McIlroy must not be sidetracked by trying to become the next Tiger Woods

It will be back to work for Open champion Rory McIlroy this week as he gets on with the business of being a multiple Major winner.

Graeme McDowell has set his sights on a Claret Jug this week as he goes in search of a second Major championship title that will end all talk of him being a "one-hit wonder".

Stephanie Meadow’s amazing third place in the US Women’s Open on her professional debut at Pinehurst No.2 was a dream start to her career in the paid ranks but the Irishwoman saw it as a reward for her endeavour rather a shock success.

It was written in the stars. With their powerful long games, silky smooth swings and superstar swagger, it was simply a question of when, not if, they would win the Masters.

IT’S 11 pm, and my husband and I are in bed.

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.

Dining out on one Major win for 60 years didn’t stop Irish golfers or Irish golf writers from attending the British Open and a host of other Majors from Fred Daly’s win in 1947 until the great messiah — Pádraig Harrington — performed his first miracle at Carnoustie in 2007.

Simon Thornton is floating on air right now but Ireland’s latest European Tour winner revealed yesterday that he was contemplating quitting the tour grind for good just two weeks before his breakthrough victory on father’s day.

When I wrote last week about Tiger Woods’s chances of winning his fifth green jacket, and with it his 15th Major championship, I talked a lot about Tiger the man, the ultimate competitor and, most importantly, about the fact the 78th Augusta Masters offered him his first true shot at complete redemption amongst the public at large.

Colin Montgomerie is prepared to come back as Ryder Cup captain even though he considers elements of the job as “an invasion of privacy”.

Six-time Major winner Nick Faldo fears Rory McIlroy’s decision to change equipment could prove to be the costliest move of his career.

Team success in the Ryder Cup and individual glory in Major championships are not mutually exclusive, as the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam proved on many occasions.

Des Smyth believes Pádraig Harrington can consider himself ‘unlucky’ if not afforded a ‘wildcard’ pick for next month’s Ryder Cup at Medinah.

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.

It is one of the biggest clichés in professional golf that Major championships only truly start on a Sunday at the 10th tee and Ernie Els ensured it would survive another few years after this remarkable British Open triumph.

Were golf a team sport and he had a friendship with Harry Sinden, Lee Westwood, perhaps, would be in better position for a Major title.

EVEN 2012 Irish Open champion Jamie Donaldson described his victory as “surreal” last night but such was the success of the tournament’s return to Royal Portrush, it would not have mattered if a polar bear had sunk the final putt.

Rory McIlroy insists he will not become obsessed by his quest to become world number one.

SIX years ago Rory McIlroy borrowed an official photographer’s long lens to walk inside the ropes so he could get close to boyhood idol Tiger Woods.

THE announcement that Rory McIlroy split from management company International Sports Management (ISM), headed by Chubby Chandler, will come as a surprise to many but others who have been following Rory’s meteoric rise through the pro ranks saw this one coming.

THEY may have experienced wildly different campaigns in the Majors this year, but hope springs eternal for Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington as they look forward to strong finishes to their seasons.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON will swap the Bahamas for Greensboro, North Carolina this week as he bids to make up for a Majors campaign he marked for himself as a ‘D’.

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.

There will be no Darren Clarke or Padraig Harrington for the expected huge crowds to cheer on in the last two rounds of the Irish Open in Killarney, but Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell plan to fill the void.

GARY PLAYER last night admitted that Rory McIlroy is the most talented golfer he has seen.

LEFT handers, defending champion Phil Mickelson, and Bubba Watson, along with Rory McIlroy, are Graeme McDowell’s best bets for the Masters at Augusta next week.

PÁDRAIG Harrington’s decision to tinker with some 20 changes to his game over the past six weeks paid immediate dividends yesterday with his lowest ever New Year starting score on day one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

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

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON believes he’s a “different animal” to the headless chicken who managed to finish fifth behind a rampant Tiger Woods in the US Open here 10 years ago.

NOT even Pádraig Harrington, widely regarded along with Vijay Singh as the hardest worker in the game, has been able to get in some practice since the cold spell kicked in just before Christmas.

After years in the game’s wilderness, David Duval is eyeing the future with a new zest, both on and off the golf course, writes PJ Browne, in New York

Padraig Harrington never expected a second major victory to follow so soon after the first.

Henrik Stenson hopes to push on from his performance at the Masters earlier this month and secure a top-10 finish at a Major this season.

The player seen as the European most likely to end the eight-year drought in the Majors this week does not believe he has to change his “nice guy” image to do it.

ERNIE ELS abandoned the search for the perfect round and just went for it in the Middle East yesterday.

ERNIE ELS is out of this week’s Players Championship in Florida, thus robbing the event of both the world number two and number three.

Australia’s Adam Scott believes he is perfecting the game to win in any conditions and mount a challenge for the Majors after his stunning 10-shot victory in the Scottish PGA Championship.

Going into the Masters today Phil Mickelson is rated the second-best golfer in the world. Behind you-know-who.