For more than 50 years, the Ryder Cup was a friendly competition dominated by the United States, like the Presidents Cup these days. And then came the great Seve Ballesteros. In addition to his brilliant play, the splendid Spaniard cajoled his teammates into raising their games to his level and also irritated the Americans with his gamesmanship on and off the course.

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When Seve sprayed his teammates with a giant magnum of champagne on the practice green at Muirfield Village in 1987, after the Europeans won for the first time on U.S. soil, it tweaked the Americans' noses. The game was on. As a result, the Ryder Cup has evolved into the most dramatic three days in golf, with the Europeans seizing the upper hand.

"The Ryder Cup would not be the match it is today if not for Seve Ballesteros," golf writer Alistair Tait wrote when Ballesteros died earlier this year. "He turned the Ryder Cup into a personal crusade and inspired other Europeans to believe they could beat the Americans."For a competition to grab the public's imagination, it must be competitive, and after the USA dominated the biennial event to the tune of 21-3-1, the Euros have gone 8-4-1 since 1985. The Presidents Cup will be played for the ninth time this week, and the Americans hold a 6-1-1 lead. But the International team hopes to turn the tide by returning to Royal Melbourne, where it posted its only victory, in 1998.

There never has been an edginess to this competition, but that might have changed. Not only have members of the media from around the world pilloried Fred Couples for making struggling Tiger Woods one of his captain's picks, leaving PGA champion Keegan Bradley at home, the Internationals have chimed in.

"I can understand the name of a Tiger Woods and his history of what he's done on the golf course," said Greg Norman, the International captain. "But I pick the guys who I think are ready to get in there and play and have performed to the highest levels leading up to it. "I just don't think he's swinging the golf club the way he used to when he won all those major championships. He's a different player out there nowadays."

Norman might have forgotten that he made his protege, Adam Scott, a captain's pick two years ago for the matches at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco even though Scott was in the midst of the worst slump of his career. Couples, who had to be relieved when Woods finished third in the Australian Open over the weekend, couldn't help but respond when Norman made his comments a few weeks ago. "I have no problem with Greg," Couples said. "He can say whatever he wants, but I'm not really into that. I play golf with my clubs.

"Robert Allenby is his pick, and Aaron Baddeley, and they're Australians and I think they're great picks. But I think I can sit here and say Robert Allenby hasn't won a tournament in 10 years."There's another subplot here in that Norman and Woods have never gotten along, perhaps because when Tiger took the Great White Shark's place as the best player in the game late in the 1990s, he didn't show the proper reverence for the fallen king. It might have started with an incident in 1996, when International Management Group announced that Woods would be in the field for Norman's Shark Shootout at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Norman responded that he as the host, and not tournament organizer IMG, was supposed to do the inviting. Eventually, he got around to inviting Woods, who by that time had made other plans for that week.
"Tiger and Greg don't speak," said a source who knows both men. "There's a lot of animosity between them."

But what about Geoff Ogilvy, who is expected to be a mainstay for the Internationals this week?
There has been nothing to indicate the Ogilvy and Woods have a problem, but the Aussie felt compelled to add his two cents' worth to the conversation about Couples' pick. "I don't agree with the way (Couples) picked (Woods), announcing it months early," the 2006 U.S. Open champion said. "Basically telling the guys who are on the fringe of the U.S. team there's really only going to be one pick.

"I'm not going to stand up and say Tiger is a horrible pick, but I'm going to say it's very disappointing that Keegan Bradley doesn't get to play."And Steve Williams, Woods' former caddie who now carries Scott's bag, threw gasoline on the fire with his racially tinged comment about his ex-boss a couple of weeks ago.
Captain Corey Pavin took some heat for making Woods a Captain's Pick for the Ryder Cup last year at Celtic Manor in Wales.

