Rupa Aitchinson blog

American Garrigus surges into tie for Las Vegas lead

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Four months after squandering a golden opportunity to win his maiden PGA Tour title, Robert Garrigus charged into a share of the first-round lead at the Las Vegas Open on Thursday.

The 32-year-old American made the most of surprisingly soft conditions at the TPC Summerlin, firing a seven-under-par 64 to set the pace with compatriots Will MacKenzie, Michael Letzig and Cameron Tringale, plus Australian John Senden.

George McNeill, the 2007 champion, opened with a 65 to match fellow Americans Nicholas Thompson, Ryan Palmer, Vaughn Taylor and Martin Flores.

Among the bigger names competing in the penultimate event on the 2010 PGA Tour, Davis Love III and John Daly returned 66s while U.S. Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan carded a 67.

On a cool, overcast morning in the Nevada desert, Garrigus birdied three of the first seven holes before ending the day in a five-way logjam at the top of the leaderboard.

"I've never seen the golf course this soft," the Arizona-based professional told reporters after recording eight birdies and a lone bogey. "Conditions were perfect. No wind.

"When that happens, you can go low. I ended up making a bunch of putts and shooting seven under. It was a great start."

In June, Garrigus suffered a nightmare finish to the St. Jude Classic in Memphis where he led by three shots playing the last before running up a triple-bogey. He then lost out in a three-way playoff for the title.

MEMPHIS BLUES

"It was really hard after Memphis," he recalled. "Everybody was like: 'Hey, great playing'. I'm like: 'Yeah, I know, but whatever'.

"It's kind of nice when you have a job where you make half a million dollars and you're furious. I've got one of the greatest jobs in the world."

Garrigus described Memphis as an important stepping stone in his development as a PGA Tour player.

"I know I can win," he said. "I know I can do it. If I can just get over that mental hurdle to do it, I'm going to win a lot out here. I feel like I can."

MacKenzie is a double winner on the PGA Tour but has posted only one top-10 this season in 21 starts and needs a strong finish to the year to secure his playing privileges for 2011.

"I am feeling good," said the American who lies 146th in the money list where the top 125 earn full exemptions for next season. "I have a chance to play great but a tie for 40th (here) doesn't do anything for me at all.

"I got to have a big finish. I got to have two good finishes or one fantastic one. I'm going to try to just make as many birdies as possible. If I have to go to Q (qualifying) School, I'll go to Q School."

Britain's Martin Laird, who clinched his maiden PGA Tour victory here last year in a three-way playoff, and 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa opened with 69s.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Ginsburg; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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A new freeware converter lets users convert PDF documents to JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIFF.

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HSBC faces thorny issues in hunt for new chairman

LONDON (Reuters) – For a bank that prides itself on smooth successions, HSBC (HSBA.L) (0005.HK) is suddenly scrambling to pick its next chairman.

The frontrunners to succeed Stephen Green, set to become a British government minister in January, are said to be former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) banker and HSBC non-executive director John Thornton, 56, and current chief executive Michael Geoghegan, 56.

Both have a wealth of experience of China, Asia more broadly, and an inside track on the complex and far-reaching financial services giant.

HSBC's choice is complicated by it having to decide where the chairman will be based, past trouble with investors when it ignored best corporate governance and the sheer complexity of managing the world's third biggest bank.

The lender said its reach across 86 countries and diverse operations explained why it needed a full-time chairman with international banking experience.

Green, who will become Britain's trade and investment minister in January, announced his exit on Tuesday, earlier than expected and without a successor being named. The bank said it had started a search for a replacement.

Thornton spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs including spells as president and co-chief operating officer and was head of its London operations and chairman of the Asia business. He has been a non-executive director at HSBC since 2008.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power makes Thornton the 5/4 favorite, with Geoghegan at 15/8.

Other candidates linked with the role include Simon Robertson, another non-executive; Vincent Cheng, chairman of HSBC Bank (China); Douglas Flint, finance director; Mervyn Davies, former boss of rival Standard Chartered (STAN.L); and Adair Turner, head of Britain's financial watchdog.

TOO SOON FOR GEOGHEGAN

HSBC has a history of promoting from within.

If Geoghegan was to step up -- and it is not clear he wants the position -- the favorite to succeed him as CEO is Stuart Gulliver, boss of the fast-growing investment bank arm for seven years and now also chairman for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"The promotion of Michael Geoghegan and Stuart Gulliver to the respective roles of chairman and CEO seems to be 2-3 years too early, for both the individuals and for the execution of the renewed Asia focus," Oriel Securities analyst Mike Trippitt said.

The role has also shifted in recent years -- the chairman is now more ambassadorial and less involved in day-to-day operations than in the past when chairmen such as William Purves and John Bond clearly ran the show.

As Geoghegan said in a statement on Tuesday: "For HSBC it is business as usual; I continue to run the company."

When Green, then CEO, was promoted five years ago, it angered some investors.

PIRC, an advisory service for investors on corporate governance issues, said on Wednesday it is "very difficult for a former CEO to be objective about strategic company decisions when they have previously been responsible for that strategy."

