DESTINED to be the best golfer in the world?

WHEN Pádraig Harrington added the 2008 US PGA Championship to the British Opens of ‘07 and ‘08 many felt a wonderful era for Irish golf had reached its zenith.

Rory McIlroy suffered Sunday heartbreak for a second successive week as Italian Matteo Manassero won the Maybank Malaysian Open two days before his 18th birthday.

Paul Lawrie is hoping what works for Masters champion Phil Mickelson works for him too as he seeks a first European Tour title for eight years in the Italian Open.

Rory McIlroy set a new course record en route to winning the Quail Hollow Championship, his first PGA title as he became the youngest winner on the Tour since Tiger Woods in 1996.

Billy Mayfair remains on course for his first PGA Tour victory since 1998 heading into the final round of the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was delighted to rediscover his form with a third-round 66 in the Quail Hollow Championship today.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON believes he can make 2010 a landmark year by becoming the first man to win all four majors in the same calendar year.

CONSIDERING his ongoing tendency to run up large numbers at one or more holes in almost every event he contests, Pádraig Harrington can hardly be looking forward to the Tournament Players Championship at the water-strewn Sawgrass course in Jacksonville, Florida.

Big-hitting Spaniard Alvaro Quiros won the Qatar Masters today after holding his nerve over a tense final round to edge out former champion Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen by three shots.

Rory McIlroy has today grabbed a share of the lead at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

Nobody could accuse Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh of having had a dull year so far – and eventful was certainly the way to describe his opening 66 in the Irish Open today.

Tiger Woods will be out for four to six weeks after undergoing surgery on his left knee.

Trevor Immelman was not just the leader but also the favourite going into the final round of the Masters at Augusta National today.

England’s John Bickerton, whose third European Tour victory in December came courtesy of an amazing collapse by Ernie Els, was among the early leaders in the Madeira Islands Open at Santo da Serra today.

Colin Montgomerie still has to climb four more places in the world rankings to qualify for the Masters at Augusta on April 10-13.

Three-time European Tour winner Johan Edfors stormed to the top of the Qatar Masters leaderboard to open up a two-stroke halfway lead over Lee Westwood and Charl Schwartzel.

Niclas Fasth and Nick Dougherty, Europe’s top two performers at the US Open last week, now find themselves battling for another title in Munich.

PHIL MICKELSON always plays the week before a major championship. Tiger Woods never does. That’s why Lefty will be in Memphis this week for the St Jude Championship and Tiger will be back home in Florida honing his swing and taking due care of wife Elin, who is expecting their first child in early July.

Ian Woosnam will miss this week’s Italian Open because of the leg problem which forced him to pull out of both the Masters at Augusta a month ago and the Spanish Open on Saturday.

YASIN ALI admitted he let an opportunity to take a first-round lead in the Volvo China Open slip out of his grasp. But the young Englishman was not too downbeat about an opening effort of 70 which kept him well in contention at the Shanghai Silport Golf Club.

Padraig Harrington today returned from a trip to the dentist to talk about the one great thing in his favour if he finds himself battling Tiger Woods for the Masters at Augusta on Sunday.

Two weeks before they make their debuts in the Masters at Augusta, Bradley Dredge and Kenneth Ferrie have opted for some hill-walking training as well as golf practice this week.

A FEW readers didn’t like my description of Phil Mickelson as “syrupy” after his recent victory in the Masters at Augusta.

Tiger Woods left himself five behind Vijay Singh with an opening 72 in the Masters at Augusta today – after a round which included an eagle two and a double-bogey seven.

There will be no hiding place for Darren Clarke when the £5m (€7.3m) Players Championship starts in Florida on Thursday. He has been paired with Tiger Woods.

Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter are in desperate need of some inspiration as they head into one of the biggest weeks of the golfing year.

GRAEME McDOWELL'S season has gone from bad to worse after being forced to sit out this week's Bay Hill Invitational in Florida, in which he finished runner-up a year ago.

Graeme McDowell’s season has gone from bad to worse after being forced to sit out this week’s Bay Hill Invitational in Florida – the event in which he finished runner-up a year ago.

Luke Donald achieved arguably the best win of his life today when he captured the Honda Classic in Florida – and with it moved into the world’s top 10 for the first time.

Tiger Woods has thrown down the gauntlet exactly a month before the start of the Masters at Augusta.

The countdown to next month’s Masters at Augusta starts in earnest tomorrow as the US Tour kicks off its ‘Florida Swing’ with nine of the world’s top 10 competing in the Ford Championship at Doral.

Michael Campbell’s victory in the US Open has won him the European Tour’s Golfer of the Year award.

It might be the first leg of Colin Montgomerie’s Order of Merit showdown with Michael Campbell today, but Ian Poulter has other things on his mind – like getting his own career moving in the right direction again.

BRIAN McELHINNEY is the only Irish player on the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to defend the trophy in Chicago.

Phil Mickelson has spoken to and criticised Vijay Singh for prompting officials to confront him during the second day of the Masters at Augusta.

Ernie Els has won the Qatar Master by one shot. He finished -12, one ahead of overnight leader Henrik Stenson from Sweden.

Seve Ballesteros, whose last tournament golf was 16 months ago, has pulled out of the Masters at Augusta in four weeks’ time.

A giant-sized blunder from Ernie Els helped Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez retain the lead in the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates today.

Of the 15 Europeans taking part in the Accenture World Match Play Championship in California this week none has a story to tell quite like that of Sweden’s Joakim Haeggman.

Colin Montgomerie may have been the match-winning hero of Europe’s Ryder Cup team last month but he was unable to qualify for the two big events which followed.

British Open champion Todd Hamilton was not surprised to see Tiger Woods only two strokes behind him going into today’s second round of the American Express world championship at Mount Juliet in County Kilkenny – even knowing he was in pain every step of the way.

Europe’s triumphant Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer is to play in the World Match Play championship at Wentworth for the first time since 1995.

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months on from starting the Open championship with a horror round of 85 which he admitted left him “embarrassed and looking stupid”, England’s Paul Casey posted a 66 today to set the pace at Royal Troon.