Hoey showing Dunhill he's a 'hell of a player'

Fleetwood, who tops the Challenge Tour rankings, shot a nine-under 63 at Kingsbarns yesterday, the same course where Hoey shot a second straight 66.

They are on 132, 12-under-par, in the pro-am event also played over Carnoustie and St Andrews.

While Hoey made seven birdies, Fleetwood rolled in nine in an error-free round after turning in 31 at Kingsbarns, which is producing the lowest scores of the three courses.

Fleetwood's score was a stroke off the course record, set in 2003 by Lee Westwood the year he won the tournament. Westwood, currently world No2, and US Open winner Rory McIlroy are both five strokes back on seven under.

South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen is one shot back after a 67 at Carnoustie, and now heads to St Andrews, where he won the British Open last year, for his third round.

Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell was on 10-under-par, and the Ulsterman knows all about his compatriot and joint leader Hoey.

"I grew up playing amateur golf with him and I know how impressive a ball striker he is," McDowell said after a second consecutive 67.

"He's always been extremely talented. The application was sometimes in question, but any time he got his head right and got all his ducks in a row, he typically was a hell of a player.

"It's good to see him playing well."

Moylette keeps Irish unbeaten

BOXING: Ray Moylette produced a big third round to maintain Ireland's unbeaten run at the AIBA World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Azerbaijan.

The Mayo light-welterweight was 8-7 down going into the third and final frame of his last-64 clash with Arturs Ahmetous of Latvia, but he hit the target nine times in the final three minutes to post a 16-11 win and make it three wins in a row for Ireland in Baku.

Ahmetous was 5-4 up at the end of the first and both boxers shared the second 3-3.

Moylette, who boxes out of the St Anne's BC, will now meet Manoj Kumar of India in the last 32 tomorrow.

His win means that Ireland will have five boxers in action tomorrow: Joe Ward, Roy Sheehan, Michael Conlan, Con Sheehan and Moylette himself.

Lee limbers up for Vera revenge

BOXING: Middleweight Andy Lee is looking for redemption in his world title tilt tonight.

The Limerick southpaw meets Brian Vera at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City more than three years after the Texan controversially beat him on a seventh-round technical knock-out.

Lee, 27, who boxes out of the Detroit Kronk, was ahead on all three judges' cards in Connecticut when the fight was stopped in Vera's favour and actually threw the last punch when ref Tony Chiarantano intervened.

mlb: Texas 0 Tampa Bay 9 (Tampa Bay lead best-of-five series 1-0).