I was disgusted to see Sandy Lyle walk out the Open Championship after only nine holes.

As a past champion and a Briton, he should have more respect for the competition and the game of golf as a whole. Interestingly, Simon Dyson was 11 over after 11 and battled on to finish 12 over.

Sandy has wasted a tee-off time that any number of up-and-coming youngsters would have killed for. One can now scratch his name off the Ryder Cup captains list.

RJ Stewart, via email

Injured Harrington showed real courage by playing
I was delighted, and relieved, that Padraig Harrington was able to start the defence of his Open title despite suffering from a wrist injury.

It would have been a real shame had he not been able to do so. I hope that despite a round of 74 yesterday, he will be able to complete the full four rounds of the championship.

Alec Letham, via email

Boyd comes to the rescue of Rangers once again
Once again, it took a Kris Boyd double to rescue Rangers, this time against a fourth-division German side albeit in a pre-season friendly.

How many times does the boy have to prove himself to the Rangers management who seem so keen to offload him. They should not forget that were it not for Boyd, Rangers may well have ended the season recently ended without a trophy to their name.

Alan Fraser, via email

Tour deserves credit despite bad headlines
ONCE more the morning's papers will no doubt be proclaiming the Tour de France to be beyond redemption, after Riccardo Ricco became the third rider to test positive for EPO during this year's race. In actual fact, these instances prove that drugs cheats are being weeded out.

Ricco is quite obviously not just dishonest: he is also stupid to believe that he could get away with it, given the sport's recent record in throwing out cheats. Now we need more teams to follow the model being pioneered by David Millar's Slipstream team in fostering a transparently anti-doping culture.

Gordon Shaw, via email