Five Irish are among the 156-man field who will tee off at PGA Catalunya this morning, hoping to secure a European Tour card for the next 12 months.

Michael McGeady maintained his run of consistency yesterday to sweep into the final qualifying school of the European Tour and to move closer to a full Tour card.

Pádraig Harrington muscled his way towards ending a six-year winless drought and then revealed he has set himself a goal of representing Ireland in the 2016 Olympics.

Legends like Harry Bradshaw, Fred Daly, Christy O’Connor Senior, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington have won the Irish PGA Championship over its 104-year history.

Adare Manor will host this year’s Irish PGA Championship from October 2-5.

Sometimes it takes a step back in order to move forward and that has certainly been the case for Michael McDermott.

European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has been voted into the Distinguished Services category of the Irish Golf Writers’ Association and will accept his specially designed Tipperary Crystal award at the annual dinner, sponsored by Carr Golf Group, at Portmarnock Golf Club on Mar 6.

It may be nearly five years since Pádraig Harrington last won a Major, but his reception yesterday in the local McDonald’s in Inverness indicated he had lost none of his popularity.

For more than three years, Shane Lowry has looked back on his famous victory in the Irish Open at Baltray with a variety of emotions.

Rory McIlroy intends trimming his 2013 playing schedule after a very tired-looking World No 1 was handed a golf lesson by Tiger Woods in their much-anticipated Turkish Airlines World Golf showdown yesterday.

Irish golf fans are keeping a close eye on our links courses this week to see if any of the game’s finest pay a visit ahead of next week’s British Open.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON has taken comfort from his peers after last week’s shock Abu Dhabi disqualification.

DES SMYTH, now 57, has already won the Ladbrokes.com Irish PGA Championship six times and quietly fancies his chances of a seventh title when the event gets underway over the Seapoint links, Termonfeckin, Co Louth this morning.

Padraig Harrington will complete his Ryder Cup preparations at this month’s Vivendi Cup after he was eliminated from the FedEx Cup Series last weekend.

Playing partners Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter went in totally opposite directions in the second round of the WGC-CA Championship in Miami today.

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.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON has not given up hope of regaining the European Tour’s number one spot — even though he currently stands 21st.

Padraig Harrington has not given up hope of regaining the European Tour’s number one spot – even though he currently stands 21st.

A CHANCE round with Pádraig Harrington during the third round of the Irish PGA Championship at the European Club last month played a major part in Connor Doran’s victory in the Grant Thornton Mullingar Scratch Trophy.

IF Tiger Woods gets his putter working and manages to keep his golf ball in play for a reasonable amount of the time over the next four days, there can be no doubt as to who will be holding the claret jug on Sunday evening.

PÁDRAIG Harrington continues to confuse and confound. One week he’s telling us ‘there will no more tinkering with my swing’ but now two days before he bids to win the Open Championship for the third successive year, he talks of ‘little changes’ which have followed from consultations with swing coach Bob Torrance.

Defending champion Padraig Harrington today admitted he would love the Open Championship to be “pushed back” a few weeks as he struggles to recapture the form which brought him three Major championships.

THE BOOKMAKERS don’t often get it wrong but after studying the less than overwhelming performances by our leading players in recent tournaments, it is surprising to see Pádraig Harrington (25/1) and Rory McIlroy (28/1), quoted as third and fourth favourites for this week’s Open Championship at Turnberry.

Padraig Harrington has dropped a further two places in the world as he prepares for his bid to win The Open for a third year running.

Padraig Harrington will take a four-stroke lead into tomorrow’s final round of the Irish PGA Championship, the event he has won for the last two years, immediately before capturing The Open.

Paul McGinley could well be the man to captain Europe when the Ryder Cup returns to Scotland in 2014 after a gap of 41 years.

Only three players are under par at the halfway stage of the Irish PGA Championship at the European Club south of Dublin – and Padraig Harrington is the best of them.

Padraig Harrington is the new clubhouse leader after a round two 70 at the Irish PGA Championship in Wicklow today.

A MASSIVE improvement in his short game had Pádraig Harrington in a far more positive frame of mind after yesterday’s opening round of the Ladbrokes.com Irish PGA Championship at the European Club.

Padraig Harrington was one behind leader Leslie Walker after a three-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Irish PGA championship at the European Club south of Dublin today.

THE 30th player in this week’s Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond will receive in excess of €30,000, comfortably more than the total prize fund of €26,000 on offer in the Irish PGA Championship which starts at the European Club in Co Wicklow this morning.

A SPECTACULAR eagle two at the ninth proved crucial as Waterville’s David Higgins yesterday made it through to next week’s Open Championship at Turnberry with a splendid performance over the Glasgow Gailes links in the final local qualifying round.

AN event that’s hardly on the professional golf radar this week offers Pádraig Harrington his last chance of redemption before heading for Turnberry in search of a third successive British Open Championship.

As bleak as it looks after five successive missed cuts Padraig Harrington is not ready yet to rule out completing a hat-trick of Open titles in 15 days’ time.

Padraig Harrington’s nightmare run of missed cuts went to five in Paris today - just as many as Tiger Woods has failed to make in his entire 13-year professional career.

THIS time three years ago, Pádraig Harrington broke with precedent and entered for the French Open in Paris.

LICKING his wounds after another bitter disappointment is becoming all too familiar for Pádraig Harrington.

CONFIRMATION of Pádraig Harrington’s playing schedule in upcoming weeks has brought both delight but also disappointment to fans and tournament organisers on both sides of the Irish Sea.

PHILIP Walton may be 46 and an absentee from golf’s big time for the best part of a decade but an indication of his competitiveness was evident in his reaction to yesterday’s round of 77.

Play at the Irish PGA Championship in Wicklow resumes this morning after the opening round was curtailed due to adverse weather conditions yesterday.

Ross Fisher buried not just one, but two nightmare memories to win the European Open in inspired fashion at a wet and windy London Club today.

FEW professional golfers are on top of their act as much as Pádraig Harrington so it will be the wish of all Irish fans that he knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to playing himself into the European Ryder Cup for the fifth successive year at Valhalla, Louisville, Kentucky on September 19-21.

THE USGA, by general agreement, did a great job in staging the 108th US Open Championship. But they lost a lot of friends yesterday through the continuation of their tradition of deciding a tie in the event with an 18-hole play-off.

THE TERRIBLE twins were not for turning.