WATERVILLE'S David Higgins recently proclaimed in this column that "I will get my card back this year, of that I have no doubt."

As past tournaments have proved, The Ryder Cup seems to bring out something special in Irish golfers, writes Charlie Mulqueen, Oakland Hills.

EUROPEAN captain Bernhard Langer readily admitted that he regarded Pádraig Harrington as one of his key men for the successful defence of the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills.

IT'S little wonder golfers can't wait to reach their 50th birthday these days. Carl Mason won just twice on the regular European Tour, but when he turned 50 at the end of June last year he quickly fattened up his pension fund.

THE prospects of an Irish captain for the European team in the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K-Club may improve given the precedent set by Bernhard Langer for the September clash with the Americans at Oakland Hills.

RICH BEEM started the trend a year ago in the USPGA Championship at Hazeltine.

ENGLAND’S Carl Mason upstaged both Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson when he carded a six-under-par 64 to claim a one-shot lead at the end of the second round of the Senior British Open at Turnberry yesterday.

FIVE years after he bogeyed the 18th at Woodbrook to forfeit the lead and eventually lose in a playoff to Clare's Joe McDermott, 58-year-old Australian Noel Ratcliffe at last captured the AIB Irish Seniors Open at blustery Adare Hotel and Golf Resort yesterday.

IT MAY be very much the silly season where major golf is concerned but one subject keeps cropping up.

Christy O'Connor Junior's golf career could be over after a freak accident at his Galway home.