After weeks when he could virtually smell the scent of those Augusta azaleas, Shane Lowry has at last joined the elite top-50 club on the back of a final round 66 to secure fifth place in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Jamie Donaldson, Sergio Garcia and Marcel Siem will have to achieve something only Rory McIlroy himself has done this season to deny the world number one a second Race to Dubai title in three years.

Graeme McDowell may be relaxing at home this week in Orlando but he’ll be glued to the computer monitoring scores at this week’s inaugural Turkish Airlines Open.

Kerry’s David Higgins has admitted the pressure in attempting to retain his European Tour card cost him dearly in the last month.

Defending champion Shane Lowry missed the cut, Paul McGinley will play over the weekend for the fifth tournament running, while struggling Peter Lawrie is staring at a 25,000km round trip to Australia in the hope of saving his Tour card.

RORY MCILROY says his shock split from manager Andrew “Chubby” Chandler was “a very difficult decision to make”.

GIVEN the desert wasteland nature of this week’s Bahrain course, the European Tour issued a special rules notice to all Volvo Champions event competitors declaring – “There is no bunkers on this course”.

THE failure of any Irish player to win a card at the European Tour School suggests that the well that has provided this country with a steady stream of outstanding players for many years is finally running dry.

Rory McIlroy feels his stint on the US PGA Tour has made him stronger as both a person and a player but is determined to kick-start a return to winning ways in Europe at this week’s UBS Hong Kong Open.

IRELAND’S Pádraig Harrington has targeted a pair of 66s over the weekend to rescue hopes of capturing the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.

Whatever happens to Swedish golfer Peter Hanson in next month’s US Open he will always remember the shot last night which got him there.