelson won his first Open Championship and a fifth career Majo, just five weeks after finishing runner-up at the US Open Championship for the sixth time when his hopes were dashed by Justin Rose. 

However at Muirfield he gained revenge at the expense of another Englishman Lee Westwood, who had begun the day with a two shot lead.

His round of 66 at Muirfield equalled the tournament's best of the week and could not have been more perfectly timed.

He won by three shots from Sweden's Henrik Stenson, who carded a round of 70.

England's Ian Poulter, Westwood and Masters Tournament winner Adam Scott finished joint-third on level par.

The 43 year old Mickelson, who a week ago won his first title in Britain with victory in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, teed off two over - five off the lead - but steadily came through the field and superb approaches to the last two holes clinched the title.

Mickelson took advantage of the fluctuating final-round fortunes of Westwood, last year’s runner-up Scott and World Number One Tiger Woods.

Westwood saw a three stroke lead evaporate and Scott must have felt history was repeating itself as, just like 12 months ago at Royal Lytham, he led on the back nine but had a quartet of successive bogeys from the 13th.

And just when Woods - still trying to add to his tally of 14 Majors after a five-year drought - looked like making a late charge after a birdie at the 14th to get back to one over, he bogeyed the next hole to drop out of the running.

Poulter had given himself a real chance with a four under 67, including a run of eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie from the ninth, but his one over clubhouse total was eclipsed in magnificent fashion by Mickelson.

"What a fun day. This is some of the best golf I have ever played," said Mickelson.

"It's the best I've ever putted, they kept flying into the hole and every iron shot was right on line.

"You can't make it happen, you have to let it happen and I hit good shots which had good bounces giving me good putts that I made."

The American added: "Playing this Championship was the biggest challenge of my career and I didn't know if I had the skills to win on links golf but I played some of the best links golf I have ever played.

"It is amazing to be part of any Open Championship and to win at Muirfield feels amazing.

"I have such an incredible difference of emotions from where I was a month ago with such a heart-breaking loss at the US Open.

"This is probably the greatest and most difficult win of my career."

Westwood, who finished with a round of 75, admitted things began to go wrong for him just as he had got himself into a three shot lead but gave full credit to Mickelson's performance.

"My round came unstuck a bit at seven, eight and nine," he said.

"Phil must've played really well, five under par was a good round of golf this afternoon.

"If you birdie four of the last six anywhere that is good going."

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Poulter Not Surprised at McIlroy Major

Poulter and McIlroy

Ian Poulter insists he was not surprised to see Rory McIlroy shake off his Masters misery and open his major account at Congressional.

Poulter hailed his Ryder Cup team-mate as one the best ball-strikers in the game and claims his eight-shot victory at US Open came as no shock to him.

The Englishman, who will compete at this week's PGA Tour event - the Travelers Championship in Connecticut - said of McIlroy: "Look at his first rounds in majors. It was a case of when, not if.

"He's as good a ball-striker as I've ever seen, he swings it naturally - there's not much technically he needs to worry about.

"He hit 62 of 72 greens at the US Open. There's no way I could ever do that.

"Not too many people can do that, especially after The Masters when everyone probably would have given him the year off.

"Two months later he was playing like it never happened - amazing.

"He's just clearly better than anyone else. There's so few really class ball-strikers out here - I know that sounds silly, but real class ball-strikers like Nick Price and Greg Norman.

"Greg Norman in the mid-80s is who he is. He just completely outplays everyone with no fear.

"Some people are being aggressive and they're just cavalier. He's not cavalier."