James Sugrue is battling an infected bite on his calf to be fit to tee off at the Open Championship on Thursday.

Darren Clarke will have the honour of striking the first ball at The 148th Open on Thursday as major championship golf returns to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951.

Shane Lowry admitted he was growing tired of feeling as disappointed as he was last night after an opening-round two-over-par 72 at Royal Birkdale.

Darren Clarke last night backed Rory McIlroy to put his poor form behind him and turn on the style at this week’s Open Championship.

Darren Clarke never had the patience to handle the US Open but even though he’ll be behind a microphone for FOX Sports this week the big Irishman is fascinated by the challenge that lies in store.

On a day when Jordan Spieth got that sinking feeling again, Brian Keogh examines the major talking points...

For all the fire that Patrick Reed brings to the course and for all the emotion his partner, Jordan Spieth, provides, there is always a reminder that there’s another way to bring leadership.

Darren Clarke will take a step back from his hectic schedule as European Ryder Cup captain next week with a diary free of official business. Yet while on the face of it there will be some calm before the dramatic storm of the resumption of golfing rivalries with the US at the end of the month in Minnesota, it is doubtful the Irishman will be sleeping any easier.

Dustin Johnson has the slow walk, the bristled jaw and the gunslinger’s eyes of a Sergio Leone bounty hunter.

Shane Lowry has vowed never to change despite promising PGA Tour officials that he’ll do his best to watch his language from now on.

Darren Clarke might be a fearsome-looking figure on tour but the European Ryder Cup captain is a wise old owl in terms of developing new players.

Former winner Darren Clarke admits he never thought it would be possible to contest the Open Championship on home soil.

Rory McIlroy will begin Friday’s PGA Championship second round five shots off the pace but satisfied to have come through a testing examination of the left ankle he injured just five weeks ago.

Paul Dunne will head into today’s third round as Ireland’s leading competitor at St Andrews and closing in on the R&A’s Silver Medal for low amateur following another impressive day at The 144th 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.

He may be only a kid but from what we have already seen of Jordan Spieth, it is enough to be unsurprised that the Texan will not be taking a Masters victory for granted this weekend.

Satisfaction, relief, tension and disappointment – Ireland’s Masters competitors ran the range of emotions at Augusta National last night as the first major of the year reached the halfway stage.

Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup captaincy took off at Heathrow Airport yesterday with the newly appointed European skipper insisting as matey as he is with his potential team members, he will not shirk the tough decisions.

Darren Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn were set to discover on Wednesday which of them will have the daunting task of following in Paul McGinley’s footsteps as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain.

Former Open champion Darren Clarke remains a strong favourite to be named European Ryder Cup captain for 2016 on Wednesday.

It is one of Ireland’s most iconic parkland courses and as such it is only fitting the Alister MacKenzie layout at Cork Golf Club has a superintendent of equal standing.

Darren Clarke is hoping his happiness off the course can translate to success on it as he goes in search of a second Claret Jug in today’s opening round of The Open Championship at Hoylake.

Rory McIlroy will get his Open Championship bid under way at Royal Liverpool on Thursday as the elder statesman in group containing rising stars Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama.

As Paul McGinley predicted, when he met Darren Clarke, his one-time Ryder Cup team-mate turned captaincy rival on the first tee at Oak Hill yesterday, it was smiles as they shook hands.

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has pledged to draw a line in the sand over any ill feeling with Darren Clarke over their rival candidacies to lead Europe against the USA at Gleneagles next year.

Such has been the gruelling nature of this 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield over the first 36 holes that whoever survives to lift the famous Claret Jug tomorrow evening will rightfully lay claim to the motto ‘He Who Grinds, Wins’.

We probably should have noted the warning signs last Tuesday.

Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell have confirmed they will both compete in the Irish Open, completing Ireland’s line-up of Major champions at Carton House from June 27-30.

The European tour players committee meet this afternoon in Abu Dhabi where the Ryder Cup captain for next year at Gleneagles will be decided.

Darren Clarke, many people’s favourite to lead Europe at the next Ryder Cup, said today: “As much as I would dearly love to be captain, this may not be my time”.

Just over five years ago, no Irish golfer had won a major since Fred Daly in the 1947 Open, but how times have changed.

WHEN Thomas Bjorn’s father lost his battle with a long illness in May, his golfing son was pacing around Finca Cortesin in Spain, waiting to see whether he would be turning his first alternate status at the HSBC World Match Play into a starting place.

From next year final qualifying for the Open will be staged a week earlier and will be 36 holes in one day rather than spread over two.