Greystones’ Paul Dunne produced a stunning final round to hold off a thrilling challenge from Rory McIlroy and claim his first European Tour title in the British Masters.

Seamus Power, Shane Lowry, and Pádraig Harrington all made solid starts at the Wyndham Championship yesterday in their quest to secure their PGA Tour cards for next season.

Michael Hoey threatened to record the first 59 in European Tour history before having to settle for a share of the lead on a low-scoring first day of the Rocco Forte Open in Sicily.

Italy’s Edoardo Molinari claimed his first European Tour title since 2010 by beating Ireland’s Paul Dunne in a play-off for the Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco.

Gary Hurley stood over a two-and-a-half foot putt on the final hole of the Tour Course at PGA Catalunya yesterday, knowing if he missed, he’d be following fellow Waterford man and playing partner Kevin Phelan and Ruaidhrí McGee on the first plane out of Girona.

Tiger Woods was in contention for his first PGA Tour win in two years as he lay in joint third after his second round of the Quicken Loans National.

Masters champion Jordan Spieth roared back into contention at the RBC Heritage following a second-round 62.

Holland’s Joost Luiten recovered from a poor start and overcame a nervous finish to claim his fourth European Tour title in the ISPS Handa Wales Open at Celtic Manor.

Shane Lowry carded a flawless 65 to claim a one-shot lead over Nicolas Colsaerts and Joost Luiten, with former champion Thongchai Jaidee and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari another shot back, in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor.

Two leading players have questioned why there was no ambulance on site after Fabrizio Zanotti was struck on the head by a ball in the KLM Open yesterday.

Former champion Richie Ramsay admitted the chance to record the lowest round in European Tour history crossed his mind during the opening round of the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.

Torrential rain forced play to be suspended after just 20 minutes in the second round of the 96th US PGA Championship today.

Rory McIlroy survived a mid-round wobble to keep his objective of back-to-back Majors very much alive after the opening round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla last night.

Rory McIlroy survived a mid-round wobble to keep his objective of back-to-back majors very much alive after the opening round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla last night.

A rejuvenated Lee Westwood set the early clubhouse target as Tiger Woods failed to make an impression on the opening day of the 96th US PGA Championship.

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley was thrilled to see Rory McIlroy head a posse of six Europeans in the top 10 at The Open.

Two eagles in his last three holes leaves Rory McIlroy on the brink of a third career major after the Irishman took a firm grip on the 143rd Open Championship heading into Sunday's final round at Hoylake.

Open Championship leader Rory McIlroy will take to the Royal Liverpool links later looking to avoid the dreaded second-round syndrome which has dogged him all year.

England’s David Howell and Italian Edoardo Molinari made the most of perfect scoring conditions at Royal Liverpool to take the early lead in the 143rd Open Championship.

Welcome to your Thursday morning briefing. Let us ensure you’re up to speed on what’s happening and are prepared for the day ahead.

Taking Martin Kaymer’s US Open victory as his inspiration, Mikko Ilonen celebrated his wire-to-wire Irish Open win last night as a major progression along the road to his career goals.

34-year-old now beside an illustrious winners’ list

A top-10 finish in the Irish Open may not be much use to a three-time Major winner, but runner-up Edoardo Molinari would strongly disagree with that sentiment as he booked his ticket to next month’s British Open at fota yesterday.

GOOD DAY

Finland’s Mikko Ilonen remained on course for a wire-to-wire victory midway through the final round of the Irish Open today.

Padraig Harrington has endured a disappointing start to his final round with bogeys on the second and third and seventh holes.

The third round of play is under way at the Irish Open in Fota Island.

The Irish Open has not one but three homegrown contenders at Fota Island Resort as Graeme McDowell leads the pursuit of halfway leader Mikko Ilonen.

Jet-lagged Graeme McDowell is hoping a good night’s sleep will help him mount a charge in pursuit of overnight leader Mikko Ilonen as the second round of the Irish Open gets under way at Fota Island Resort today.

Shane Lowry was well entitled to a wry smile over the last day or two as he heard just about everybody talk up Ireland’s prospects of a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games now that Rory McIlroy has declared for Ireland and Graeme McDowell has confirmed he will wear the green, white and orange in Rio.

Mikko Ilonan of Finland is now the outright leader of the Irish Open leading the field at six-under-par.

A week may be a long time in politics but 20 hours can feel like a marathon for one of the game’s greatest golfers when his game goes from the sublime to the ridiculous in such a short space of time.

The countdown officially commenced at Fota Island Resort yesterday as former champion Shane Lowry gave his seal of approval to the 2014 Irish Open venue.

In March of this year in one of the smaller rooms at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center, two men stood on stage.

Damien McGrane has played in two British Opens, but he could be on course to make his third appearance at Royal Liverpool in July after opening with a five under 66 in the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington in South Africa.

The only trouble Rory McIlroy experienced on a day he shot his lowest round in three years was finding the way out of the Emirates Club car park.

Ernie Els busted out of last week’s Merion ‘torture chamber’ and singled out Irish-born caddy Colin Byrne for helping produce his lowest score in seven months on the opening day of the 25th anniversary BMW International Open in Munich .

Francesco and Edoardo Molinari were today hoping to turn the BMW PGA Championship into a family affair as good weather produced equally good scoring at Wentworth.

Rory McIlroy’s partnership with fellow US Open winner and long-time friend Graeme McDowell could be tested over the opening two rounds of this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Players with good form at Gleneagles and experience of playing in bad weather will rank “very highly” in the list of contenders for one of European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley’s three wild cards.

Rory McIlroy is set to return to Haiti next week.