Rory McIlroy remained deep in the pack and then was held up by the weather for the second day running at the Barclays Singapore Open today.

The Nike Covert driver Rory McIlroy will take into competition next season was unveiled by five Nike staff players on day one of the storm-affected Barclays Singapore Open.

Rory McIlroy managed only eight holes today before play at the Barclays Singapore Open was called off in mid-afternoon because of a thunderstorm.

Rory McIlroy has admitted there are times he needs to get away from golf — as he controversially did last week even though a world championship was being played.

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.

Rory McIlroy’s goal of ending the season as European No. 1 has received a huge boost with his five nearest rivals, including closest challenger Peter Hanson, deciding not to contest two of the last three events on this year’s schedule.

Despite a glowing result for Irish golf, with four men inside the top 11, there was no hiding Rory McIlroy’s disappointment at finishing runner-up at the BMW Masters in Shanghai.

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

Shane Lowry will join a number of fellow European Tour members in taking advantage before the advent of new changes and enter this year’s PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Next year’s European Tour will again include just one event Ireland, two in England, one in Wales and three in Scotland.

Next year’s European Tour has been confirmed with the Irish Open switching from late July to the end of June, but with a venue yet to be announced.

NIALL TURNER flies into Spain today to prepare for what he describes as the biggest pressure week of the professional golfing year.

UNLIKE the majority of his contemporaries, Pádraig Harrington’s main rival is neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els or even young Rory McIlory but still himself.

TWELVE months ago, Pádraig Harrington ended a two-year title drought when he won the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia.

Tiger Woods is back in the world’s top 50 after finishing third at the Australian Open – but only just.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won the Barclays Singapore Open at the second play-off hole against Juvic Pagunsan at Sentosa Golf Club.

GRAEME MCDOWELL was close to throwing up while fellow Irishman Michael Hoey just had trouble simply keeping his trousers up on day two of the rain affected Barclays Singapore Open.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON admits “the Ryder Cup won’t happen for me” unless he plays well in key events.

TIGER WOODS has a final chance to claim his first victory of the year at this week’s Chevron World Challenge and close the curtain on a 2010 campaign he described as “very painful”.

TWELVE months ago, Rory McIlroy arrived in Dubai leading the Euro-pean Tour order of merit but was caught on the line by the fast finishing Lee Westwood.

GRAEME McDOWELL was left ruing a Barclays Singapore Open final-hole three-putt that cost him taking an additional €130,000 slice out of Martin Kaymer’s Race to Dubai lead.

Adam Scott’s victory at the Barclays Singapore Open today has taken him back into the world’s top 20.

Play in the final round of the Barclays Singapore Open was delayed this morning due to thunderstorms.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON suffered a recurrence of a long running neck injury but shrugged off the concern despite an adventurous first round in the Barclays Singapore Open.

THERE was a G20 golfing summit in Singapore on Thursday night with four-times Major winner, Phil Mickelson along with Darren Clarke, invited to share dinner with former US President Bill Clinton.

GRAEME MCDOWELL understands why Rory McIlroy quit the US Tour while Pádraig Harrington is anxious to discuss the decision with the Ulster star.

RORY McILROY has quit the US Tour in a move that can only further enhance the current glowing stature of the European Tour.

LEE WESTWOOD has strengthened his place at the top of the world rankings and re-ignited his bid to retain the European Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit by finishing a stroke behind Francesco Molinari in the HSBC World Championship in Shanghai.

JOSE-MARIA Olazabal this week begins his bid to convince Tour chiefs he should captain Europe in their Ryder Cup defence against the USA at Medinah in 2012.

Sponsors have confirmed the Volvo World Match Play Championship will "definitely" return to the European Tour schedule.

RORY McILROY needed little time to rekindle last seasons explosive form by moving straight into contention on day one of the Abu Dhabi Championship.

Next season’s European Tour – starting in South Africa on Thursday – will feature a minimum of 47 tournaments, including six new ones, and will once again culminate in the Dubai World Championship.

IAN POULTER reaped the rewards for Sunday’s hard-fought one-stroke victory at the Barclays Singapore Open as the Ryder Cup contender ended a two-year winless streak to leap to a career-high 15th in the world.

TIGER WOODS isn’t one of those American golfers content to sit at home from one end of the year to the other and flood his already overflowing bank account with still more dollars.

GRAEME MCDOWELL missed out on a first victory in over 15 months with three bogeys in succession on the final day of the Barclays Singapore Open.

Ian Poulter carded a closing 72, one-over-par, to edge out China’s Liang Wen-chong by one shot and complete a nervous wire-to-wire victory in the Barclays Singapore Open today.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will next week be part of the strongest field ever assembled in Asia.

An ambitious Ian Poulter saw his five-stroke halfway lead at the Barclays Singapore Open disappear after just six holes of his third round today as Thomas Levet and Japan’s Kodai Ichihara took full advantage before play was suspended.

Ian Poulter established a five-shot lead at the half-way point of the weather-interrupted Barclays Singapore Open today after blitzing a flawless seven-under-par 64 second round at Sentosa Golf Cub.

A buoyant Daniel Chopra revelled in his bogey-free second round at the weather-affected Barclays Singapore Open today as the Swede set the halfway clubhouse mark with a welcome return to form following a frustrating year.

Ian Poulter’s one-shot lead at the Barclays Singapore Open remained intact this morning as the rain-affected first round suffered another delay on the second morning at Sentosa Golf Club.

Ian Poulter shrugged off a six-week break to claim the lead midway through the first round of the Barclays Singapore Open today.

SERGIO GARCIA insisted yesterday he will again be doing what suits him next year — even if Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie would prefer him to be somewhere else.

While Padraig Harrington admits less pressure will help him convert his recent return to form into a long awaited victory at this week’s Barclays Singapore Open, the Dubliner has set himself an ambitious target of winning his next three events to remain in the hunt on the Race to Dubai.