Pádraig Harrington has rekindled his goal of representing Ireland in next year’s Olympic Games after the 43-year old defeated 21-year-old American rival Daniel Berger in a play-off to capture the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens.

After being ‘summoned’ to dinner by his long-time mental coach, Padraig Harrington rekindled the form that earned him a first PGA Tour success virtually across the road from this week’s Honda Classic host venue.

The man who put Pádraig Harrington in the right frame of mind to win two Opens and a US PGA title says he believes the Irishman’s bouncebackability is the reason he can still win more Majors.

Turns out he can’t get everything right.

For a guy whose skills you can only admire, doesn’t Cristiano Ronaldo make himself so hard to like?

Rory McIlroy will not rediscover his fluent swing until he finds a way to free his “scrambled” mind, according to renowned golfing guru David Leadbetter.

Somebody call the shrink. Rory McIlroy pronounced himself “brain dead” on the golf course after a terrible opening round at the British Open yesterday and admitted he may need to turn to a sports psychologist to help him climb out of his current slump.

Justin Rose’s magnificent US Open triumph was a victory for the good guy, the hard-worker, the gentleman and the good son.

JUST when the 77th Masters was in danger of being regarded as one of the flattest for years, it was saved by the dramatic birdie-fest over the closing holes that saw Adam Scott pip Angel Cabrera.

Emigration is a topic so often tinged with sadness and regret but from sunny San Diego, California, comes news of an Irishman turning adversity into the hope of fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Pádraig Harrington is often accused of thinking too much, but yesterday he took things a step further by monitoring his brainwaves in practice.

Darren Clarke fought his own version of War On The Shore during the opening round of the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

After spending two weeks relaxing on the sun-splashed shores of the Bahamas, Darren Clarke now faces a PGA Championship reality check along the shores of the Kiawah Island.

After two top-10 finishes in the year’s Majors, Pádraig Harrington may well be back as a big-time contender, but the Irishman is not so sure he ever stopped being one.

Pádraig Harrington is offering millions of euro worth of advertising space to the highest bidder after a family tragedy put his recent golfing struggles into perspective.

TIGER WOODS, along with the top four players in the world rankings, will contest this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

IF THE opening moments of his pre-tournament press conference are anything to go by, Lee Westwood may be taking his plan of not trying too hard to finally land his first major, a little too far.

NOTHING will boost Darren Clarke’s confidence more tomorrow morning at the 93rd PGA Championship than teeing it up at Atlanta Athletic Club as a Major champion.

FINDING your putting touch and a dollop of confidence is vital for anyone with major ambitions.

WHEN Pádraig Harrington admitted after missing his fifth cut of the year at Killarney yesterday that “change is required”, the key men in his backroom team such as coach Bob Torrance, caddie Ronan Flood and sports psychologist Bob Rotella might have felt they had good cause to worry.

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.

Darren Clarke gave his answer today to those who have criticised his Open victory celebrations - get a life.

Padraig Harrington goes in search of a second Irish Open title in Killarney tomorrow, hoping that his work with one of golf’s best-known gurus can pay off for him just as it did for Darren Clarke.

DARREN CLARKE signed off his British Open championship victory press conference on Sunday night by trying to explain what his great appeal was to the fans who had roared him on to success at Royal St George’s.

A TEXT from Tiger Woods, a boot up the backside from Rory McIlroy and some sage counselling from Dr Bob Rotella.

IT’S very difficult to put into words the admiration I have for Darren Clarke after his stunning achievement in becoming the fifth Irish man to win a major championship yesterday at Royal St George’s.

IT WAS four years ago that Darren Clarke read in an English broadsheet newspaper that he was continuing an “inexorable descent towards irrelevance”.

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.

SPORTS psychologist Bob Rotella may have straightened Darren Clarke’s head out this week at Royal St George’s, but he is going to have his hands full with Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington for the next while following a couple of brain-mangling rounds at the British Open yesterday.

Graeme McDowell described himself as “a mental case” on the course after criticising his attitude over two poor rounds at the Open which is likely to send him home.

Amateur Tom Lewis today made a solid start to his second round of the 140th Open Championship as he looked to build on his record-breaking exploits at Royal St George’s.

American Lucas Glover today moved into a share of the lead as the early starters looked to take advantage of perfect conditions in the second round of the 140th Open Championship.

A RENEWAL of acquaintances with Dr Bob Rotella and a return to home comforts were the ingredients behind Darren Clarke’s best British Open round in six years.

PRIVATE jets carrying Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy passed over the skies of the Middle East yesterday.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON may have turned a corner with his game of late but with one day left before the Masters gets under way at Augusta National, he has played down suggestions he is ready to add to his three-major haul with immediate effect.

CONSIDERING he’d had less than five hours sleep, the new US Open champion was remarkably sharp.

RORY McILROY made it look like child’s play but the Ulsterman’s stunning PGA Tour breakthrough at Quail Hollow required some intense work behind the scenes from his backroom team.

PADRAIG Harrington spent the last few weeks enjoying a break from the professional tour. During a relaxing few days in Co Limerick, where he helped launch the JP McManus Invitational pro-am, he discussed several aspects of his life, times and game with golf correspondent Charlie Mulqueen.

WHEN an eight-time major winner like Tom Watson tips a player to win the Masters, you know he’s got good reason.

HAVING taken a few weeks off to recharge the batteries, recover from a few nagging aches and get in a few hours of practice, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy return to action in this week’s Shell Houston Open.

Rory McIlroy has another chance to partner the player he calls “the second biggest draw in golf” tomorrow and Friday.

THOUGH some of his keenest supporters feared Pádraig Harrington would never return to the major championship winning form of 2007 and 2008 the man himself has insisted throughout a summer of swing changes that he ‘will have the last laugh’.

Ricardo Gonzalez and Lee Slattery are first and second at the halfway stage of the SAS Masters in Malmo – yet former US Open champion Michael Campbell was the one with the most to celebrate tonight.