Darragh Greene was in Dublin Airport when the world turned on its axis. The Longford swimmer and the rest of the senior national squad were in departures, poised to fly out to a meet in Scotland, when the acting Taoiseach delivered his address — and everything changed utterly, writes Brendan O'Brien.

Fears that this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open could be in doubt due to the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak have increased following the European Tour’s decision to suspend ticket and hospitality sales for all its 2020 tournaments.

Patrick O'Reilly has been employed by Mount Juliet Unlimited, which owns the Mount Juliet Estate in Co Kilkenny, since 2007.

Part II of this series looks at how clubs around the island of Ireland are planning for the year ahead and what Irish golf can expect in 2020.

Fáilte Ireland says it showcased the country to a combined audience of 1.9 billion people in 2019 by hosting the visits of 800 journalists.

On Wednesday, Shane Lowry toasted 2019. His team — including manager Conor Ridge, caddie Brian Martin and coach Neil Manchip — had gathered for Christmas lunch. Before they began, the big man raised a glass.

Pre-tax profits at the five-star Druids Glen Hotel and Resort climbed 51% to €1.48m last year.

Graeme McDowell will host the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open for the next two years, starting with the 2020 event at Mount Juliet.

The company that operates the five-star Mount Juliet hotel and golf resort in Co Kilkenny last year narrowed its pre-tax losses by 7% to €2.99m.

Paul Dunne's nightmare season took on more Dantesque proportions when he was forced to withdraw from tomorrow's Final Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School with a niggling wrist injury.

Shane Lowry will sit down with the family for Christmas dinner in seven weeks' time and bask in the warm glow of an unforgettable season.

Parkland looks set to gain terrain unless Portmarnock Golf Club open membership to female golfers and is welcomed again into the European Tour family.

Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, and Bernhard Langer are among previous winners at the Kilkenny course.

In addition to the €495,187 spent by Fáilte Ireland, Clare County Council oversaw a spend of €4m on upgrading the resort, which included an outlay of €550,000 on new public toilets.

Castlerock Golf Club is bidding to host the 2021 Irish Open, initial talks with European Tour officials having already taken place.

The Northern Irish Open has evolved into a European first, writes Kevin Markham.

Rory McIlroy shot a one-under-par round of 69 on the opening day of the WGC Fed Ex St Jude Invitational in Memphis.

JP McManus has set Adare Manor and Ireland the challenge of staging the greatest Ryder Cup ever as he celebrated his luxury hotel and golf resort in Co Limerick winning the right to host golf’s biggest team event in 2026.

Brian O’Driscoll believes Joe Schmidt’s Ireland team can take inspiration from Shane Lowry’s Open triumph as they seek to emulate the Offaly golfer by climbing higher than ever before on the world stage.

If failing to prepare means preparing to fail, the question about how to prepare effectively must be broached by any self-respecting high performing athlete and coach. Mind you, there is no answer that will serve everyone equally.

Peter O’Keeffe is desperate to end his run of near-misses at the Pierse Motors-sponsored South of Ireland Championship which begins in Lahinch this morning.

The last thing Shane Lowry needs is to be a hostage to fortune — but while the new Open Champion insists he would retire happy with a single major win on his resumé, a steely ambition for further success lurks not far beneath the surface.

Graeme McDowell hailed Ireland’s newest major champion and backed Shane Lowry to finally come out from Rory McIlroy’s shadow after lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush.

Simon Lewis Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler may not have had the outcomes they wanted

If the video clips doing the rounds on social media yesterday are anything to believe, Shane Lowry has been living up to his pledge to enjoy his magnificent and well-deserved Open Championship victory.

Shane Lowry’s grandmother Emily Scanlon has revealed that his golfing success can be attributed to turf mould.

No man is an island, not even in a non-team sport like golf and while Shane Lowry is not one to use “we” when referring to his achievements in the style of many of his counterparts in golf’s elite, the Irishman is not afraid to give credit where it is due.

He had been here before. As recently as 2016 in fact, when he held a four-shot lead going into the final round of the US Open at Oakmont, but this was different, or so he claimed. Older, more mature and now the married father of a two-year-old daughter, life had indeed moved on outside the ropes but what about his golf game?

Pádraig Harrington believes Shane Lowry’s nightmare finish to the 2016 US Open at Oakmont can act as a help rather than a hindrance as the Offaly man chases a first major win at Portrush this weekend.

Lowry, who won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009, holed from 35 feet for another birdie on the 10th to move two shots clear of the field.

A pre-Open Championship pep talk from coach Neil Manchip propelled a previously uneasy Lowrytowards his lowest opening round in a major and the business end of the leaderboard on a rollercoaster first day at Royal Portrush. But what would Rory McIlroy have given for Lowry’s 67 at The 148th Open?

There is something uniquely British about the tennis at Wimbledon. Where else do you still see players playing in “all whites” and on grass courts to wildly enthusiastically patrons, who nostalgically talk as much in the past as the present, while sipping their Pimm’s and eating their strawberries and cream.

About two years ago the R&A got in touch with some Dublin-based PR and advertising companies. They had a concern about the 2019 Open Championship that they wanted to throw some money at.

Jon Rahm is hoping an accommodation switch can lead to a reversal of fortunes in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Pádraig Harrington has predicted that the Open Championship’s return to Irish shores this week is the first step of tournament organisers the R&A taking golf’s oldest major around the world, ideally with Portmarnock as the launchpad.

It was business as usual down on Portrush’s beautiful East Strand as the lifeguard looked out from her perch to the handful of dog walkers and paddlers on the beach.

So that’s nearly Tuesday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

The recent Irish Open in Lahinch was a powerful reminder that a community working with both private and public institutions can deliver a world class success.