However, Woods made the pick look pretty good by posting a 3-1 record, including a 4-and-3 victory over Francesco Molinari of Italy in singles when he played a five-hole stretch in 6-under-par beginning at No. 9.
Of course, Woods is coming off a 2011 season in which he has not played very often or very well, because of injury and swing changes, making Couples' pick risky but perhaps one he had to make.

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From about 250 yards away, thousands of fans behind the 17th hole could make out the guy in a red shirt posing over his shot, then the ball appearing on the green and racing down a ridge to 12 feet behind the pin. This is what they wanted to see Sunday at the Australian Open in Sydney.

Tiger Woods, gone for most of the year and rarely on the leader board even when he was playing, faced an eagle putt late in the final round at The Lakes that would have given him a share of the lead. Woods missed.
Moments later, Greg Chalmers hit 7-iron to 18 inches on the par-3 15th for a birdie that put him back in control and ultimately led to a one-shot win over John Senden. Chalmers closed with a 3-under 69 to put his name on the Stonehaven Cup for the second time. He finished at 13-under 275.

Woods now has gone two full years since his last win at the Australian Masters, yet he headed to Royal Melbourne for this week's Presidents Cup with reason for optimism. Woods closed with a 5-under 67 and finished third at 277.

"I felt great," Woods said. "It's nice to finally be healthy again."Woods missed most of the summer while letting injuries to his left leg fully heal, and he didn't qualify for the final four PGA Tour events in the FedEx Cup. This was only his second tournament in the last three months, and he showed progress. For the first time since the Masters in April, when he was tied for the lead at the turn Sunday until he stalled and tied for fourth, his name on the leader board meant something. "It's been since Augusta I had the lead on Sunday. That's the last time I've been in that spot," he said. "Unfortunately I haven't played a lot of tournaments in between. But it was great to be out there. I had a chance."

Asian Tour/European Tour: Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won the rain-delayed Singapore Open on Monday (Singapore time), beating Juvic Pagunsan with a birdie on the second playoff hole. After tying at 14-under 199 on Sunday, Pagunsan (third-round 72) and Fernandez-Castano (67) teed off on the playoff hole before play was suspended for 90 minutes. The storm let up briefly, allowing players to hit one more shot before more rain stopped play for good. Anthony Kim (64) and Louis Oosthuizen (65) shared third at 200. Phil Mickelson (70) tied for 33rd at 208.

LPGA Tour: Catriona Matthew closed with 1-under 71 for a four-shot win in the 36-player Lorena Ochoa Invitational. She had a 12-under 276 total at Guadalajara (Mexico) Country Club. Anna Nordqvist (71) and I.K. Kim (71) shared second. Hall of Famer Juli Inkster of Los Altos had a 72 to tie for fourth at 5 under. Michelle Wie, the 2009 winner, was ninth at 2 under after a 71.

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Tiger Woods settled down after a poor start to remain in touch with the lead, three strokes behind leaders Jason Day and John Senden halfway through the third round at the Australian Open today. Any assumptions that Woods would waltz to his first victory in two years were thrown out the window as he bogeyed the first three holes.

He got a little unlucky at the first, where he hit what he seemed to think was a good approach shot, only to watch in disbelief as his ball hurtled beyond the green, from where he could not get up-and-down. Poor drives at the next two holes led to two more bogeys, but it was pretty steady stuff after that from the 14-time major winner.

After chaotic gallery scenes early on Thursday, it was a much more controlled scene on Saturday, apart from the occasional camera click at the wrong time. A healthy gallery followed Woods (and Peter O'Malley) but the crowd seemed to be not quite as large as Thursday afternoon.

Woods got his round back on track with a birdie at the shortish par-four fourth, and parred the next five holes to the turn. If Woods started poorly, O'Malley was positively dreadful. He started the day only one stroke behind Woods, but his old bugbear, poor putting, reared its ugly head at the first, where he missed from barely one metre.

It got worse at the par-four second, where he took four strokes to hole out from a swale behind the green, dropping two shots and pretty much ending his hopes. Not that the players had any idea where they stood in relation to the field, because there are no leaderboards until the ninth hole.

