Defending champion Rory McIlroy faces an uphill task if he is to retain the $7.3 million Wells Fargo Championship on the US PGA Tour after yesterday’s first round at Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rory McIlroy might have added Ryder Cup stars Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Patrick Reed to a stellar field but the world No 1 is chasing an even bigger name for next month’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open — Phil Mickelson.

Three-time major winner Billy Casper has died at the age of 83, the US PGA Tour has announced.

West Waterford’s Seamus Power shot a blemishless final round of three under par 68 over the fearsome Champions Course at PGA National, West Palm Beach, Florida, yesterday to take a massive step towards achieving his ambition of claiming a place on the lucrative US PGA Tour.

It was only pro-am day at Fota yesterday but already the support for Pádraig Harrington was palpable.

Fundamentally impossible to completely hide Martin Kaymer at the 2012 Ryder Cup, European captain Jose Maria Olazabal opted for the closest thing at Medinah Country Club: He put the German No. 11 in the 12-man singles lineup.

Rory McIlroy’s break-up with fiancee Caroline Wozniacki is just the latest incident in a long line to threaten the Irishman’s golf game.

A day might be a long time in politics but when it comes to future of the Irish Open — and a possible Northern Ireland staging of the British Open — changes are coming equally thick and fast.

Padraig Harrington insists it will be no big deal if he fails to qualify for next week’s DP World Tour Championship.

John Daniel Guiney is a name familiar to golf fans in his native Kerry.

Former Open champion Darren Clarke will use the exemption gained from his victory at Royal St George’s in 2011 to rejoin the US PGA Tour next year.

Rory McIlroy had never made the cut or finished under par in any of his three previous appearances in the Players Championship over the TPC course at Sawgrass, but he never put a foot wrong in yesterday’s opening round of the 2013 tournament.

Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington, two of Ireland’s five challengers in this week’s Masters, honed their skills ahead of Augusta with impressive performances as they remained very much in contention for the major prizes entering the closing holes in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

World number one Rory McIlroy was yesterday named the European Tour golfer of the year.

World number one Rory McIlroy was today named the European Tour golfer of the year.

The wisdom of the old expression of horses for courses was rarely more amply demonstrated than at Sherwood Country Club on Sunday when Graeme McDowell captured his second Tiger Woods World Challenge title in three years, and with it the winners cheque for $1m (€765,733).

The Algarve has hosted many a rousing Irish party over the years but little could match the celebrations in Vilamoura on Sunday night to mark Shane Lowry’s victory in the Portugal Masters.

With the top two spots on the leaderboard held by a South African and an Australian, the British Open provided considerable food for thought for the rival Ryder Cup captains Davis Love III and Jose-Maria Olazabal.

Zach Johnson won a play-off for the John Deere Classic on the US PGA Tour on Sunday when he drilled a six-iron from a fairway bunker to within 12 inches of the cup.

Disappointment has been expressed at the announcement that the 2016 British Open is going to Troon, passing over the claims of Royal Portrush.

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.

The big guns of Irish golf will contest this week’s BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship tournament, at Wentworth.

All-American nice guy Matt Kuchar playfully told the media to “suck it” after clinching the US PGA Players Championship and its $1.7 million (€1.3m) winner’s cheque.

Rory McIlroy reclaimed his status as the No 1 golfer in the world at the Wells Fargo Championship on the US PGA Tour at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina last night.

Jason Dufner beat Ernie Els in a sudden death play-off to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, an event which saw Luke Donald regain top spot in the world rankings.

Rory McIlroy’s return yesterday to the top of the world rankings even though he only tied for 40th in the Masters and didn’t play at all last week has many people mystified as to how this could possibly happen.

Pádraig Harrington is having none of that statistic that winning the Par 3 Contest on the eve of the Masters precludes a golfer from winning the main event.

Pádraig Harrington may have failed to build on his career best 61 recorded in the opening round of the Transitions Championship in Florida but that Thursday display is a massive confidence booster for the three times Major champion who has slipped to 91st in the world rankings.

Brandt Snedeker parred the second play-off hole for an improbable victory in the US PGA Tour’s Farmer’s Insurance Open after Kyle Stanley surrendered a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole.

LUKE DONALD was named 2011 European Tour Race to Dubai Golfer of the Year yesterday.

NIALL TURNER flies into Spain today to prepare for what he describes as the biggest pressure week of the professional golfing year.

THIS time last year, Graeme McDowell was the toast of the golfing world.

THE European Tour is about to begin talks with a new sponsor that could see the Irish Open move from its August Bank Holiday slot to the end of June.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON will need to shoot the lights out at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts today in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship if he wants to retain an active interest in the season-ending FedEx Cup series.

JOSE-MARIA OLAZABAL has mixed feelings this week.

AWARE the Irish Open would go ahead in 2011 without a title sponsor, the country’s leading players promised to do all they could to ensure the success of the championship.

PÁDRAIG Harrington already had a European Tour win under his belt and was regarded as one of the most promising young players in the world when he turned up at the Congressional Country Club outside Washington DC for his first tilt at the US Open in 1997.

PÁDRAIG Harrington described how “absolutely gutted” he was to be missing this week’s BMW PGA Championship through injury last night but still on course to take his place in next month’s US Open.

GRAEME McDOWELL and Rory McIlroy, Ireland’s two representatives in an impressive 24-man field, have been handed difficult draws in the pool stages of the €3.4m Volvo World Match Play which starts at Finca Cortesin, Spain, on Thursday.

PÁDRAIG Harrington was, for once, not conceding an inch to golf’s outside the ropes tournament referees following his latest brush with the rules on Sunday.

WHEN Rory McIlroy created global headlines by winning the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, few could have imagined he would be without a tournament success 12 months later.