England's Ross McGowan lies second in the Ryder Cup points race after capturing his first European Tour title by three shots yesterday. Seven clear after his magical third-round 60 in the Madrid Masters at Centro Nacional, the 27-year-old from Surrey saw that advantage cut to only two by Finn Mikko Ilonen with four to play.

Whitaker and Kanselier fall short despite much improved ride

Equestrianism: Despite her best efforts on the 17-year-old Kanselier, Ellen Whitaker failed by 0.26 seconds to catch Belgium's Dirk Demeersman on Phaline in yesterday's Dick Turpin Stakes at the Horse of the year Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

Colin Montgomerie, the Europe Ryder Cup captain, will ask Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia to play in next year's BMW PGA Championship.

When Tom Watson called Turnberry "defenceless" on Thursday, he was overlooking the new 16th hole. A once-easy downhill par-four has been turned into a treacherous dog-leg which swings right and over a deep creek angled in front of the green.

Miguel Angel Jimenez equalled the lowest first round in Open Championship history with a six-under-par 64 today - but Tom Watson was still the talk of Turnberry.

Of all the professionals who skipped into the recorders' hut here yesterday after a low-scoring first round of the European Open, none bore a smile any wider than that of Pablo Larrazabal. There was a very good reason for it: Larrazabal happens to be a rabid Barcelona fan who has been close friends with one Andres Iniesta since the pair played football together on the same school team.

While Sergio Garcia was in the media centre here yesterday pouring out his heart regarding his recent split from Greg Norman's daughter (apparently Morgan-Leigh dumped him), Shane Lowry was out on the course preparing for a first date.

Barcelona's supermen finally hit some kryptonite in the shape of mid-table Betis and a rampant Real Madrid took full advantage with a 4-0 win over Sporting Gijon that closed the gap at the top to 10 points and continued their impressive run of eight consecutive wins ahead of the visit of Liverpool in nine days time.