Queenslanders Day (10 holes) and Senden (14 holes) led at 10-under, two strokes ahead of Ryan Haller, who shot 65 to vault into contention at eight-under 208, while Aaron Baddeley carded 67 for five-under 211.

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Cancer survivor Lyle held off a powerful American contingent, including Woods , to card a seven-under 65 in an unblemished round that included an eagle three at the 14th and five birdies. Lyle, who must go through qualifying school next month to avoid playing in the secondary Nationwide Tour next season after losing his tour card with a 161st finish on the money list, was pursued by Americans, Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney, a shot back on 66.

Woods, who has not won a tournament for two years precipitating a slump in his world ranking to 58, wrestled with gusty afternoon winds to keep in touch, three shots off the lead. His 68, which included four birdies, was his first bogey-free round in nine months. "I hit it really good today, that was exactly how I have been hitting it at home, so that's good and I've taken it to the golf course in these conditions and hit all the shots," Woods said.

"I just grinded, I was very patient all day and just took advantage when I could. "With these conditions it's easy to make a couple of bogeys in a row and get it going the wrong way and I just had to be patient, there wasn't going to be a lot of guys in the afternoon hitting 60s."World No 5 Johnson, at the Australian Open for next week's Presidents Cup as the top-ranked American player, hit eight birdies in his six-under round.
"I made a lot of good putts, some tap-ins and some three-four footers, and I played really solid all day and made some great iron shots," said Johnson, who reeled off five consecutive birdies from the 12th hole.
"I was a little rusty at the start, it was the first time I've been in competition for five-six weeks now, but then got it going pretty well."

Watney carded five birdies in his closing six holes in the afternoon to finish with an impressive six-under.
Lyle, 30, who finished only once in the top 10 on this year's US PGA Tour, carded an unblemished round that included an eagle three at the 14th and five birdies. "That's the lowest score I've shot all year, I've played solid all year, but just haven't achieved anything," Lyle said.

Former US Masters champion Fred Couples, who will be the non-playing captain of the US team at next week's Presidents Cup teams event against the Internationals at Royal Melbourne, was among a quartet on five-under 67, two shots off the lead.

Couples, 52, who has 53 tournament victories in his 30 years as a professional, carded six birdies and a bogey playing with his US team assistant John Cook, who had a 69.

World No 17 Bubba Watson, another member of next week's US team, chimed in with a four-under 68 with an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys.

Australian Adam Scott, who said he didn't make a putt in his three-under 69, hit a spectacular albatross two at the par-five eighth when he holed a six-iron from 199 metres.

