If I’m going to come out here all that way, I’d better focus on just doing my job.”Job done As it had been for Jones. The 46-year-old won the US Open in 1996, but since then has done very little as he has struggled with persistent health problems. With two second-place finishes at Sawgrass in the past two years to his name, that score should have surprised nobody although in light of the fact that Europe’s leading golfer had revealed on Wednesday that he would far rather not be here as his 72-year-old father, Paddy, fights a battle against inoperable cancer in a Dublin hospital, it was undeniably some feat. Phil Mickelson’s slice into the water on the 18th pegged him back to a 70, the same number as Tiger Woods, and it was only Vijay Singh who in any way lived up to his billing on five under.

The final member of the Fab Four, Ernie Els, was hardly Ringo, losing his rhythm in a scrappy 71.In contrast, Harrington was his usual paragon of consistency with just the solitary bogey spoiling the Irishman’s card of 67. And it was hard to disagree with Westwood.It was possible to wonder where the guys who were supposed to be “really good” were, however. “Nah, I still managed to miss a three-footer on 16 and a three-footer on 18,” he said “But I’m happy. They were good conditions, no doubt about it, but the fine scoring today can also be put down to what it says on the wall over there.” The words said “these guys are good”. He appeared comfortably back there yesterday, with seven birdies, no bogeys, and on the face of it a faultless round. “If it didn’t hit the tree, I still think it would have been on the green, close,” the Chicago-based 27-year-old asserted, although, in truth, the back trap appeared a more likely destination.

“You need those moments of luck to post a round like that out here. It’s a tough course, and it can bite you quite quickly and quite painfully.”A few hours later, however, it gave Westwood the golfing equivalent of a sloppy smacker as he made a welcome return to The Players Championship after a gap of two years when he set about reintroducing himself to the world’s elite. The bonus ball rolled out on his final hole ­ the 9th ­ when his punched wedge from the snaking bunker, again on the left of the fairway, hit the branches of the trees canopying the sand, but somehow came out to eight feet of the pin. But Donald was not about to launch himself into some self-damning soliloquy “Sometimes you need a few breaks,” the 27-year-old said He had those, alright.

The first came at the 447-yard 18th when his drive missed the watery grave on the left by the merest matter of inches, before hitting a railway sleeper and flying up the fairway at least 40 yards further than it otherwise would have It should have been sponsored by Camelot. Indeed, the locals were somewhat cruelly calling him Lucky Luke last night after two pieces of outrageous fortune gave the crown prince of British golf the slings and arrows to fire his way to the upper reaches of the scoreboard. And this was no one-man assault on America’s so-called “fifth major” by Westwood, either, as two behind Jones, in a tie for fifth place, were his fellow Ryder Cup heroes, Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald, not forgetting Padraig Harrington, one further back. Eighteen long and barren years stretch back to the day Sandy Lyle became the one and so far only European to win The Players Championship. Lee Westwood was a slightly podgy 13-year-old then, instead of the slightly podgy 31-year-old he is now, but the Englishman looked hungrier than anyone here yesterday to end this Sawgrass famine. Despite their defeat, however, Northern Ireland won the last ever title.England 0 Northern Ireland 0; World Cup Qualifier (November 1985, Wembley)Northern Ireland could not find a way past Peter Shilton in the England goal but the draw was enough for them to finish second in their group and qualify for the World Cup finals for only the third time in their history England also made it to Mexico.. Beardsley and Barnes had both had incredibly long hard seasons, I was ill with hepatitis, and we didn’t have much luck.