American Football

Kurt Warner threw four touchdown passes for the defending Super Bowl champions as undefeated St Louis beat winless San Diego 57-31 in yet another awesome offensive display. Warner finished 24-of-30 for 390 yards and the Rams now have won 14 in a row at the Trans World Dome. NFL results:

Indianapolis 18, Buffalo 16; Baltimore 12, Cleveland 0; Minnesota 10, Detroit 17; New York Giants 14, Tennessee 28; San Diego 31, St Louis 57; Dallas 16, Carolina 13; Pittsburgh 24, Jacksonville 13; Miami 31, Cincinnati 16; New England 28, Denver 11; Chicago 27, Green Bay 24.

Bridge

IN THE England Open Trials stage two, the five leading teams were: 1, Hackett, 2, Cooke, 3, Monachan, 4, Muller, 5, Sheehan. These five teams will join the three exempted teams Burn, Forrester and Mould in stage three.

West District League Division One: Stirling 9, Bonnyton 7; Gilmore Hill 12, St Andrew 4; Phoenix 10, Civic 6; Kenmure 11, Maccabi 5; Lansteel 10, Johnstone 6; Inverclyde 10, Ibrox 6. Division Two: Broomlands 10, Strathclyde 6; Lyndoch 9, Broomlands 7; Setayro 14, Clydesdale 2; Metropole 12, Lyndoch 4. Division Three: Wingate 9, Cumbernauld 7; Morrison 10, Maxwell 6; Centenary 13, Accies 3; Helensburgh 13, Meadowside 3; Helensburgh 14, Antonine 2. Division Four: Bearsden 9, Fifty 7; Dalriada 8.5, Granary 7.5. Division Five: Somerset 9, Woodside 7; Turnberry 10, Somerset 6; Woodside 9, Dullatur Golf 7; Kilsyth 12, Coatbridge 4.

Curling

European champion Hammy McMillan won through to the semi-finals of the WCT series tournament in Montreal before losing out to Kerry Burtnyk rink.

McMillan's team won their quarter-final tie beating Martin Ferland 6-5. However, the 1999 world champion lost out to the 1995 champion 5-4 for a place in the final.

Burtnyk's unbeaten run for the tournament came to an end with Ottawa's John Morris winning the Scotia McLeod Trophy 8-6.

Golf

Borders golf was celebrating at Blairgowrie yesterday when country representative Liz Campbell won the Scottish Veteran Ladies Championship.

She beat Marion Wilson of Galloway 3 and 2 in the final after having seen off Frances Liddle of the Midlands in the morning semi-finals by the same margin.

Wilson had booked her place in the 18-hole final with a 4 and 3 win over Lanark's Pat Hutton, the winner of the Scottish Senior Ladies Championship at Inverness three weeks ago.

SOUTH African Alison Sheard, past winner of the British Women's Open, the Spanish Women's Open, and the South African Women's Open (nine times), will be one of the star guests in next Tuesday's curtain-raising pro-am tournament before the Macallan Spey Bay Scottish assistants' championship tees off the following day over the Spey Bay Hotel course near Fochabers.

Norfolk-based Alison, now a highly-regarded full-time coach, is considering setting up an annual women's golf summer school at Spey Bay where former Scottish badminton internationalist and leading Lothians golfer Gary Stangoe has bought the hotel and golf course with a view to restoring both to their former glory.

Miss Sheard will hold a ladies-only coaching clinic at Spey Bay next Monday.

Well-travelled Edinburgh professional Jonathan Porteous reaped the benefits of his excursions yesterday when he moved into the lead at the halfway stage of the #4500 Royal Dornoch Assitants' Masters.

The Broomieknowe-based golfer has spent a lot of his time in the south of England this year competing on the MasterCard Tour, but found success at the other end of the country with an excellent opening level-par 70 in the testing winds on the northern links.

Porteous takes a one-shot lead into today's final round over King James VI's Douglas Bell, with four players a further shot back on 72, including Aberdeen's John McKenzie, who won the pro-am on Sunday.

Bell looked favourite for the overnight pole position when he covered the first 10 holes in two-under-par but had three bogeys coming home.

It was a disappointing day for defending champion Chris Doak of East Renfrewshire, who opened with a 76, and Glenbervie's Craig Lee, leader in the Assistants' Order of Merit, who carded a 77. Leading scores: 70 - J Porteous (Broomie-knowe). 71 - D Bell (King James VI). 72 - L Barn (Craigie Hill), J McKenzie (Kings Links), S Orr (Caldwell), P Malone (Kingsknowe). 73 - P Martin (Royal Dornoch), N Douglas (Nairn Dunbar), I Buchan (East Aberdeenshire), C Clark (Cruden Bay), S Gray (Hayston).

Scotland's representatives in the final of the Lombard Trophy, Aberdour and Clober, were left to play minor roles as yesterday's second and final round was played over San Lorenzo in the Algarve.

As the nine-hole Dorset club, Sturminster Marshall, celebrated a victory over Yorkshire's Aldwark Manor, after three holes of sudden-death play-off, Aberdour (professional Gordon McCallum, amateur Maurice McKee) shared eleventh place on 142 (72, 70), while Campbell Elliott and Dave Conroy failed to improve on Sunday's 73. Final scores: 130 - Sturminster Marshall (G Howell, P Fowell 13) 64, 66 - won at third extra hole; Aldwark Manor (P Harrison, M Long 16) 66, 64. 132 - Kedleston Park (D Russell, J Russell 14) 61, 71. 135 - Hadley Wood (A Archibald, C Bevan 20) 63, 72. 136 - Didsbury (P Barber, M Royle 9) 67, 69. 137 - Shirley (S Bottrill, P Robinson 8) 70, 67. 139 - Camberley Heath (G Ralph, J Kendall 12) 69, 70; Norfolk G & CC (T Varney, P Coulthard 12) 70, 69. 140 - Tiverton (D Sheppard, R Frank 18) 70, 70. 141 - Foyle (K McLaughlin, B Proctor 13) 69, 72. 142 - Ringway (D Brunton, R Roberts

14) 70, 72; Aberdour (G McCallum, M McKee 13) 72; Wellow (N Bratley, C McGhie 20) 73. 146 - Clober (C Elliott, D Conroy 8) 73, 73.

Snooker

Australian Quinten Hann took inspiration from the achievements of his fellow countrymen at the Sydney Olympics to power into the second round of the British Open in Plymouth.

The 23-year-old from Melbourne defeated Michael Holt 5-2 after flying in from Down Under, where he has been lapping up the unique atmosphere of the Games.

The world No.31 sprinted into a 3-0 lead before clinching victory in the seventh frame by clearing the pink with a run of 34.

Hann now meets Ronnie O'Sullivan tomorrow night for a place in the last 16.

World No.52 David Gray was in superb form during a 5-0 demolition of Nigel Bond. Gray fired in breaks of 85, 80, and 83 as he went through to a second-round meeting with world No.6 Matthew Stevens, while Graeme Dott (Scotland) beat John Birch (England) 5-1.