It was only his second career albatross or three-under-par-shot since his junior days. Compatriot and world No 7 Jason Day had five birdies and two bogeys playing with Woods to be equal 16th with Scott at three-under.
Australian Open details: first round
(Aus unless stated, par 72):
65: Jarrod Lyle.
66: Nick Watney (US), Dustin Johnson (US).
67: Greg Chalmers, Steven Jones, James Nitties, Fred Couples (US).
68: Tiger Woods (US), Jake Higginbottom, Matthew Millar, Woo-hyun Kim (Kor), Bubba Watson (US), Andrew Tschudin.
69: Adam Scott, Nick O'Hern, Stephen Allan, Matthew Jones, Jason Day, Rohan Blizard, Damon Welsford, David Mckendrick (US), John Cook (US), Craig Hasthorpe, Leigh Mckechnie, Paul Sheehan.
70: Rodney Pampling, Chris Gaunt, Kurt Carlson, John Senden, Anthony Summers, Ryan Haller, Craig Hancock, Geoff Ogilvy, Ronald Harvey (Can), Jason Norris, Henry Epstein, Craig Parry, Anthony Brown, Ashley Hall, Jamie Arnold, Peter O'Malley.
71: Andrew Martin, Michael Hendry (NZ), Kelly Kraft (US), Michael Wright, Terry Price, Wittawat Sae-ung (Tha), Greg Norman (US), Matthew Griffin, Luke Hickmott, Steve Collins, Scott Arnold, Geoff Drakeford, Terry Pilkadaris, Gareth Paddison (NZ), Daniel Nisbet, David Bransdon.
72: David Toms (US), Peter Cooke, Bryden Macpherson, Doug Holloway (NZ), Josh Carmichael, Wisut Artjanawat (Tha), Bill Haas (US), Steven Conran, Scott Laycock, Phil Tataurangi (NZ), Kyle Stanley (US), Tim Wood, Nick Cullen, Peter Senior, Cameron Smith, Gary Simpson, Alistair Presnell, Richard Green, Bronson La'cassie.
73: Paul Spargo, Marcus Cain, Rodger Davis, Stephen Leaney, Brent McCullough, Adam Crawford, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan (US), David McKenzie, Leigh Deagan, Peter Shaw, Joon woo Choi (Kor).
74: Ryan Mccarthy, Mahal Pearce (NZ), Daniel Fox, Won Joon Lee, Adam Bland, Kim Felton, Brad Kennedy, David Klein, James McClean (US), Aaron Townsend, Steve Alker (NZ), Mitchell Brown, Peter Nolan, Luke Bleumink, Matt Kuchar (US), Chang-won Han (Kor), Brendan Smith, Matt Jager, Matthew Stieger.
75: Shih-Chang Chan (Tpe), Steven Bowditch, Robert Allenby, Mathew Goggin, Brad McIntosh, Marc Leishman, Ewan Porter, Heath Reed.
76: Dean Meagher, Ren Han (Chn), Daniel Beckmann, Brad Shilton (NZ), Brad Smith (Eng), Andre Stolz, Adam Stephens, Tai Fu (Chn), Stuart Appleby.
77: Rory Bourke, Michael Campbell (NZ), Jordan Sherratt, Neven Basic, Josh Younger, Tony Mcnaughton, Ben Wharton, Michael Long (NZ), Troy Cox.
78: Tungshu Hsieh (Tpe), Craig Scott, Steven Jeffress, Darren Tan, Peter Wilson.
79: Andrew Kelly, Michael Curtain, Kurt Barnes.
80: Alex Katholos, Aaron Cox, Quan Yang (Chn), Andrew Evans, Qisheng Liu (Chn).
81: Tristan Lambert, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (Tha), Zhi Xie (Chn), Sam Brazel, Byron Meth.
83: Andrew McKenzie.
84: Lejun Deng (Chn), Nicholas Piani.
85: Ning Bo (Chn).
DQ: John Daly (US).

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World number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan heads the field for this week's Lorena Ochoa Invitational, and she's happy to have a chance to catch up with the tournament host -- who's about to become a mother. "(Her belly) is huge," Tseng said of Ochoa, who will make her presence felt this week outside the ropes. "I guess it's a boy. I was really happy to see her. I wish she could play, but I'm very happy to see her going to have a baby soon. She looks very happy."Ochoa, the longtime world number one, bid farewell to LPGA competition last year to start a family. Her first child, a boy, is due in a few weeks.

"It's different, that's for sure," said the 27-time LPGA tour winner of her new role on the sidelines. "It's also great for me to say 'Hi' to the players and be more involved outside the ropes and in interviews and spending time with my sponsors. I like it a lot. I'm going to enjoy every day of the tournament from the outside."

Tseng, 22, arrives in Mexico after victories in the LPGA's Taiwan Championship and the Ladies European Tour Suzhou Taihu Ladies in China. She has won 11 titles worldwide this season, including seven LPGA titles and major titles at the Women's British Open and the LPGA Championship.

"This is a really tough golf course," Tseng said. "You are hitting all different shots on this golf course, hitting 14 clubs. "I feel I can get used to this golf course. I need to trust more, trust my instincts and trust the club I pick. I think this year I will be fine. I feel very comfortable and confident right now to play well this week."Michelle Wie, whose 2009 victory here was the first of her two LPGA Tour title sto date, withdrew last year with a back injury afer a first-round 78.

