RYDER Cup star Darren Clarke has withdrawn from the next two US tour events because of his wife Heather's continuing battle with cancer.
The Irishman will miss the American Express world championship in San Francisco starting on Thursday and the Las Vegas Invitational.
Clarke's appearance at this week's Dunhill Links championship in Scotland was his first for over a month, but he
said yesterday: "My mind's not on the job for obvious reasons."
Heather Clarke was admitted to hospital during the BMW Championship in May after suffering heart problems as a reaction to drugs she was taking following chemotherapy.
Clarke might now decide to play in the Madrid Open on October 13-16 instead, so he can return home quickly if necessary.
Manager Andrew Chandler has already spoken to US Tour commissioner Tim Finchem about the fact that Clarke will not now complete the minimum 15 events required for membership there.
He has played 12 so far and was originally hoping that on top of the next two weeks he would qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship to complete his quota.
"We'll be asking for a medical extension to his membership now," said Chandler.
The Dunhill is only Clarke's 12th European tour event of the season.
AMERICAN Michelle Wie, the most celebrated teenage player since Tiger Woods, will turn professional on Wednesday. The 15-year-old schoolgirl, who has set her sights on becoming the first woman to play in a men's major, is expected to make the announcement at the Kahala Mandarin Hotel near Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
Several media sources claim she will sign endorsement deals with Nike and Sony worth $10m a year, making her the richest female golfer. The women's world No.1, Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, who has won nine career majors, earns around $6m a year in endorsements alone.
Wie is set to make her debut as a professional in the Samsung World Championship at Palm Desert, California, on October 13, two days after her 16th birthday.
Already one of the biggest attractions in the game, the Korean-American amateur stands out from most of her rivals with her regal bearing, love of fashion and classical swing.
Having made her women's tour debut aged 12, in January 2004 she became only the fourth female, and the youngest in history, to play on the men's US PGA Tour when she missed the cut by one stroke at the Sony Open in her native Hawaii. At the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic in July, she missed the cut by two shots after dropping three strokes in the last four holes.
GLASGOW caused a major upset in the Scottish Area Team championship semi-finals yesterday as they sent defending champions, the Lothians, spinning out of the event.
Glasgow, the champions in 1984 and 1991, battled to a 6-3 win over the 11-time champions who were aiming for a third successive triumph.
Glasgow, who face Renfrewshire in today's final, edged ahead in the morning foursomes as they won the session 2-1. Scottish internationalist Jonathan King lost 6&5 to Swanston's John Gallagher, runner-up in June's Amateur championship, in the opening singles tie but wins for Neil MacRae, Graeme Gorrie, Peter Jamieson and current Scotland captain George Crawford gave Glasgow victory.
In the day's other last-four joust, Renfrewshire, who last won the title in 1996, came from behind to beat the North-East 5/-3/ after a rousing display in the singles which spawned 4/ points from a possible six.
