McIlroy and Brooks Koepka did not contest last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but McIlroy moved above the American due to the vagaries of the two-year rolling ranking system.

Some good news from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia! The star-studded European Tour Event, the Saudi International golf tournament, was won on Sunday afternoon by Graeme McDowell.

McDowell took too long over his second shot to the fourth hole after conducting an in-round interview with Sky Sports reporter Tim Barter.

THE professional game beckons for James Sugrue after a stellar 2019, but the Mallow golfer will not rush into the paying ranks on anything but his own terms.

On Wednesday, Shane Lowry toasted 2019. His team — including manager Conor Ridge, caddie Brian Martin and coach Neil Manchip — had gathered for Christmas lunch. Before they began, the big man raised a glass.

There was another night to remember at the end of a remarkable year as the Irish Golf Writers’ Association crowned Open champion Shane Lowry its Professional Player of the Year at its annual Allianz-sponsored awards.

Pablo Larrazabal revealed he had taken inspiration from Tiger Woods after producing a remarkable turnaround to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.

The K Club is to move into new ownership after businessman Michael Smurfit confirmed he is selling the golf resort.

Rory McIlroy’s new trophy cabinet could soon need expanding after arguably his best shot of a stellar season capped a superb opening round in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington is looking to go one better than last year in the D+D Real Czech Masters, which tees off in Prague today.

On Tuesday, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Graeme McDowell enjoyed a friendly nine holes of practice at Liberty National Golf Club ahead of the Northern Trust Open, the first event in the FedEx Cup Play-offs.

I remember a time when a wrapper was something that covered a bar of chocolate.

The scenes on Sunday evening in Portrush, Clara and pretty much everywhere across the country following his emphatic Open Championship victory confirmed Shane Lowry’s status as one of Ireland’s most popular sports stars.

No man is an island, not even in a non-team sport like golf and while Shane Lowry is not one to use “we” when referring to his achievements in the style of many of his counterparts in golf’s elite, the Irishman is not afraid to give credit where it is due.

He had been here before. As recently as 2016 in fact, when he held a four-shot lead going into the final round of the US Open at Oakmont, but this was different, or so he claimed. Older, more mature and now the married father of a two-year-old daughter, life had indeed moved on outside the ropes but what about his golf game?

Shane Lowry survived alate-round wobble and some high-volume commentary from a giant TV screen to put himself in pole position at the halfway stage of The 148th Open as Rory McIlroy’s late charge to the make the cut came up agonisingly short.

Ask any professional golfer and they will tell you just how difficult the game can be at times, whatever your standard.

History seems to hang from every lamppost along the Causeway Coast. Drive through the villages and town lands dotted around Portrush this week and there’s scarcely a pole devoid of a Union Jack or an Ulster Banner.

“I feel like all the air has been let out of the sails plus some. The ship feels like it’s sinking.”

Jon Rahm is hoping an accommodation switch can lead to a reversal of fortunes in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

This week’s 148th Open at Royal Portrush is officially the most attended Championship staged outside St Andrews with the R&A announcing on Wednesday that there will be a record-breaking crowd of 237,750 for the tournament starting on Thursday.

Tiger Woods will favour quality over quantity in a bid to prolong his career after admitting he was emotionally and physically drained by his Masters triumph.

Phil Mickelson has embarked on a dramatic diet in a desperate attempt to rediscover his form ahead of the 148th Open Championship.

“Kuch and I went to breakfast yesterday and I took about 20 pictures for him.”

The whirlwind continues for James Sugrue as the newly-minted amateur champion starts to reap the rewards of his Portmarnock triumph with a major debut on home soil at the 148th Open.

James Sugrue is battling an infected bite on his calf to be fit to tee off at the Open Championship on Thursday.

Darren Clarke will have the honour of striking the first ball at The 148th Open on Thursday as major championship golf returns to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951.

Rory McIlroy is 11-under-par after his third round at the Scottish Open.

Rory McIlroy insists he would not swap his consistency for world number one Brooks Koepka’s feast-or-famine approach.

A group of distinguished, older members of Lahinch Golf Club assembled outside the clubhouse earlier in the week and looked around in awe at the transformation that had taken place at the Irish Open venue.

With the pressure of securing a starting spot in his hometown Open Championship later this month now lifted, Graeme McDowell is relishing the opportunity to free his mind and concentrate on the task at hand: a good week in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

It will not be in the nature of the tournament host to have slept easily last night on the eve of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open but his efforts to make this €6.2m European Tour event a success have already earned Paul McGinley the right to relax just a little.

Rory McIlroy has little interest in following Jason Day’s example and teaming up with a so-called superstar caddie.

Such is the bond between the two Ryder Cup veterans, Ian Poulter needed little persuasion from tournament host Paul McGinley to commit to this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Sergio Garcia's love affair with Valderrama shows no signs of abating after the tournament host made a flawless start to his bid for a fourth straight win in the Andalucia Masters.

Shane Lowry is so superstitious he’d carry a horseshoe in his bag if his caddie would let him.

Mallow’s James Sugrue takes a healthy three-hole advantage into the final 18 holes of his British Amateur Championship final clash with Scotland’s Euan Walker at Portmarnock this afternoon.

Mallow’s James Sugrue is 36 holes away from an invite to the Open Championship after securing a spot in the final of British Amateur Championship at Portmarnock.

Rory McIlroy insists he cannot let the pressure of winning at home get to him when he seeks a dream end to his five-year Major drought in the Open at Royal Portrush.

Brooks Koepka will attempt to replicate his approach to majors in the Travelers Championship but admits he is “mentally exhausted” after missing out on the US Open.

And so to golf. No, Michael hasn’t been kidnapped; he isn’t being held against his will. Nor has he been included in a remake, or re-remake, of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Henrik Stenson figured the least he could do after hitting a fan at the U.S. Open with an errant 8-iron was to pose for a selfie.

On the walls of the contestants locker room at the 119th U.S. Open are a handful of quotes from past U.S. Open champions printed on sepia-toned poster board along with a black-and-white headshot of the winner and meant to inspire.

Several spectators were injured by a runaway golf cart during the second round of the US Open at Pebble Beach.