She's looking forward to trying to regain the crown. "This tournament is very special to me," Wie said. "Obviously, having my family here is pretty cool. I love this golf course. Unfortunately, it was very sad last year that I couldn't finish four rounds. "Hopefully, this year, I'm feeling good. The weather is great. The golf course is awesome, as always. I'm very excited."

Defending champion In-Kyung Kim closed with an eight-under par 64 last year en route to a tournament record 19-under par winning total. She beat Norway's Suzann Pettersen by three shots, and donated half of her $220,000 winner's check to the Lorena Ochoa charitable foundation. In April, Kim visited Guadalajara to see the primary school that the foundation runs. "I was really humbled going there and seeing all the kids so happy," Kim said.

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Martin Kaymer’s stunning finish to land the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai at the weekend just shows how tough it is to win on the European Tour.

Week in, week out, players are shooting low scores and putting together fantastic rounds and it means no-one can scrape their way to a victory – you have to play well over all four days of competition to earn it.

That’s the standard at the moment and it speaks volumes for the strength of the European Tour that we have the likes of Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Kaymer holding down the first four places in the world rankings.

I watched the last few holes of the champions event on local TV on Sunday and saw Kaymer birdie the final four – he birdied nine of the last 12 holes in total – on his way to a last-round 63 which brought almost £900,000 in prize money.

That’s some going, but it does indicate, I think, the level of performance which is required every week to be successful now on the European Tour. The standard is incredibly high.

Temperature

I arrived in Singapore on Saturday afternoon ahead of this week’s Barclays Open and by the time you read this I’ll have played 45 holes in an effort to get acclimatised to the humidity and heat over here. I got a round in over the more difficult of the two courses we play this week, on Sunday, and then played 18 holes over the second course yesterday. I planned to play nine more today before getting down to some practice ahead of Thursday’s start.

While the temperature has been in the 30s over the weekend it’s not as hot as I’ve experienced in this region before, but the humidity is something else really. I’ve had my sun block on while playing the two rounds I’ve already got in – you have to re-apply it after nine holes for it to be effective though – but it’s so sticky that you still feel a bit burnt afterwards, or at least I did.

My caddie, Simon Bell, seems to be coping so far and he has had experience of these sort of conditions when he played in the World Boys Championship in Japan. However, I’ve already warned him that it will be hotter and more humid next week in Malaysia – this is just the warm up! Almost literally!

Regular readers of the column will know I prefer it to be warm rather than cold so I’m in my element, and as long as I drink plenty of water the humidity shouldn’t be a problem. It does mean, though, that playing lots of rounds before the tournament gets underway is not a great idea, so my thinking was to play nine holes today and then get some serious practice in.

As I said last week my iron play had been poor for the previous fortnight on the Tour but I did some work my coach Mark Moore up at Wike Ridge last week and, touch wood, it has been getting better since we arrived in Singapore. I want to get some practice in, though, because it’s different playing shots during a round and actually working on things on the practice ground and it’s important to nail things down in your mind before competition starts.

It was good to have last week off and to have the chance to iron out a few things with Mark, but I also got to a couple of gigs last week in a complete break from my normal pre-tournament and season routine.

I enjoyed the Noel Gallagher concert at the Roundhouse in London last Monday but, of the two I went to, I have to say the atmosphere was probably better at the MEN for the Arctic Monkeys’ concert.

I think it was purely down to the venue being bigger really, but I wasn’t disappointed by other act. I’m an Indie music fan, as I’ve said in the past, and I’d certainly buy tickets to watch both Noel Gallagher and the Monkeys again. On the food front I’m pleased to report that after my food poisoning problem in Portugal a couple of weeks ago there’s been no repeat.

But, just to make absolutely sure, I was playing it safe this week and Simon and I plumped for good old-fashioned fish and chips for our tea on Monday night! It might not have been Harry Ramsden’s standard but we got stuck in all the same! When in Singapore...

