Golf

DUBAI (Reuters) - Britons Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy continued their Race to Dubai battle in Saturday's Dubai World Championship third round. Westwood was pushed all the way again by his arch-rival McIlroy, who leads the European Tour's season-long Race to Dubai. The 20-year-old McIlroy made up the two shots he trailed overnight tournament leader Westwood with a faultless front nine over Jumeirah's Earth course, which included three birdies. However, Westwood then edged past his young opponent with a seven-foot birdie putt on the ninth. Westwood had shown his determination to keep his young rival at bay by holing a 20-foot putt on the ... Read Full Story

Edoardo Molinari of Italy hit a two-under-par 69 to snatch the lead after the third round in the Dunlop Phoenix men's golf tournament on Saturday. Starting the day one stroke off the pace, Molinari sank three birdies on the front nine to take the lead before adding one birdie and two bogeys on the back nine for a three-round-total of eight under par 205. For the 28-year-old Molinari, the top money earner on the European challenge tour this season, it was his first appearance in the 200-million yen (2.2-million-dollar) event. Robert Karlsson, who became the first Swede to be the top money earner on ... Read Full Story

Lee Westwood made the most of yet another spectacular blowout by Padraig Harrington as he took a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the 7.5 million dollar Dubai World Championship, the European Tour?s new season-ending championship, here on Friday. The 36-year-old Englishman drained a 20-footer birdie putt on the final hole for a card of three-under par 69, which gave him a two-day total of nine-under 135 and sole position on top of the leaderboard. That came after thrice Major champion Harrington had twice hit his ball into the stream on the 18th hole for a double bogey seven. The Irishman slipped from ... Read Full Story

Australia's Robert Allenby reaped a rich reward for switching early to the new grooves as he shot a brilliant round of seven-under par 65 on Thursday to establish a course record and take an early lead in the 7.5 million dollar Dubai World Championship. The 38-year-old, ranked 29th in the world and 22nd in the Race to Dubai, came to the season-closing tournament with a brand-new set of clubs which conform to the new ?V' grooves, but an eight-birdie round proved he was right into the groove. There was plenty of excitement in the concurrent Race to Dubai as well. After being neck and ... Read Full Story

Updated: November 20, 2009, 20:46 PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.(AP) D.A. Points shot a 2-under 70 at Del Monte, and Matt Bettencourt had a 71 in wind and rain at Spyglass Hill to share the second-round lead Friday in the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational. Points, 66th on the PGA Tour money list this season, had a scrambling round with two eagles, three birdies, two bogeys and a triple bogey. "I've had the most fortunate tee time of the tournament at 8:30 and we got through before it got too bad,'' Points said. "I had some tough shot, but I played well overall. I had a ... Read Full Story