For a guy who can make golf look easy, Dustin Johnson can’t remember a victory more difficult.

Already the smallest field among majors, the Masters is shrinking the field for the Par 3 Contest.

Augusta National has a mystique as the only major championship played on the same golf course every year.

Having arrived in plenty of time to tee off at the appointed time of 7am on Saturday, David Duval had not struck a ball until 6pm. 

In spite of his disappointing performance at Wentworth last week, Rory McIlroy will inevitably be very much the focus of attention at Royal County Down this week. Even so, the fans and television viewers will also keep more than one eye on several other Irishmen, and most especially Darren Clarke, Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington.

Ernie Els has always been a rugby player at heart, a big and bruising heavyweight champion in a sport, golf, that doesn’t fancy itself for that weight class.

He was becoming one of the world’s forgotten golfers — compared to others like David Duval, Lee Jansen, Ian Baker Finch and Sandy Lyle – all Major champions who had vanished from the golfing scene.

Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington will continue his bid to stop his slide down the world rankings in the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi this week.

Tiger Woods was back in his old routine this morning as he continued his preparations for the 143rd Open Championship at Hoylake.

Tiger Woods will not have to wait too long to make his competitive return to Hoylake in the 143rd Open Championship, which gets under way on Thursday.

An official team jersey signed by the conquering Munster team which defeated the All-Blacks at Thomond Park in 1978 is among the treasures at Fonsie Mealy’s rare books and collectors’ sale at the Clyde Court Hotel in Dublin on July 1.

Jim Furyk hit a magical 59 as he surged into contention on day two of the BMW Championship in Illinois last night.

Dining out on one Major win for 60 years didn’t stop Irish golfers or Irish golf writers from attending the British Open and a host of other Majors from Fred Daly’s win in 1947 until the great messiah — Pádraig Harrington — performed his first miracle at Carnoustie in 2007.

Open Championship officials tonight promised to listen to complaints from players about conditions at Muirfield after Ian Poulter labelled some of the pin positions for the opening round as “a joke.”

Rory McIlroy may not yet consider it a rivalry but as Tiger Woods bids to end a five-season quest for his 15th Major championship, it is the Irishman whom he believes presents the biggest obstacle to a fifth Masters victory.

Rory McIlroy’s slow start to the new season continued as he began the defence of his Honda Classic title at Palm Beach.

Paul Azinger wrote a book on how he won the Ryder Cup for America four years ago and our screens have been full of former captains pouring forth on how they did it but for all the talk, nothing can quite prepare José Maria Olazabal and Davis Love III for what is about to unfold.

With four years until Rio he didn’t have to make the call

John Mallinger and JJ Henry shared the clubhouse lead at the Reno-Tahoe Open after completing their second rounds.

Brilliantly led from the front by Kevin Phelan, Munster got their Interprovincial Championship campaign off to the best possible start when beating holders Connacht with two matches to spare at Royal Co Down yesterday.

For a while there, Ernie Els could not have been more removed from the persona that led him to be known as the ‘Big Easy’.

The cream rose to the top at Royal Lytham today with six major champions at the top of the leaderboard at the Open Championship, including former world number one Tiger Woods.

The oldest golf championship in the world, the British Open, returns for the 11th time this week to the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire.

Defending champion Darren Clarke handed back the Claret Jug after a year as Open Champion and warned those wishing to succeed him as Open champion that they had better play it straight at Royal Lytham & St Annes this week.

Ryder Cup captains past and present Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal are part of a 96-strong field at Sunningdale tomorrow battling for 10 places in next month’s Open Championship.

All-American nice guy Matt Kuchar playfully told the media to “suck it” after clinching the US PGA Players Championship and its $1.7 million (€1.3m) winner’s cheque.

YOU could be forgiven for thinking the end of the competitive golf season had finally arrived now we are almost into the month of December.

The United States won the Golf World Cup after a final round of 67 was enough for Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland to capture the title by two strokes from Germany and England.

THE final Major of the year begins at the Atlanta Athletic Club on Thursday with Luke Donald and Lee Westwood still clinging to the top two places in the world rankings and Rory McIlroy the bookmaker’s favourite at 10/1.

IT WAS a chilly, windy morning for the third round of the Irish Close Championship at Tramore in 1987.

THERE is not another European in the British Open next week who can match Pádraig Harrington’s three major titles. But the Irishman has made a frank admission — it was the fear of failure that turned him into one of the hardest workers in golf, and overdoing things cost him tournaments.

Reigning US Open champion Graeme McDowell carded three double bogeys at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to finish one over par for the day.

Aaron Baddeley shot a final-round 69 to win the Northern Trust Open by two shots in California.

THERE was a time when it seemed Tiger Woods would never be deposed as the world’s number one golfer.

LEE WESTWOOD has decided not to play again this month because of his nagging leg injury – and as a result will take the world number one spot off Tiger Woods on October 31.

St Andrews, the Home of Golf, could tomorrow see Lee Westwood crowned as the new world number one - and little-known John Parry as the shock winner of one of Europe's richest events.

STUART APPLEBY understands the scrutiny that might come with shooting a 59 on a par-70 course.

Former champion John Daly rolled back the years today with a brilliant start to lead the 139th Open Championship at St Andrews.

The new US Open champion Graeme McDowell will have to wait until just before 2pm on Thursday when he tees off with two former winners of that title, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy at the Open in St Andrews.

CALLED “Sunshine” by his friends – an ironic reference to his often pessimistic view of his game – Paul Goydos is now also “Mr 59” after shooting a sub-60 round yesterday at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Illinois.

YOU get used to certain things in golf. Ian Poulter’s clothes, Rory McIlroy’s hair, Monty’s mood swings, Sergio Garcia’s missed putts and Phil Mickelson being behind Tiger Woods in the world rankings.

Teenage sensation Ryo Ishikawa won his seventh Japanese Tour title today with an amazing closing round of 58 – lower than has ever been managed on the American or European circuits.