Boxer Darren O’Neill took to Twitter to join the whirlwind of reaction following Rory McIlroy’s withdrawal from the Team Ireland, saying they are “better off without him”.

Ryder Cup director Richard Hills will be in Germany, Spain, Italy and Austria over the next month to help the European Tour decide which nation is best placed to host the 2022 Ryder Cup.

Golf’s return to the Olympic Games after a 112-year absence is just over a year away but the test event the International Golf Federation hoped to stage this year has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2016.

Golf is returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904 and the International Golf Federation (IGF) has proposed a 72-hole stroke play tournament for the men’s and women’s events.

They may have finished out of the medals but two Irish golfers helped make golfing history over the past two weeks as the sport made its first appearance in an Olympic event for 110 years.

Imagine Rory McIlroy and Stephanie Meadow teeing it up together for Ireland at the 2016 Olympics in Rio?

Former world number one Greg Norman has described golf's anti-doping procedures as "disgraceful" and called for blood testing to be introduced by the game's governing bodies.

But for Rory McIlroy’s solo march to his second major at Kiawah Island, golf’s final grand event of the season, the USPGA, might have been shunted into the sidings by the medals and records, inspiration and heartache of the London Olympics.

MATTEO MANASSERO, the player tipped to be Europe’s next golfing great, officially became a professional yesterday, two weeks after his 17th birthday and three days before he plays his home Italian Open.

DOUBLE Open champion Pádraig Harrington believes Olympic gold would be the ‘rarest and most prized achievement’ for any golfer.

Rugby sevens and golf were confirmed as new Olympic sports for the 2016 Games today.

Rugby sevens and golf were today confirmed as new Olympic sports for the 2016 Games.

Padraig Harrington and Michelle Wie are to participate in golf’s final presentation of its Olympic bid to International Olympic Committee members in Copenhagen on Friday.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON has agreed to lead the Irish lobby for the inclusion of golf in the 2016 Olympic Games and has written to Pat Hickey, President of the Irish Olympic Council (IOC), seeking his support.

Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie and Tiger Woods are among 18 players to have outlined their personal support for golf's Olympic bid.

Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam have joined the campaign to put golf back into the Olympics.

Tiger Woods, initially thought to be lukewarm on the idea of golf in the Olympics, is one of a number of top players who featured in a video aired when representatives of the International Golf Federation formally presented their case to the International Olympic Committee Programme Commission in Lausanne today.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON is in joint third place at the Nedback Golf Challenge, having led for much of the day. Harrington’s 69 was a continuation of his excellent late-season form — but it could have been even better.

The first ever drug testing at the World Amateur Golf Championships has resulted in no positive findings.

Players at the World Amateur Team Championships starting in Stellenbosch on Thursday have been reminded that drug testing is to be carried out by the South African Institute for Drug-free Sport.

Rory McIlroy (Holywood), Gareth Shaw (Lurgan) and Simon Ward (Co Louth) will represent Ireland in the World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy which will be played at the De Zalze Golf Club and Stellenbosch Golf Club, near Cape Town, South Africa on October 26 to 29.