THE 99th final of the Scottish Ladies’ Championship started to the sound of bottles crashing into a recycling bin at the back of the Longniddry clubhouse.

CHILE’S Mark Tullo hit a four-under-par round of 68 to wrest the lead from Craig Lee on the penultimate day of the Madeira Islands Open.

Amid all the nonsense that went on before and during last week’s Players Championship – Vijay’s amazing decision to sue the PGA Tour, Sergio’s increasingly open dislike of the world’s best golfer and Tiger’s apparent need for both road map and rulebook when dropping balls – one thing went almost unnoticed. Behind everyone’s back, Rory McIlroy slipped quietly into a tie for eighth place.

Jack Nicklaus yesterday led tributes to former US Open champion Ken Venturi, who has died at the age of 82 just days after being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Graeme McDowell and South African Branden Grace set up a mouth-watering showdown in today’s semi-finals of the World Match Play Championship at Thracian Cliffs in Bulgaria.

Ryder Cup team-mates Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood are hoping their love of Sawgrass will keep them on course for a £1.1 million payday in the prestigious Players Championship.

OK, TIME out. Given all the nonsense in golf right now – Vijay Singh’s use of antler spray and subsequent propensity for litigation, slower and slower play, the rumbling aftermath of Tiger’s Masters drop and the banning or not of so-called “belly” and “anchored” putters – the time has come to ask the obvious question.

Exactly three years after his last competitive appearance, three-times winner Sir Nick Faldo will make a sentimental return to Muirfield and the Open Championship this July.

TOMORROW evening, five men will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida.

Australia’s Brett Rumford took a one-shot lead into the final round of the Volvo China Open as he chased back-to-back wins on the European Tour.

TWO months ago, the New York Times published a feature on dope testing in sport, but not your normal sport, not your cycling or your tennis or your athletics or your football.

Sweden’s Alex Noren will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Ballantine’s Championship after a slow third day labelled “an absolute joke” by former Open champion Paul Lawrie.

JUST the other day, the United States Golf Association announced a record entry of 9,860 brave and talented souls for this year’s US Open. Which came as no surprise, as this will be, in so many ways, a special event.

Despite a closing two hours or so memorable for all that is great and good about golf, it is sadly not for the terrific shot-making and exemplary sportsmanship of the two main protagonists that the 77th Masters Tournament will be most vividly recalled.

Scotland’s Marc Warren will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Spanish Open after a superb 68 in tough, windy conditions at El Saler.