The PGA Tour rings in the new year at Kapalua for the 20th straight time. The one moment that stands above all others over the years was the titanic battle between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els in 2000.

The Mexico Championship put on quite a show in its debut as a World Golf Championships event. So did Dustin Johnson, says Nolan Peterson.

Rory McIlroy believes he needs at least one win from his next three events to become only the second man after Henrik Stenson to win the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai in the same season.

Seamus Power has rightly been enjoying a whirlwind summer but the Irish professional knows he will soon have to press the reset button as he begins life on the PGA Tour.

Paul Casey might not be available for Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup team but the Cheltenham thoroughbred could change his mind if he wins the Masters.

Shane Lowry has vowed never to change despite promising PGA Tour officials that he’ll do his best to watch his language from now on.

In the surrounds of the richest golf ambiance anywhere and on the threshold of the oldest championship the sport knows, it probably isn’t the proper time to ask if you’ve ever heard of the Greater Milwaukee Open or the Quad City Classic or something called the BC Open, or even the LaCantera Texas Open.

From demolishing the field at Quail Hollow to wowing crowds during a London store appearance, there has been little in the last 72 hours to suggest Rory McIlroy is anything other than the master of all he surveys.

Shane Lowry believes he’s ready to chase the American dream on the PGA Tour and play the kind of global schedule that could make him a Ryder Cup player and an Olympian in 2016.

More and more you hear the whispering in the golfing corridors; Is this it?

He may still be only 25 years of age but if this last month has told us anything about Rory McIlroy, it is that the kid from Holywood knows how to get the job done.

Super confident Cadillac Championship winner Patrick Reed wants Tiger Woods as his Ryder Cup partner and Gleneagles showdowns with European stars Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter.

European Tour chief executive George O’Grady yesterday said “collaboration” with the PGA Tour would continue after both organisations stated that reports of an attempted buyout were incorrect.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has denied the organisation has made an offer to buy the European Tour.

Tiger Woods can’t wait to get to the PGA Championship. Woods grabbed a big lead with a second-round 61 and then closed out the field with a safe and smart even-par 70 on Sunday to roll to a seven-shot victory at the Bridgestone Invitational.

The fourth richest man in China is on the brink of a €20m-plus deal to buy the prestigious Fota Island Golf and Hotel resort in Cork.

Ireland's three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington starts the Reno-Tahoe Open in Nevada tomorrow hoping victory could set him on a late run for a Ryder Cup place.

Pádraig Harrington starts the Reno-Tahoe Open in Nevada today hoping victory could set him on a late run for a Ryder Cup place.

Darren Clarke admits he fell into the classic British Open championship winner’s trap after he fulfilled a lifetime dream and lifted the Claret Jug at Royal St George’s last year.

Rookie Ted Potter Jr clinched his first PGA Tour triumph yesterday, beating fellow American Troy Kelly at the third play-off hole to win the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.

This week’s return of the Irish Open to Royal Portrush could spark a rekindling of the tournament’s halcyon days of the 1970s and ’80s, says leading golf commentator Ewen Murray.

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.

Europe’s Ryder Cup race could well be led on Sunday night by a player who has appeared in the continent just three times in the past five seasons.

A storming finish took Australian Adam Scott back into the lead with a round to go at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron today.

Luke Donald gave himself the chance of a second World Golf Championships title this season with a superb burst in Akron today.

DARREN CLARKE will tee off for the first time as a Major champion today, fully aware that the rest of his professional career — and the way he approaches it — is in need of a rethink.

NO MATTER how many times you have competed in events of the size and status of the British Open Championship, one has to be continually impressed by the scale of the infrastructure supporting the event and the attention to detail, not least in the media centre.

Graeme McDowell has only to think back a year not to panic about his current form with his defence of the US Open just over a month away.

Italian Francesco Molinari has confirmed that he will be playing next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play in Arizona after his wife Valentina gave birth to their first child two weekends ago.

Tiger Woods will tee off with the two players ahead of him on the world rankings – Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer – in the first two rounds of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday and Friday.

TIGER WOODS fired his best round since his sex scandal erupted, a six-under par 65, to seize the early lead at The Barclays yesterday in the first competitive round since his divorce.

PADRAIG Harrington will seek reassurance from the manner of his 2008 US PGA Championship victory that his first victory since then is not already out of reach following a disappointing opening round at Whistling Straits.

A NEW week, a new start.

AFTER a woeful performance from Tiger Woods in Ohio at the weekend, United States Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin may well have to review his long-stated position that the world number one is an integral part of his planning for this year’s title defence against Europe.

EUROPEAN Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie today names his two vice captains for October’s renewal against the United States but is facing tougher selection problems over his three wild-card picks for Celtic Manor.

IRELAND’s big three of Pádraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will be hoping for a lot better when they move on from Palm Beach Gardens and the Honda Classic to Doral and the famous Blue Monster course for this week’s WGC-CA tournament, the second of the year’s four world championships.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE has not always seen eye-to-eye with Ian Poulter – and vice-versa – but Europe’s Ryder Cup captain was “delighted” with the happenings in Arizona at the weekend.

NO Tiger Woods, no Phil Mickelson. Surely then no better opportunity for Lee Westwood to win his first World Golf Championships title.

EUROPE provides seven of the top 10 seeds in this week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship after Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both decided not to play.

Players Championship winner Henrik Stenson has rejoined the US PGA Tour for the 2010 season.