DES SMYTH hopes that he and his Irish colleagues can draw on the winning ways of their younger compatriots at this week’s British Seniors Open at Carnoustie.

Lee Westwood’s hopes of overtaking Padraig Harrington European number one suffered a massive blow after a terrible start to his third round in the Dunhill Links Championship.

FOR a tournament built on tradition, change was everywhere at Royal Birkdale.

Lee Westwood is looking good to make instant amends this weekend for his US Open near-miss – and to give himself the perfect boost ahead of The Open.

FEW professional golfers are on top of their act as much as Pádraig Harrington so it will be the wish of all Irish fans that he knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to playing himself into the European Ryder Cup for the fifth successive year at Valhalla, Louisville, Kentucky on September 19-21.

Australian Peter O’Malley equalled the Carnoustie course record as he stormed into a share of the lead in the £2.5m (€3.6m) Alfred Dunhill Links championship, and then revealed how his guesthouse landlady helped keep his title bid on track.

Tiger Woods needed just six holes to signal his intent to capture a third straight Open Championship at a cold and wet Carnoustie on Thursday.

Tigers Woods has jumped into a share of the lead at the Open Championship with an eagle on the sixth, holing from 14 feet to move to three under par.

Two shots. That is all it took for Darren Clarke to stop the rot and start believing that good times are just around the corner.

AUSTRALIAN Richard Green received a call-up to the British Open Championship yesterday after American Woody Austin’s decision not to travel to Carnoustie next week.

Colin Montgomerie is celebrating the end of the second-longest barren spell of his career after he won the European Open at the K Club.

Denmark’s Soren Hansen is hoping for a double celebration in Dublin tomorrow night – not just his first win for five years, but also a happy ending to a self-imposed “nightmare”.

Tiger Woods expects to see a fairer Carnoustie when he starts his bid for a third successive Open title on Thursday week.

Colin Montgomerie has not always considered himself lucky - far from it, in fact. But he does at the moment.

Padraig Harrington today stepped up his bid for a second double triumph in four years in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Ryder Cup-chasing pair Thomas Bjorn and Paul Casey were off to flying starts in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles today.

Ryder Cup-chasing Thomas Bjorn made a brilliant start to the Johnnie Walker Championship at windy Gleneagles today – and then claimed: “After Winged Foot anything seems easy”.

CARNOUSTIE, widely regarded as one of the most difficult golf courses on the planet, didn’t really show its teeth on yesterday’s opening day of the €4m Dunhill Links Championship.

AS Jack Nicklaus finally departs the scene he has graced for so long, Tiger Woods stands poised to narrow the majors gap on the Golden Bear when the 134th Open Championship dawns at 6.30 this morning.

DAVID HOWELL boosted his chances of qualifying for the Masters with an impressive 65 at St Andrews yesterday to jump to the top of the leaderboard at the Dunhill Links Championship.

David Howell boosted his chances of qualifying for the Masters with an impressive 65 at St Andrews to jump to the top of the leaderboard at the Dunhill Links Championship.

Graeme McDowell found himself under attack at the top of the leaderboard on the second morning of the Dunhill Links Championship.

THE WINNER of the 133rd Open at Royal Troon maintained the American dominance of the Championship.

There will be the usual moans and groans, of course.

Lee Westwood is happy for it to be known that he is now a fan of the Home of Golf – four years after describing it as “not among the top 200 courses in Fife”.

Get prepared for another big shock in major championship golf.

Tiger Woods’ frustration was there for all to see today as he headed for his worst-ever finish in a major since he turned professional in 1996.

IT’S an Open Championship that will be remembered — for good and bad reasons — for many a day to come.

NOT even the second albatross of his life could bring Colin Montgomerie closer to pace-setting Ryder Cup team-mate Padraig Harrington at the halfway stage of the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

New Zealander Michael Campbell was excused for thinking that nobody liked him today as he grabbed the early second-round lead in the Smurfit European Open at the K Club near Dublin.