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Starting the third round with the lead, Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson kept his mistakes to a minimum, knocked in long birdie putts on consecutive holes and wound up with a 5-under 67 and a two-shot lead. It still wasn't enough to shake a world-class leader board at the World Golf Championship HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

Jacobson broke by two shots the 54-hole tournament record and was at 16-under 200 as he tries to win for the second time this year. As soft as it has been, this is no time to play conservatively. Two shots behind was Louis Oosthuizen, a British Open champion at St. Andrews, who birdied his last hole for a 68.
Joining them in the final group is Adam Scott, a former winner of The Players Championship, Tour Championship and a WGC event. Scott went on a birdie-birdie-eagle finish to salvage a 69 and was only three behind.

"A 69 didn't distract me too badly in the end today," Scott said. Right behind them were U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy (65) and former world No. 1 Lee Westwood (67) at 12-under 204, with former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell (67) and former PGA champion Martin Kaymer (68) another shot back. No other WGC this year has had so many stars on the leader board going into the last day. The unknown in all this is Jacobson. His lone PGA Tour win came this year at the Travelers Championship. Luke Donald can probably breathe a little easier. His wife is expecting their second child, keeping him home from Shanghai. His hopes of winning PGA Tour player of the year depended largely on whether PGA champion Keegan Bradley could add a WGC to his amazing year. Bradley, however, had to settle for a 72 and was seven shots behind.

LPGA: Japan's Momoko Ueda had six birdies on the back nine in an 8-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead after the second round of the Mizuno Classic in Shima, Japan. Ueda, the 2007 winner, birdied the final four holes -- chipping in from the edge of the green on the par-4 18th -- to finish at 13-under 131 at Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club. Japan's Sakura Yokomine was second after a 63. Monterey's Mina Harigae (67) was 9 under.

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Fredrik Jacobson, the Swede, capitalised on poor putting by overnight HSBC Champions leader Keegan Bradley on Friday to storm to the top of the leaderboard at 11-under-par. Jacobson dazzled with a 6-under-par 66 second round score to add to his opening account of 67 and take control at the halfway stage in the China showcase. "It's been a great couple of days and I've been striking the ball well and setting up a lot of chances," said Jacobson.

Major winner Bradley, the current PGA champion, dropped to fourth on 135 despite starting strongly by holing a 40 foot eagle putt on the 2nd hole of the Sheshan International Golf Club. However, Bradley missed a number of putts on the back nine and two bogeys on his card meant he entered the clubhouse with a score of 70, nine-under-par overall. "I didn't play well. I could have been 5 or six under on the front nine," Bradley said. He added though that he was "only two back".

Breathing down Jacobson's neck in tied second on 10-under are South African 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen and Australian Adam Scott. Flawless Oosthuizen raced from his first round one-over to seven-under by the 15th hole and carded nine birdies overall in a blistering second round score of 63. "I don't think I missed a green today. I made 20-foot putts go in for a change. It was good, solid day," the 29-year-old said.

Akron World Champion winner Scott began to feel his way on the softening course which endured more overnight rain, carding nine birdies and two bogeys to score one better than Jacobson. Malaysia PGA Tour winner American Bo Van Pelt kept in touch with the leaders with a three-under 69 and is in joint fifth with England's Paul Casey on an eight-under-par overall score of 136. Germany's 2010 PGA champion Martin Kaymer and Australian Aaron Baddeley both shot 4-under-par 68s and moved into joint seventh place alongside world number two Lee Westwood on seven-under. Englishman Westwood bogeyed the 10th hole and missed a putt on the 16th by a whisker but maintained his presence with his five birdies. He described his first two rounds as a "work in progress".

"I could have bogeyed the last six holes but I didn't. 69 is a pretty good score. I'm only four behind and well within touching distance. There's a lower score out there," said Westwood. World number three Rory McIlroy carded a disappointing 69 despite the close support of his girlfriend, world number one women's tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki. The US Open Champion's four bogeys countered his seven birdies to leave him tied 17th on five-under overall.