PIRC said it listened to exceptions but generally did not support such a move, and it opposed Green's election as chairman when it was voted on in May 2006.

Before that vote Brian Moffat, then head of the bank's nomination committee, wrote to shareholders to explain why the bank had not complied with best corporate practice, citing HSBC's size, geographical spread and complexity.

"HSBC is a remarkable organization with a distinctive character and culture. The business is managed through international teamwork and HSBC believes this is best achieved by management continuity and amongst colleagues who have similar values," Moffat said.

(Editing by Dan Lalor and David Cowell)

Katy Perry tops U.S. album chart for first time

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Katy Perry achieved her first No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart Wednesday, ending Eminem's reign of seven nonconsecutive weeks.

Perry's third album "Teenage Dream" sold a career-best 192,000 copies during the week ended August 29, according to Nielsen SoundScan. She is the first solo woman to lead the tally since January, when Ke$ha's "Animal" spent one week atop the list.

Perry's breakthrough release, 2008's "One of the Boys," debuted and peaked at No. 9 in July that year with 47,000 sold in its premiere week. Its best sales frame came during Christmas week of 2008 when it shifted 63,000. It is currently at No. 86 with 1.3 million copies sold to date.

Season 3 "American Idol" champ Fantasia, in the news recently with a failed suicide attempt, started at No. 2 with "Back To Me" (117,000). That marks her highest charting album yet. Her "Free Yourself" debut started and peaked at No. 8 in 2004 with 240,000 copies; her self-titled follow-up "Fantasia" topped out at No. 19 in 2006 with 133,000.

Eminem's "Recovery" slipped two to No. 3 with 98,000, taking its total to 2.3 million after 10 weeks.

Usher entered at No. 4 with "Versus," whose 46,000-unit start marked a huge drop from the 329,000-unit start for the chart-topping "Raymond v Raymond" in April. That album rebounded 12 places to No. 19, after being reissued in a deluxe edition with "Versus" as a bonus disc, much in the same way as Lady Gaga unleashed "The Fame Monster" both as a stand-alone set last November in addition to bundling it with a reissue of her "The Fame" album.

Little Big Town's "The Reason Why" debuted at No. 5 with 42,000, a new high for the country combo in terms of both rank and sales. Ditto for another country act, Randy Rogers Band, whose "Burning the Day" entered at No. 8 with 28,600.

Kem's "Intimacy" dropped four to No. 6 with 30,000 in its second week, while Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" climbed one to No. 7 with 28,700. Ray LaMontagne's "God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise" slid six to No. 9 also in its second week, selling 27,900. Rock band the Devil Wears Prada's "Zombie" EP debuted at No. 10 with 25,000.

Overall album sales totaled 5.12 million units, up 1% from the previous week, but down 12% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009. Year-to-date album sales are off 12% from 2009 at 195.3 million.

Sony's iTunes Rival: What I Want to See

Sony plans to launch a new music and video subscription service later today, according to . The new service, which is expected to compete with Apple's iTunes, is expected to be announced at the IFA show in Berlin -- hours beforein San Francisco, at which the company is rumored to announce updates to iTunes.

Details remain scarce about what Sony's service will offer, but the FT report says: "Sources in the media industry told the Financial Times that Sony would use its PlayStation games consoles as the starting point for a new service that users will be able to use across a range of other internet-connected devices. That could include Walkman music players, Vaio computers, Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players and Sony Ericsson mobile phones."

, which offered songs for download for 99 cents. The Connect service suffered from buggy software and the public's lack of interest in Sony's digital music players, andin 2007.

So should we expect a better showing from Sony this time around? I certainly hope so; a little competition for Apple is always a good thing. Here's what I hope to see from Sony's new iTunes rival.

It's All About the Devices

What concerns me most about the FT report is the idea that Sony's new service will be tied to Sony's devices. Sure, this makes sense in some respects -- Sony is looking for a way to attract more users to its connected TVs and Blu-ray players -- but it also will limit the service's appeal. I'd like to see a service that I can run on my Windows computer, my Android smartphone, and my third-party MP3 player.

I think teaming up with Android would be an especially smart move: Android-based phones are becoming more and more popular, yet they lack they kind of connected music-and-video service that iTunes offers on the iPhone. Sure, Android phones offer access to Amazon's MP3 downloads store, but that store doesn't offer a selection of movies and TV shows the way iTunes does.

Ditch the Proprietary Format

Let's hope that Sony has learned from the failure of its Connect music store and the . Sony's past players would only play music in this format, which was not widely supported on other devices. I want to see Sony's new store offer music in a format I can listen to anytime, anywhere.

The Price is Right

The FT report says that Sony is launching a "subscription" service. When the official announcement comes, I hope to hear that the service uses more than just a subscription model; I'd like to see 99 cent (or cheaper!) song downloads, as well as fairly priced movie rentals and downloads.

Selection is Key

Speaking of music and movies, I'd also like to see a wide selection of titles. We all know that a store is only as good as the content it sells, so let's hope Sony can deliver. The FT report says that Sony's service will launch next year, giving the company time to confirm deals with "all the major labels and studios." I like the sound of that.

What about you? What would you like to see from Sony's rumored music store?