Sporting Digest: Golf

PAUL EALES, of Britain, and Sweden's Fredrik Lindgren are the joint leaders at the half-way stage of the Italian Open championship in Rome yesterday. Both stand on nine-under par, 135, after Eales added a 70 to his opening 65.

ITALIAN OPEN (Marco Simone, Rome) Leading second-round scores (GB or Irl unless stated): 135 F Lindgren (Swe) 71 64; P Eales 65 70. 136 F Nobilo (NZ) 70 66; E Romero (Arg) 69 67. 137 J Bland (SA) 70 67. 138 A Cejka (Ger) 64 74; W Riley (Aus) 68 70; R Rafferty 67 71; P O'Malley (Aus) 67 71; G Turner (NZ) 69 69. 139 H Clark 70 69; B Nelson (US) 69 70; M Mackenzie 72 67; S Bennett 70 69; R Lee 71 68; R Boxall 68 71. 140 T Price (Aus) 73 67; R Davis (Aus) 71 69. 141 I Gervas (Sp) 69 72; R Allenby (Aus) 70 71; L White 69 72; P Affleck 71 70; J M Olazabal (Sp) 70 71; D W Basson (SA) 71 70. 142 M Besanceney (Fr) 72 70; J Spence 70 72; S Grappasonni (Italy) 70 72; A Forsbrand (Swe) 73 69; P Hedblom (Swe) 72 70. 143 A Hare 68 75; M Florioli (It) 72 71; J Payne 70 73; I Spencer 72 71; A Canessa (It) 74 69; G Ralph 71 72; G Orr 68 75; C Moody 68 75; J L Guepy (Fr) 70 73; S Struver (Ger) 72 71; M Harwood (Aus) 71 72.

MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT (Dublin, Ohio) Leading first-round scores (US unless stated): 64 M Brooks. 67 T Lehman, J Cook. 68 S Simpson. 69 S Elkington (Aus), D Hammond, B Mayfair, D Edwards, D Frost. 70 G Norman (Aus), J Harris, J Parnevik (Swe), J Thorpe, T Tryba. 71 B Tway, S Lowery, B Estes, J Delsing, N Lancaster, K Perry, L Roberts, D Love, M Heinen, L Clements, J Maggert, S Hoch, C Stadler. 72 E Els (SA), J Ozaki (Japan), Y Mizumaki (Japan). 73 W Grady (Aus), H Meshiai (Japan). 74 T Johnstone (Zim), B Ogle (Aus), B Hughes (Aus), F Allem (SA). 76 N Faldo (GB), I Pyman (GB). 77 C Parry (Aus), G Waite (NZ). 78 V Singh (Fiji), S Okuda (Japan). 79 I Baker-Finch (Aus). 80 C Franco (Par). 81 D Graham (Aus).

UBE KOSAN TOURNAMENT (Tokyo) Leading second-round scores (Japan unless stated): 132 T Nakajima 65 67. 136 N Serizawa 68 68. 137 Y Sakamoto 69 68; B Franklin (Can) 68 69. 138 Y Ichioka 69 69; Y Noguchi 67 71; T Watanabe 66 72. 139 T Fukizawa 72 67; S Higashi 72 67; K Murota 71 68. 139 S Gimson (Sing) 68 71. 141 Zaw Moe (Bur) 69 72. 142 C McClellan (US) 70 72. 143 T Hamilton (US) 69 74. 144 S Ginn (Aus) 75 69; A Gilligan (Aus) 74 70; B Andrews (Aus) 73 71. Failed to qualify: 145 K Mattiace (US) 73 72; R Backwell (Aus) 72 73. 146 G Meyer (US) 73 73. 148 S Holmes (NZ) 76 72. 154 E Herrera (Col) 74 80.

ENGLISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP (Berkshire Club, Ascot) Quarter- finals: J Hall (Felixstone Ferry) bt F Brown (Heswall) 4 and 3; K Tebbet (East Devon) bt R Bailey (Whittington Heath) 6 and 4; A Murray (Lancaster) bt S Burnell (Burnham and Berrow) 4 and 3; S Sharpe (Peterborough Milton) bt M Sutton (Royal Blackheath) 4 and 3. Semi-finals: Hall bt Tebbet 5 and 4; Sharpe bt Murray one hole.

SCOTTISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP (Gullane) Quarter-finals: C Matthew (North Berwick) bt K Fitzgerald (Turnberry) 2 and 1; F Anderson (Blairgowrie) bt K Milne (Kirkcaldy) 6 and 5; V Melvyn (Stirling University) bt F McKay (Elgin) 5 and 4; J Ford (Gullane) bt S McMaster (Dunbar) 3 and 2. Semi-finals: Matthew bt Anderson 6 and 5; Melvyn bt Ford one hole.