"Every time I made a birdie, I made bogey and I was just always trying to play catch up. It's one of those things and I'll have try and make them up over the weekend," the 22-year-old said. It was the first time that the Dane has offered her support to McIlroy on the links - a reciprocation of his recent loyal tennis court side presence. Asked if her companionship added extra pressure, he replied: "No, not at all. It's nice to have her support out there."The couple regularly swapped romantic glances with each other, with Wozniacki offering the Northern Irish star a sympathetic smile after each of his bogeys.

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US PGA champion Bradley fired a seven-under 65 to lead the field by two while McDowell was forced to recover from a triple-bogey six on his eighth hole, having been four under par through the first seven.

McDowell's round was one better than that of Rory McIlroy, the man who succeeded him as US Open champion earlier this year.

McIlroy struggled to sustain the momentum of his lucrative victory at the unofficial Shanghai Masters on Sunday.

While the 22-year-old was collecting £1.25m - the biggest winners' cheque in golf - McDowell was struggling to find any form in the closing rounds of the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama.

Reflecting on that performance, McDowell said: "[It was] probably one of the more embarrassing weekends I've ever had in my golf career.

"Eighty-one, 82 on the weekend doesn't do much for one's confidence, so it was nice to play well [on Thursday] and try to take some steps forward."

The Northern Ireland player had seven birdies while his compatriot McIlroy picked up two in his last four holes to claim a share of 18th place with, among others, England pair Paul Casey and Ian Poulter.

"I feel as if I left a lot of shots out there," McIlroy said. "It could have been a lot lower but 70 isn't a disastrous start and something I can definitely build on."

Leader Bradley was particularly pleased with his second shot at the par-five 18th, which was his ninth hole, where he hit a three-hybrid to 20 feet to set up an eagle three. "That was the best shot I hit all day," said the American.

There were five birdies and no dropped shots in his 65 and Bradley admitted that it is only now that he has been able to concentrate solely on golf since his shock first major win last August.

"I feel rested and I feel more acclimatised to how my week goes now as the US PGA champion and I'm starting to settle in," he said.

Justin Rose is the leading British challenger after a 68 that included two eagles, three birdies and three bogeys, giving him a share of fifth place at four under par.

He is one stroke ahead of world number two Lee Westwood - the highest-ranked player in the field - and fellow Englishman Simon Dyson.

Westwood came close to an albatross on the 594-yard par-five 14th when his second shot hit the flag and finished inches from the hole.

Tom Lewis made a disappointing start to his first World Golf Championships event with a six-over-par 78. The Englishman qualified for the 78-man invitational event by winning last month in only his third professional event.

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American Cook will replace basketball great Michael Jordan, who withdrew from the role due to the ongoing labour dispute and player lockout in the NBA. Jordan, a majority owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, had initially been appointed as one of two assistants, along with US PGA Tour veteran Jay Haas, for the November 17-20 competition at Royal Melbourne.

"John has been a friend of mine since we broke in together on the (US) PGA Tour in the early 1980s," Couples said . "Having achieved success at the highest levels in the golf world, I value his opinion greatly.

"I would like to thank Michael for his significant contributions, both as a captain's assistant and his role as ambassador for the Presidents Cup. "While the team will miss his friendship, spirit and leadership, we certainly understand the complexity of his current team obligations."Jordan, who served as an honorary captain's assistant to Couples at the 2009 Presidents Cup, said: "It is with regret that I have decided to cancel my trip to Australia later this month.

"With the NBA labour situation unsettled, as the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, I feel it is necessary that I remain in the country. It was an honour to have been chosen by Fred Couples to serve as a captain's assistant."The Presidents Cup is a Ryder Cup-style competition which pits a US team against a line-up of International players from countries outside Europe. The US won the trophy in 2009 for the sixth time in eight editions.

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