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There have been many outstanding rides in Pat Eddery’s 28-year career but hardly ever have they been accompanied by a flash of emotion The Gold Cup changed that yesterday. The Irishman executed a ride of such skill and timing on Celeric that he even managed to satisfy his greatest critic, himself. When he came to a stop, his face covered in a rash of mud spots, Eddery smiled at connections and raised a clenched fist in front of him The mission had, gloriously, been accomplished. 146 L Lambert (Aus) 76 70; A-M Knight (Aus) 75 71; C Rarick (US) 75 71; W Dicks 74 72; A Gottmo (Swe) 73 73; L Brooky (NZ) 71 75; T Johnson 70 76. 147 K Lunn (Aus) 76 71; F Dassu (It) 74 73; D Reid 74 73; L Merten (US) 72 75. 148 G Stewart 78 70; S Mendiburu (Fr) 78 70; J Mills (Aus) 77 71; M Hageman (Neth) 77 71; L Maritz (SA) 76 72; F Pike (Aus) 76 72; M Hedblom (Swe) 75 73; A Arruti (Sp) 75 73; A Sorenstam (Swe) 74 74; K Poppmeier (Aut) 72 76.. 142 M-L de Lorenzi (Fr) 73 69; M Hjorth (Swe) 72 70; H Alfredsson (Swe) 72 70; C Hj Koch (Swe) 71 71.

143 C Sorenstam (Swe) 74 69; M Koch (Ger) 73 70; K Marshall 72 71; P Sterner (Swe) 71 72. 144 P Meunier Lebouc (Fr) 77 67; K Orum (Den) 75 69; L Davies 74 70; L Fairclough 74 70; E Knuth (Sp) 73 71; M Lunn (Aus) 71 73. 145 N Lowien (Aus) 73 72; J Forbes 72 73; C Dibnah (Aus) 72 73. It left Davies at level par on 144, but she trails 10 strokes behind Morley.”The course is great, everything is great, but I can’t make a damn putt It’s destroying me,” Davies said. “I only holed two putts all day and those, thank goodness were for eagles.”AMERICAN EXPRESS TOUR EVIAN MASTERS (Royal Club, Evian, Fr) Leading second- round scores: (GB or Irl unless stated): 134 J Morley 67 67 136 H Kobayashi (Jpn) 69 67; A Nicholas 68 68 137 A Alcott (US) 67 70 139 S Waug (Aus) 70 69 140 V Skinner (US) 72 68 141 C Blaylock (US) 74 67; L Hackney 71 70. But other Ryder Cup prospects, particularly Per-Ulrich Johansson, of Sweden, and Italy’s Costantino Rocca, who both shot 72, France’s Jean Van de Velde, who shot 73, and David Gilford, Roger Chapman and David Carter, each with 75, need to improve or face missing the half-way cut.Scores, Digest, page 31. Britain’s Joanne Morley repeated her opening round 67 on the second day of the Evian Masters in France yesterday to take an outright lead.

With a 10-under-par halfway aggregate of 134, Morley leads by two strokes from Yorkshire’s Alison Nicholas, who shares second place with Hiromi Kobayashi from Japan.
Morley, winner of the German Open last year, hit six birdies in her round and only once went over par when she took three from the edge of the green for a bogey five at the 13th hole.Nicholas made a late burst to move alongside Kobayashi when she birdied each of the last three holes to come home in 34 for her 68.But it was another disappointing day for Laura Davies, the holder, who resorted to putting left-handed on the 12th green, on her way to a frustrating second round of 70. “The course is now two or three shots harder and after my poor start I’m pretty glad to have a par round. There’s still plenty of time to make up ground,” he said.Langer, who, like Woosnam, has been suffering from back trouble, said he had no problems yesterday and was reasonably satisfied with his 70. He had also had two earlier birdies but his round was spoiled by a bad start and a poor finish. He dropped three shots in his first two holes and then needing a par four at the ninth, his last hole, for the outright lead he had another bogey.Garrido, the 25-year-old from Madrid, had earlier bogeyed the ninth hole when he, too, needed a par four to go to seven under.Woosnam, who won this event last year when the tournament was reduced to 54 holes because of thunderstorms, shot a two-over-par 38 for the first nine holes and said: “I just drove badly.”But the 39-year-old Welshman, who is hoping for a top-four placing to extend his lead at the top of the Order of Merit, had birdies at the 10th and 18th to bring his score back to level par.Last year he was 20 under par for his three rounds.

On a day when 32 lesser-known golfers shot 69 or better, the best the Cup hopefuls could achieve were rounds of 70 by Langer, Sam Torrance and Peter Mitchell, with Woosnam next on 71 along with Padraig Harrington and Ross McFarlane.
While the bigger names struggled on a course considerably toughened from last year, Mike Weir, of Canada, Rolf Muntz, of the Netherlands, Spain’s Ignacio Garrido and England’s Van Phillips all went round in 65 to be joint leaders on six under par.Having started at the 10th, Weir, a 27-year-old left-hander hardly known in Europe, had a blistering run from the 17th to the fifth of six birdies and an eagle. The home side looked set for a beating when Hick arrived after the early loss of Tim Curtis for no score, but he looked composed helping the total to 81 for 1 after 15 overs at the close in partnership with Phil Weston.Play was abandoned for the day without a ball being bowled at Liverpool, where Lancashire play Glamorgan, and there was precious little action at Northampton where Hampshire took their overnight 335 for 4 to 373 for 6 in the 13 overs available.. A dozen of the top 20 players in the Ryder Cup points table are in the Volvo German Open field, but none from Ian Woosnam to Bernhard Langer could break 70 in the first round here yesterday. In their last Championship match Middlesex reduced Glamorgan to 31 all out to win by an innings, and Richard Johnson led the latest rout with 4 for 27.But Middlesex struggled themselves in their second innings, stumbling to 78 for 6 at the close on a questionable wicket, a lead of 216 runs.Graeme Hick, made a rapid unbeaten 48 for Worcestershire as they responded bravely to Surrey’s massive 452 for 9 at New Road. The deal would keep the prolific Sheron at the Potteries until 2001, as he has another two years to run on his present contract.Stoke have refused Walsall permission to approach their coach Mike Pejic about their managerial vacancy.. Jon Lewis became only the second Durham player to carry his bat in a first-class innings against Kent at Darlington yesterday, making 158 not out in his side’s 251 all out. Remarkably, the previous Durham opener to achieve it, Wayne Larkins, made the same score against Gloucestershire at Gateshead three years ago.
Kent struggled in response with Mel Betts taking advantage of overcast conditions with 2 for 24 in the visitors’ 138 for 4 after 43.3 overs.Middlesex’s bowling attack were again in form, dismissing Gloucestershire for a dismal 99 at Bristol.