A second round of four under par 68 from Marcel Siem at the magnificent Golf du Palais Royal in Morocco was good enough to maintain the German’s three shot lead at the halfway stage of the Trophée Hassan II.

In need of a victory to have any chance of breaking into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking and therefore earn last-minute place in the Masters in a fortnight’s time, the 32 year old followed up on his brilliant first round 64 with a fine 68 to stay three clear of Englishman David Horsey and Finland’s Miko Ilonen heading into the weekend.

Australian club golfers increased the number of rounds they played in 2012 according to new data released by the Australian Golf Industry Council (AGIC).

For the 2012 calendar year, approximately 12.38 million rounds were played, marking a 2.4% increase on 2011 figures.

In 2012, rounds played by males accounted for more than 81 per cent of all rounds played.

Aditi Ashok blew her opposition away with a stunning three-under 66 that gave her the Billoo Sethi Trophy for the Strokeplay segment of the Usha All India Ladies Amateur Golf Championships. The 15-year-old Aditi, bidding to become to retain her National title and also win the Order of Merit was in awesome form and closed with three birdies in last four holes and had a 36-hole total of one-over 139.

Millie Saroha, who led after the first round was second with a card of 73 that gave her a two-day aggregate of 143 while Gursimar Badwal (75-72) was third at 147. Ridhima Dilawari (75-75) and Gurbani Singh (74-76) shared the fourth place.

Volvo, IMG and The European Tour were today hosted by Bulgaria's Minister of Physical Education and Sport, Mr Svilen Neykov, and the Bulgarian Golf Association at a special press conference for the Volvo World Match Play Championship in the nation's capital, Sofia. The press conference marked the beginning of the countdown to Bulgaria's first full European Tour event, the 2013 Volvo World Match Play Championship, which will be played at the breathtaking Thracian Cliffs Course in Bulgaria from the 16th to the 19th May.

The elite Volvo World Match Play Championship, celebrating its 50th year in 2013, will gather 24 of the world's best players to compete for this prestigious title via a qualification process designed to gather the highest quality international field. So far, Nicolas Colsaerts has qualified as the Defending Champion, Shane Lowry by winning the 2012 Portugal Masters and last weekend, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen and Peter Hanson qualified as the leading four players on the final 2012 Race to Dubai Rankings. It was also announced today that the prize fund for the 2013 Championship increases to €3,000,000 (€250,000 more than 2012) with the eventual winner taking home a €800,000 first prize.

The inaugural edition of the Standard Chartered South Asia Golf Tournament will get underway on November 24th and 25th and will play host to leading corporate leaders and industry captains from around the sub continent. This tournament will be competed over two days at the Aamby Valley Golf Resort on November 24 followed by the second day at Oxford Golf Resorts, Pune.

Captains of the corporate world from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and around India will come together in this new fixture on the golfing calendar.

Following today's Annual General Meeting, Golf Australia announced the election of two new directors to the Board of Golf Australia. The new directors are Robert Crosby and Dr Jill Spargo.

Robert spent more than 30 years at National Australia Bank in a variety of senior management positions. He is a former Board member of Golf South Australia and has been actively involved in handicapping, course rating, rules and amateur status committees at state and national level.

American Stacy Lewis triumphantly accepted the Rolex Player of the Year award at tonight's Rolex Awards Celebration, becoming the first U.S.-born player to do so in nearly two decades. LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame member Beth Daniel, the last American winner in 1994, was on-hand to assist in presenting the award.

"I just think back to 10 years ago when I remember sitting in a doctor's office and him telling me that I was going to have to have back surgery," Lewis said. "That was the time that, I mean, I thought I would never play golf again. Now 10 years later I'm here winning Player of the Year, that's crazy. That's not normal, you know? People that normally win Player of the Year are pretty talented and have kind of played well all along and I've just kind of slowly worked my way up and I think it's most satisfying, everything I've overcome."