Pádraig Harrington may be languishing 59th in the world rankings right now but he begins his 2013 campaign in the €2m Volvo Champions event at Durban Country Club, South Africa with confidence.

Paul McGinley to captain Europe at Gleneagles in 2014 followed by Darren Clarke at Hazeltine in 2016.

Denis O’Sullivan won’t suffer sleepless nights at the pending demise of the belly putter.

The wisdom of the old expression of horses for courses was rarely more amply demonstrated than at Sherwood Country Club on Sunday when Graeme McDowell captured his second Tiger Woods World Challenge title in three years, and with it the winners cheque for $1m (€765,733).

It is little more than 18 months since JP Fitzgerald was vilified for his perceived part in Rory McIlroy’s meltdown in the final round of the Masters.

Five Irish golfers, Waterville’s David Higgins, Ulstermen Chris Devlin and Gareth Shaw, Dubliner Niall Kearney and Yorkshire-born Simon Thornton, will be among a group of 150 hopefuls seeking 25 places on the 2013 European Tour when the final Tour School takes place over six days at the Catalunya complex near Barcelona beginning next Saturday.

Several Irish golfers, including Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Peter Lawrie, have a great deal to play for in the three season-ending tournaments on the European Tour — this week’s Barclays Singapore Open followed by the Hong Kong Open and the Dubai World Championship.

Life gets better and better for Shane Lowry.

There was a time when professional golf went into hibernation for a good six months with the arrival of October.

With Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke now neck and neck favourites to captain the European Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014, and Shane Lowry winning his first tournament as a professional in Portugal, the game in Ireland has certainly been in the news over the last week or so.