Sport in Short: Golf

MARK JAMES'S victory in the Madeira Island Open, the first event in this year's Volvo European Tour, has put him back into the top 50 world rankings. James, who had not won a tournament since the 1990 English Open, is now 44th.

WORLD RANKINGS: 1 N Faldo (Eng) 23.54 pts; 2 F Couples (US) 16.07; 3 I Woosnam (Wal) 13.14; 4 J-M Olazabal (Sp) 12.87; 5 B Langer (Ger) 12.77; 6 G Norman (Aus) 12.36; 7 D Love (US) 11.77; 8 N Price (Zim) 11.52; 9 P Azinger (US) 11.40; 10 J Cook (US) 11.16. Selected: 19 C Montgomerie (Sco) 7.48; 28 S Lyle (Sco) 6.44; 40 R Rafferty (N Irl) 5.10; 44 M James (Eng) 4.92.

HOWARD TWITTY, of the United States, fought off a late challenge from his compatriat Joey Sindelar and won the Hawaiian Open on Sunday. His final- round 68 gave him a 19-under-par total of 269 4and his first victory in 12 years and seven months.

HAWAIIAN OPEN (Honolulu) Leading final- round scores (US unless stated): 269 H Twitty 63 68 70 68. 273 J Sindelar 68 71 66 68. 274 P Azinger 67 68 69 70. 277 B Ogle (Aus) 67 70 70 70; J Maggert 68 71 68 70; K Clearwater 72 66 68 71. 278 N Henke 69 71 71 67; D Love 69 68 71 70. 280 M O'Meara 66 73 71 70; D Waldorf 69 69 71 71; B Glasson 65 71 73 71; W Levi 72 65 69 74.