Graeme McDowell admits he will find it difficult going up against Ryder Cup playing partner Victor Dubuisson as he takes a one-shot lead into the final round of the Saudi International.

McDowell took too long over his second shot to the fourth hole after conducting an in-round interview with Sky Sports reporter Tim Barter.

Lowry, who was presented with the award by his father Brendan, dedicated the honour to Clara GAA stalwart John Buckley, whose His funeral takes place tomorrow.

Graeme McDowell will host the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open for the next two years, starting with the 2020 event at Mount Juliet.

When I was in Ascot on Saturday watching the rugby and how disappointing it was after all the hype which surrounded it and the team, it got me thinking and comparing it with our own sport.

Their confirmation comes as an additional 100 tickets will be tendered this month for the sold-out event on July 6-7th 2020.

Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen claimed a slender lead in the opening round of the Italian Open after setting a target which proved too hot to handle.

On Tuesday, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Graeme McDowell enjoyed a friendly nine holes of practice at Liberty National Golf Club ahead of the Northern Trust Open, the first event in the FedEx Cup Play-offs.

For the most part, it is a game that only the very few can play.

If failing to prepare means preparing to fail, the question about how to prepare effectively must be broached by any self-respecting high performing athlete and coach. Mind you, there is no answer that will serve everyone equally.

Graeme McDowell hailed Ireland’s newest major champion and backed Shane Lowry to finally come out from Rory McIlroy’s shadow after lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush.

If the video clips doing the rounds on social media yesterday are anything to believe, Shane Lowry has been living up to his pledge to enjoy his magnificent and well-deserved Open Championship victory.

An Englishman and an Irishman competed in the final pairing of the Open Championship in Northern Ireland. Sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that was how the script for the 148th Open at Royal Portrush played out.

Rory McIlroy’s major successes are far from over, says Graeme McDowell, who has backed his friend to rebound from his Royal Portrush disappointment.

As your American-based golf correspondent, I’ve got a confession to make. I didn’t fancy my first pints of Guinness. In fact, I didn’t acquire a taste for it until my first trip to Ireland a little more than a decade ago and a visit to Temple Bar’s cobbled streets between the River Liffey and Dame Street in Dublin.

Lowry, who won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009, holed from 35 feet for another birdie on the 10th to move two shots clear of the field.

Leave it to Maureen Madill to put into perspective how big a deal hosting the 148th Open Championship is to the membership at Royal Portrush and all of her native land.

“I feel like all the air has been let out of the sails plus some. The ship feels like it’s sinking.”

His wayward first ball hit a fan and cracked the screen of her mobile phone in her pocket before ending up five feet inside the out of bounds posts.

Graeme McDowell was always going to come home to Portrush this week.

Rory McIlroy admits that a fear of missing out fuelled his decision to change tack on Olympic ambitions and declare himself available to represent Ireland at the Games in Tokyo in 2020.

Pádraig Harrington has predicted that the Open Championship’s return to Irish shores this week is the first step of tournament organisers the R&A taking golf’s oldest major around the world, ideally with Portmarnock as the launchpad.

Clarke has had life-threatening first-hand experience of The Troubles.

Darren Clarke will have the honour of striking the first ball at The 148th Open on Thursday as major championship golf returns to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951.

Rory McIlroy is only Irish player to survive the cut at the Scottish Open.

Jamie Donaldson set his sights on an emotional return to Royal Portrush after claiming a share of the clubhouse lead on day one of the ASI Scottish Open.

He has won four major titles, two World Golf Championship events and been on the winning Ryder Cup team four times, but there is only one round of golf where Rory McIlroy can remember every shot.

Rory McIlroy insists he would not swap his consistency for world number one Brooks Koepka’s feast-or-famine approach.

Matt Kuchar, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell were also confirmed to play this morning.

Overnight leader Padraig Harrington has dropped three shots on day two of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Lahinch.

Maybe it was the bright sunshine at Lahinch yesterday morning that brought on the folly but at one point of the afternoon we began tallying the different adjectives used to describe this course’s most famous holes.

How do you take the pulse of a golf tournament?

Padraig Harrington shot a superb opening day seven-under 63 to shoot to the summit of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open leaderboard on Thursday evening and if it looked easy then it was.

With the pressure of securing a starting spot in his hometown Open Championship later this month now lifted, Graeme McDowell is relishing the opportunity to free his mind and concentrate on the task at hand: a good week in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

It will not be in the nature of the tournament host to have slept easily last night on the eve of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open but his efforts to make this €6.2m European Tour event a success have already earned Paul McGinley the right to relax just a little.

One of the most satisfying aspects of writing the 125th history of Lahinch Golf Club in 2016 was the opportunity to meet up once again with three of the most illustrious winners of the South of Ireland Championship and another who captured the Irish Close over the great links.

Graeme McDowell will be trying to avoid thinking about The Open Championship in his hometown of Portrush in two weeks as he bids to start his links golf season on a high at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open on Thursday.

The three-time major champion could be forgiven for protesting that he already has plenty on his plate, what with his captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team which will play at Whistling Straits next September.

Shane Lowry will embrace the mantle of leading home hope at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open despite his determination to dismiss all talk of a potential victory.

With only a limited number of tickets remaining for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this weekend, tournament host Paul McGinley has all the validation he needs that bringing the European Tour to Lahinch was the right call, regardless of which stars tee it up on the prestigious links tomorrow.

Shane Lowry will get his Dubai Duty Free Irish Open campaign underway early on Thursday as part of an illustrious group also featuring Ryder Cup hero Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Russell Knox.

Tournament host Paul McGinley has insisted this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open can flourish in spite of the absence of leading Irishman Rory McIlroy.

There is no escaping the sense of excitement and expectation not just amongst the members of Lahinch Golf Club but also the whole of the village and West Clare in general as the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Championship looms this week.

The design was achieved with the help of a Hollywood CGI artist.