Valhalla is a stadium-style golf course, which offers its competitors a wonderful study in contrasting landscapes and colour from the open, lower-lying front nine holes to the markedly more elevated and densely-wooded back nine.

Graeme McDowell returns to Valhalla this week knowing fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy will be the one to beat when the PGA Championship gets under way on Thursday but confident he also belongs on the list of contenders.

Justin Rose believes he is now at the optimum stage of his career when he can cash in at the Majors.

There was plenty of comfort for Rory McIlroy, but not for Darren Clarke, on the opening day of the Wells Fargo Championship in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina.

While torrential rain stalled Graeme McDowell’s RBC Heritage Classic defence, his goal of making this year’s Ryder Cup team remains on track as he believes his best two chances of collecting another Major will come at he US and British Opens.

Five-time Major winner Phil Mickelson enjoyed a front row seat as a rejuvenated Rory McIlroy muscled his way into contention for a second success in three events at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Double Major champion Rory McIlroy toasted Fota Island Resort’s success in landing the 2014 Irish Open as the Cork parkland course celebrated its return to the world golf stage for the first time in 12 years.

Pádraig Harrington hopes a share of fifth at his season-opening Volvo Champions in Durban is a sign of things to come in 2014.

Appointed retained jockey for Prince Khalid Abdullah this week, James Doyle celebrated in style when guiding the Clive Brittain-trained Rizeena to victory in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh yesterday.

Jason Dufner had sat in the media centre two years previously at Atlanta Athletic Club as the disappointed yet philosophical PGA Championship runner-up. Sunday night he was back on stage at Oak Hill as a newly-minted Major champion.

In 1992, I was fortunate enough to qualify for my one and only appearance in a Major, the British Open Championship at Muirfield.

Rory McIlroy insisted Major titles matter more to him than money after taking a massive step towards becoming one of the biggest earners in sporting history last night.

Manager Arsene Wenger has not ruled out bringing Arsenal legend Thierry Henry back for a third spell with the club.

The champagne had not even dried on the European team room walls before thoughts turned to the next Ryder Cup trophy defence and, more pertinently, who will succeed Jose Maria Olazabal as captain at Gleneagles in 2014.

He might have struggled with the sheer size and weight of the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy, but Rory McIlroy was more relieved on Sunday night to rid himself of the heavy burden of expectation.

Bloodied but unbowed from his British Open experience, Rory McIlroy will bid to restore some confidence in his swing ahead of the final Major of the year.

Victory in any Major championship is never a divine right regardless of age or pedigree.

Joining your school’s chess club just to meet good-looking girls hints at a certain degree of strategic acumen and Graeme McDowell is enough of a tactician to also admit he is relishing the challenges Royal Lytham & St Annes will pose as he plots a route to British Open success.

Portrush will live up to its famous road sign in four weeks’ time when it becomes the “Major Golf Capital of the World” for the first Ulster staging of the Irish Open for 59 years.

The crowds will be big and the world’s top three golfers, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, headline the €4.5m tournament, but for all the prestige surrounding the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event is very much a parochial affair.

Fourteen Major champions, plus world number one Luke Donald and third-ranked Lee Westwood, are in the field for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on May 24-27.

IT was interesting to study the body language of the leading players as they completed their practice sessions before yesterday’s final round of the US PGA Championship.

Martin Kaymer today became the European Tour's youngest number one since Ronan Rafferty in 1989.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON delivered the European Ryder Cup team a timely boost in producing an impressive eight under par 64 on the final day of the Vivendi Cup in Chambourcy.

RORY MCILROY took over the leading Irish honours after Graeme McDowell was reminded of the well-worn “a day is a long time in politics” adage in the second round of the WGC–Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

Europe's newest star Rory McIlroy could face Tiger Woods in the third round of next week's Accenture World Match Play in Arizona - if, that is, the world number one decides he is ready to return to action.

Masters champion Trevor Immelman has withdrawn from the Players Championship at Sawgrass because of illness.

Ahern left himself wide open to the suspicion that he was under obligation by appointing several people to State boards after they gave him money.

A MAJOR earthquake struck northern Chile last night, toppling power lines, closing roads and sending terrified residents into the streets.

A MAJOR international symposium on advances in milking will take place in Cork on April 11 under the auspices of Teagasc and the Irish National Committee of the International Dairy Federation.

DARREN CLARKE is determined to cement his place in the Ryder Cup starting with this week’s Players Championship.

WORLD number one Tiger Woods accepts even he cannot beat Father Time - but insists his game is good enough to keep him ahead of the chasing pack for a while yet.

ECHOES resound of one of the biggest ever public health scandals following confirmation by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) that it is unable to discover how a woman developed hepatitis C last year after receiving three blood transfusions.

Phil Mickelson clicked straight back into top gear when the Players Championship – golf’s richest event and unofficial fifth major – began at Sawgrass in Florida today.

A MAJOR protest march and work stoppage designed to show public support for better cancer facilities in the south-east yesterday prompted almost 2,000 people to take to the streets in Waterford city.

A MAJOR fire in a Dublin industrial complex continued to blaze last night more than 16 hours after flames were first spotted.

Tiger Woods cruised to his fourth title of the season as he prepared for the USPGA Championship with a runaway victory at the Buick Open in Michigan.