Tiger Woods shuns £50m sponsorship deal with Irish bookmakers Paddy Power

Published on Friday 5 March 2010 22:33

BOOKMAKER Paddy Power has revealed that Tiger Woods has turned down a £50million sponsorship offer from the Irish firm.

Paddy Power had made an initial offer to pay the sum over a five-year period but, after talks with Woods' management company IMG, that was rejected.

But Paddy Power aims to continue talks before making a revised offer. In a statement Paddy Power said: "Paddy Power remains keen to work with Tiger Woods, and will re-engage with IMG. An enhanced offer will be made, the details of which will remain confidential."

Woods has seen a number of high-profile sponsors end their links with him following the publicity surrounding allegations that he had extra-marital affairs. He has yet to return to playing and recently made a public apology over his actions.

Meanwhile, Stephen Gallacher, one of the players who had to return yesterday morning to finish their opening rounds at the Malaysian Open – he eventually shot a 72 – catapulted himself up the leaderboard with a three-under-par 69 in the second round. The former Dunhill Links champion signed for an eagle and four birdies as he moved into a tie for 15th on three-under-par.

Of the other six Scots in the field, only two of them were inside the projected cut mark and both have still to complete their second rounds today. Simon Yates, who is based in Thailand, and Dunbar's David Drysdale were both on level-par for the tournament with five and eight holes to play respectively.

Dubai-based Ross Bain was on the other side of that line after a second-round 77 – nine shots more than his excellent opening effort. Steven O'Hara (71) was also on one-over and still in with a slender chance of surviving, but definitely missing out are Peter Whiteford (75) on four-over and Andrew Coltart (84) on 16-over-par.

Little-known Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat produced a timely eagle to edge ahead of second-round clubhouse leader Alejandro Canizares. In near darkness at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, former world junior champion Kiradech chipped in from 30 yards to surge to the top of the leaderboard at nine under par after playing his opening 14 holes in five under.

Only minutes earlier Spaniard Canizares had posted the clubhouse lead at eight under after racing to complete a three-under-par 69 to edge ahead of early pacesetters Soren Hansen and Angelo Que. Ever-consistent Dane Hansen and Filipino Que had earlier battled the energy- sapping morning humidity to card second rounds of five under to set the pace at seven under.

With 58 players yet to complete their second rounds following a 140-minute delay due to lightning, KJ Choi, fellow South Korean Kim Dae-hyun and joint first round leaders Rhys Davies and Ignacio Garrido also sit at seven under with holes still to play.

"I'm very happy with that eagle," said Kiradech. "It wasn't quite dark. I wanted to continue and chipped in. Finishing with an eagle was great."

World number 231 Kiradech, 20, held a two-shot lead after the third round of the Asian Tour's season-opening Asian Tour International last month but was eventually forced to settle for fourth after a disappointing final round to miss out on a maiden title following three top tens last year.

&#149 American Amanda Blumenherst shot a three-under-par 69 yesterday to maintain a share of the lead with Lim Ji-na of South Korea after two rounds of the ANZ Australian Ladies Masters.

First-round leader Blumenherst and Lim (66) had two-round totals of nine-under 135.

Australia trio Katherine Hull (70), six-time former champion Karrie Webb (69) and Tamie Durdin (68) were tied for third, two strokes back, along with South Koreans Ryu So-yeon (67) and Seo Hee-kyung (68).