With only a limited number of tickets remaining for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this weekend, tournament host Paul McGinley has all the validation he needs that bringing the European Tour to Lahinch was the right call, regardless of which stars tee it up on the prestigious links tomorrow.

With over 20 years at the top of the Irish golf and leisure scene, Maurice O’Meara is a man who really knows golf.

Paul McGinley has revealed the European Tour are open to moving the date of future Irish Opens in order to attract the big beasts of the PGA Tour to these shores.

New Kerry GAA commercial manager Maurice O’Meara feels the position presents him with the challenge he was looking for after years involved with golf in the county.

It is 100 days until the World Amateur Team Championships, which tee off at Carton House on August 29. 

A lot has happened to Shane Lowry since he won his national title as an amateur in 2009, yet adding an Irish Open victory as a professional is very much a serious goal for the world number 35.

It was the climax no-one saw coming, the seemingly unflappable defending champion Jordan Spieth first stumbled then self-combusted under the mental strain of expectation.

The owners of the five-star Lough Erne Resort last night said they “extremely disappointed” at the European Tour’s decision not to host the 2017 Irish Open at the Fermanagh resort.

The wheels of progress turn very slowly at Portmarnock but if the sticky issue of women members is ever resolved, Shane Lowry will join Rory McIlroy at the top of the queue for the return of the Irish Open to what many consider to be Ireland’s blue riband links.

In the mind’s eye, he will always have a hurley in his hand.

Another year, another Irish Open and the debates continue as to the best venue and time of year to play one of the most popular tournaments on the European Tour.

Coach Michael Bannon has been a driving force on Rory McIlroy’s road to stardom.

Graeme McDowell has followed Ernie Els to become the second US Open winner in confirm his appearance in what is shaping up as one of the most high profile Irish Opens.

World-renowned Irish trophy property, Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort, on 766 acres in Co Limerick, has gone to market this week for a price of €25-27m, via agents CBRE, acting for vendor and owner, US-based Tom Kane, who has redeveloped it over the past 27 years.

Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell may have come up short in this year’s quest for an Irish Open victory, but both would be delighted to give it another shot at Fota Island Resort after a hugely successful week in Cork.

The new owners of the luxury Mount Juliet resort, in Co Kilkenny, are set to spend an estimated €4m on expanding its facilities over the next 18 months.

A day might be a long time in politics but when it comes to future of the Irish Open — and a possible Northern Ireland staging of the British Open — changes are coming equally thick and fast.

No tricks, no gimmicks, just a good, fair test of golf is what Fota Island Resort hopes to deliver for this year’s Irish Open in June.

The current champion and past Irish Open winners have applauded the European Tour’s decision to take the 2014 Irish Open back to Fota Island in Cork.

Damien McGrane guaranteed his Tour card for next season with a share of third in the KLM Open, while rookie professional Kevin Phelan will next travel to Portugal in search of similar status.

The many hundreds who turn up to support Waterford Castle, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Adare Manor, Tramore, Muskerry, Ballybunion, Doneraile and Nenagh in next weekend’s Munster finals of the Irish Senior and Junior Cups and Barton Shield have a treat in store.

ON August 15, 1983, the great Seve Ballesteros struck a magnificent tee shot at the 11th hole of Cork Golf Club which still resonates with all at Little Island.

Bad weather and the loss of five of your six headline stars before the weekend would be enough to cripple most tour events.

FROM elation to frustration.

Rory McIlroy has a full complement of clubs at his disposal for this week's Irish Open, but admits the pressures that come with the tournament have left him feeling "suffocated" in the past.

Another senior figure at a financially troubled top golf club is to resign.

When you’re 23, top of the world, have a Major in your back pocket and €10.5m in prize money this season it’s fair to say you’re hot property.

The fourth richest man in China is on the brink of a €20m-plus deal to buy the prestigious Fota Island Golf and Hotel resort in Cork.

An Irish consortium of buyers is among the handful of bidders who have made the final cut on offers for the Fota Island resort, which is likely to make €20m for Nama.

Despite his many fine performances in recent weeks, including top 10 finishes in the Masters along with the US and Irish Opens, Pádraig Harrington is still a long way off clinching one of the automatic 10 places in Europe’s Ryder Cup team to face the United States at Medinah in October.

Rory McIlroy will head into this month’s British Open Championship with new-found confidence that he has the game to conquer windy links conditions.

After missing the cut in each of his last three tournaments and dropping back to 103rd in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour order of merit, Shane Lowry was more than happy to shoot a birdie on his final hole to clinch his place in the final two rounds at Portrush.

For hometown player Graeme McDowell, it was the realisation of a long-held dream, and after months of hype, expectation and promises, the return of the Irish Open to Royal Portrush, for the first time since 1947, delivered everything it said it would.

It is a question thousands of golf fans are sure to be asking this week as they pack Royal Portrush for the first Irish Open in Northern Ireland since 1953: How on earth did Rory McIlroy shoot 61 round this place?

Whatever about the long-awaited return to Royal Portrush for the 2012 Irish Open, Carton House director of golf Francis Howley is already gearing up for the 2013 tournament.

This week’s return of the Irish Open to Royal Portrush could spark a rekindling of the tournament’s halcyon days of the 1970s and ’80s, says leading golf commentator Ewen Murray.

As a member of Fota Island Golf club I found the recent article on the sale of a city land bank on behalf of Nama very disturbing.

THE MONTGOMERIE course at Carton House near Maynooth, Kildare is set to be confirmed today as the venue for next year’s Irish Open.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON will wait until after this week’s PGA Championship before taking his new relationship with golf coach Pete Cowen to a more permanent level.

THE more putts that dropped, the more the crowd swelled around Colm Moriarty. This, he said to himself, is where he wants to be.

DAVID HIGGINS tees it up at the Irish Open, presented by Discover Ireland, tomorrow confident he can parlay his Irish PGA Order of Merit lead into a strong European Tour showing.

THE voice of Sky Sports’ golf coverage reckons this week is Pádraig’s turn.