Ireland’s Walker Cup heroes will not be wasting time resting on their laurels after Great Britain and Ireland’s emphatic victory over the United States at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

A DESIRE to stay healthy and fit is the major driving force behind older Irish people participating in physical activity, with women more driven by than men.

Irish golfer Graeme McDowell last night toasted the "happiest moment of my life" as he welcomed his first child into the world, a life-changing moment that followed hot on the heels of a career-changing one.

Waterford rookie Kevin Phelan has landed a sponsorship deal with the same company that first backed Rory McIlroy — Dublin-based investment boutique, FL Partners.

Newly-crowned European number one Henrik Stenson has given a guarded welcome to a new European Tour regulation requiring players to support their home events or be forced to play an extra two tournaments.

Waterford Castle’s Kevin Phelan hit what he described as “the shot of my life” to birdie the last and secure his European Tour card with a stroke to spare at the final stage of the Qualifying School in Spain.

Rory McIlroy joined the Swedish pair of Henrik Stenson, Peter Hanson and China’s Ashun Wu at the famed Bund in Shanghai for the launch of this week’s BMW Masters.

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley is smart enough not to comment on the private life of his expected Gleneagles side but there was no hiding his pleasure in learning Rory McIlroy has sorted out his management affairs.

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.

Former US Open champion Webb Simpson set the clubhouse target in the first round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, but Tiger Woods was ominously poised at one of his favourite venues.

Alan Dunbar, the 2012 British Amateur champion who competed in the Masters earlier this month, has turned professional.

Darren Clarke appears to be jinxed when it comes to four wheels after a mystery ‘traffic accident’ forced him to withdraw from this week’s Dubai Desert Classic.

British Amateur champion Alan Dunbar thought his place in the 2013 Masters was priceless.

The acquisition of superstar golfer Rory McIlroy boosted Horizon Sports Management’s fortunes in 2011, with accumulated profits more than doubling to €275,217.

Paul McGinley to captain Europe at Gleneagles in 2014 followed by Darren Clarke at Hazeltine in 2016.

Rory McIlroy’s story is well documented.

Like your correspondent, Paul Farrell, I too mourn the demise of Rachel Corrie.

Rory McIlroy says he split with manager Andrew Chandler last year because he felt his career was taking a wrong direction.

Rory McIlroy has revealed he dumped manager Andrew ’Chubby’ Chandler because he felt he was “being led down the wrong path”.

THE Chinese government has a history of detaining dissidents, but putting the US Open golf trophy under lock and key sounds too bizarre to be true.

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

Rory McIlroy says he remains “very close” to the man he dropped as his manager last month and insists there was “nothing personal at all” in the move that stunned golf.

THERE was no poaching by Horizon and no enticement on my part.

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

DUBLIN-based sports management company Horizon, headed by Galway man Conor Ridge, pulled off its biggest coup yesterday with the news that US Open champion and world No 3 Rory McIlroy will become their latest acquisition after leaving Andrew “Chubby” Chandler’s International Sports Management (ISM) company.

THE announcement that Rory McIlroy split from management company International Sports Management (ISM), headed by Chubby Chandler, will come as a surprise to many but others who have been following Rory’s meteoric rise through the pro ranks saw this one coming.

Rory McIlroy has announced that he has joined Horizon Sports Management.

World number three and US Open champion Rory McIlroy has ended his association with management company International Sports Management, they announced today.

RORY McILROY’S bid for a second Major title effectively ended the moment he picked his seven iron out of the bag and took aim at a tree root on Thursday.

RORY McILROY last night revealed he has had a change of heart about America and is likely to take up his PGA Tour membership again — and admits changes in his personal life have been a big factor.

“THE RETURN” was the talk of Akron last night as scribes dashed to their laptops to bear the good tidings to the world.

IF success is contagious, Chris Wood could be set to catch some given the company he keeps.

HE was Andrew Chandler’s first client and in winning The British Open, Darren Clarke has delivered the third leg of what would be a remarkable “Chubby Slam” for the founder of International Sports Management.

Rory McIlroy’s first major has been a couple of decades in the making — but it has built a solid foundation for future success

A DOZEN students could sit the Leaving Certificate in Ireland instead of Libya this week because of the continuing unrest in the north African country.

THE role of caddie JP Fitzgerald during Rory McIlroy’s final round Masters meltdown is set to form an integral part of the inquest into the collapse of the 21-year-old on Sunday night.

A Cavan-based hand-made chocolate firm has developed a range of low-cost products which have compensated for the effects of the recession and could now lead to sales growth in more lucrative export markets, writes Trish Dromey

DARREN CLARKE is to remarry after proposing to girlfriend Alison Campbell.

TIGER WOODS has a final chance to claim his first victory of the year at this week’s Chevron World Challenge and close the curtain on a 2010 campaign he described as “very painful”.

THERE is some confusion resulting from Rory McIlroy’s decision to quit the US Tour.

TWO and a half years ago Conor Ridge was managing a group of promising young Irish golfers and wondering if and when he was going to break into the space filled by the massive International Management Group (IMG) or the International Sports Management Group (ISM).

RORY McILROY suspects he might still have been unable to catch runaway eight-shot winner Louis Oosthuizen no matter what happened in Friday’s second round, but he also realises his failure to cope with the dreadful conditions cost him, at the very least, a serious chance of challenging for the claret jug.

RORY MCILROY will contest next year’s Irish Open despite confirming yesterday he has joined the U.S. Tour.

RORY McILROY’S outstanding4th place in the HSBC-WorldGolf Championship in Shanghai at the weekend has moved him to within touching distance of a Ryder Cup debut at Celtic Manor next October.