This is a big week for the United States Golf Association, who can ill afford another embarrassment during the US Open.

The skies above Pebble Beach Golf Links for most of Thursday’s first round were gray, but the leaderboard featured a different hue, one players aren’t typically accustomed to seeing at the U.S. Open: Red.

The tournament has been beset by problems in recent years and tournament organisers, the USGA admitted they went “too far” with the set up of Shinnecock Hills last year after only three players broke par in the third round.

When Rory McIlroy blew the lead and his chance to win his first major title at the 2011 Masters, he was so heartbroken that he ended up sobbing into the phone to his mother, convinced he’d let his one chance to win a major slip through his hands.

In recent years, the USGA has suffered from an identity complex. It tries to protect par and live up to its reputation as golf’s toughest test.

Tiger Woods is hoping to find the missing piece of the jigsaw at Shinnecock Hills to claim a first win since his latest comeback and end a 10-year victory drought in the majors.

Ireland’s Paul Dunne got of to a superb start in the Open de Espana, shooting an opening round 66 that included five birdies and an eagle to share the lead with Scotland’s Marc Warren.

There’s only one thing that Jordan Spieth fears more that Quail Hollow’s cloying bermuda rough and rock hard greens and that’s Rory McIlroy in full flow.

To many golfers, being touted as a potential major winner is the sort of endorsement they could do without. Yet far from feeling cursed after having his credentials boosted by Pádraig Harrington ahead of this week’s Open Championship, Shane Lowry seems perfectly at ease with the suggestion.

Shane Lowry is looking forward to a return to the type of US Open courses which produce "carnage" after the experiment with two new venues in the last three years.

A rain-softened course was protected by some fearsome pin positions as the third round of the US Open got under way at Erin Hills today.

Rickie Fowler made light of the longest course in major championship history to produce a record-equalling start to the US Open on Thursday.

Old man par is usually your friend at the US Open but Erin Hills is such an unknown quantity that the world’s best are hedging their bets on the winning score this week.

It must be US Open week because the pros took one look at Erin Hills, site of the 117th US Open, and you heard more bellyaching than a hospital emergency room.

Ahead of the US Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin this week, the United States Golf Association (USGA) is rightfully nervous. 

Dustin Johnson has had to put up with being called many things, many of them unrepeatable without the advice of a lawyer, but he will not mind his latest tag — major winner.

Rory McIlroy veered from the sublime to the ridiculous to miss the halfway cut in the US Open as Lee Westwood and Shane Lowry remained firmly in contention at Oakmont.

Former champion Rory McIlroy's US Open campaign veered from the sublime to the ridiculous as Lee Westwood battled to remain in contention at Oakmont.

Former champion Rory McIlroy was threatening to do more than simply make the cut and join Lee Westwood in contention for the US Open at Oakmont.

Jordan Spieth’s Masters meltdown at Augusta National joined the list of memorable collapses when the heat of a major tournament is on.

One couldn’t blame Rory McIlroy if he were to suggest that professional golf adopt something that is the rage with the sport of American football — the concussion protocol. 

Had Jason Day realised his major ambitions back in 2011, the effects may not have been favourable.

Dustin Johnson admitted an opening 66 in the US PGA Championship was as easy as he made it look, but the hard part will be converting that into an overdue first major title after numerous near misses.

Fit-again Rory McIlroy will not add tournaments to his 2015 schedule in order to make up lost time for his injury-enforced absence this summer.

The grand slam may not be on the line and the defending champion looks set to miss out, but if the last major held at Whistling Straits is anything to go by, the US PGA Championship should provide a thrilling end to 2015’s major season.

To have an amateur leading The Open Championship going into today’s final round is the stuff of fairytales.

Dustin Johnson did not manage 18 holes but he showed enough in a second round cut short by fading light to stay just out in front in The 144th Open Championship last night at St Andrews.

Graeme McDowell felt Shane Lowry’s pain when he heard his fellow Irishman had seen his Open Championship hopes take a sharp nosedive at St Andrews’ 17th hole on the opening morning.

They are playing the same course side by side, but if Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth are going to continue their majors duel into the last round of the 144th Open Championship, then the American rivals will get there by contrasting routes.

When in a cool, gray dusk in the shadows of the Old Course Hotel Tiger Woods turned from his practice-putting at the 16th fairway to see that Jordan Spieth was the next player approaching, the philosophical question could have been asked.

No wonder Rickie Fowler fancies his chances of becoming a major champion at The Open this week. 

It needed mental strength to survive a gruelling US Open at Chambers Bay but Shane Lowry will need a different approach if he is to get the job done this week at The Open Championship.

Dustin Johnson returns to the major championship arena at St Andrews on Thursday resolved to leave behind his status as golf’s nearly man and in the process stop Jordan Spieth’s bid for Grand Slam glory.

Shane Lowry will go into today’s Scottish Open with a new look and a determination to ignore the expectation building around him ahead of next week’s Open Championship at St Andrews.

Tiger Woods bounced back from his miserable US Open to shoot his lowest score on the PGA Tour this season with a four-under-par 66 on day one of The Greenbrier Classic.

Graeme McDowell will look to write his name in the record books by securing a hat-trick of wins in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National this week.

It’s easy to write off a player like Graeme McDowell following his stuttering start to 2015.

Shane Lowry’s new European Tour stature has been quickly rewarded with tee times alongside Tour superstars Martin Kaymer and Henrik Stenson for the opening two rounds of the BMW International Open in Munich.

Colin Montgomerie will get little respite after an arduous week at the US Open when he defends the senior equivalent in Sacramento this week.

It was perhaps the most agonising three-putt in majors history but Dustin Johnson insisted he was proud of his efforts after another last-day heartbreak.

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry left Chambers Bay tied for ninth at the US Open and sharing optimism for the summer’s golf ahead.

Chambers Bay, as a venue, was always going to be controversial because the USGA had once again changed the script. They wanted the golf course more links-like, with wider fairways than the norm.

Jordan Spieth made another entry into golf’s history books and steadied himself for a third leg of an historic calendar Grand Slam after dramatically sealing a Masters-US Open double at Chambers Bay early on Monday morning.

Rory McIlroy made an interesting revelation when giving his reaction to US Open contender Jason Day’s ongoing problems with vertigo.

Shane Lowry left Chambers Bay on Sunday night with a US Open top-10 finish and the confidence he has the game and temperament to contend at the highest level.