Allenby stays within shot of the lead despite putting woes

ROBERT ALLENBY missed the 10th green to the left. Cursed. His ball nestled among the pine straw and a rock. A miracle was required to salvage par. He opened his stance, splayed the face of his lob wedge to a ridiculous degree, swung, made contact, phoomp. The ball lobbed onto the green, took three bounces, rolled and stopped pin-high. Not even Allenby's misbehaving putter could miss from there. Miracle.

Nitties books his berth at US Open

NEWCASTLE'S James Nitties will wear his blank cap, one that still awaits decent financial remuneration, into next week's US Open over the Black Course of Bethpage on Long Island, New York after a nerve-racking day of sectional qualifying in the US.