GRAEME McDOWELL and Rory McIlroy cruised to comfortable first round wins in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Luke Donald booked his place in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship before Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood had even hit a shot in Tucson today.

RORY McILROY might see himself as an under-achiever in terms of his winning ratio but pal Graeme McDowell has no doubts his Ryder Cup buddy will soon discover his killer instinct.

Graeme McDowell hopes he will finally be able to replicate his excellent team match play record in individual competition when the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship gets under way in Tucson this week.

THE Irish trio at this week’s Accenture World Match Play in Tucson enter the event with contrasting form.

Ernie Els is expected to be back in action at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson on Wednesday after a sore neck kept him out of last week’s Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

Ian Poulter is set to start the defence of his WGC-Accenture Match Play title against 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink if all the world’s top 64 show up in Tucson next week.

Heath Slocum fired a third straight 66 to establish a one-shot lead at the McGladrey Classic at Sea Island, Georgia.

Tiger Woods responded to his divorce this week by shooting a 65 to take a share of the lead at the Barclays in New Jersey.

Tiger Woods was bracing himself to lose the world number one ranking after a woeful third round left him 11 over par at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

DARREN CLARKE is quietly hopeful yesterday’s victory in the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort may reignite his season and eventually lead to a much coveted return to Ryder Cup action.

Lee Westwood has another disappointment to add to his long list, this time out-gunned by a player who knows even more about near-misses.

After 108 starts in America since his one and only win 12 years ago Lee Westwood could today make it three European victories in a row at golf’s richest event.

Lee Westwood, not for the first time, was carrying European hopes on his shoulders as Phil Mickelson came charging into the picture at golf’s richest event today.

It will probably need something special, but Phil Mickelson could be just a day away from becoming world number one for the first time after producing a 66 in the third round of The Players Championship in Florida.

Phil Mickelson gave himself a mountain to climb at Sawgrass today, but wasted little time moving from nine strokes behind Lee Westwood to just six back.

Lee Westwood soared into the halfway lead at The Players Championship in Florida today as his decision to put golf's richest event back on his schedule paid handsome dividends.

Paul Casey fired a six-under-par 65 at Harbour Town to give himself a chance of making the cut at the Verizon Heritage as Jim Furyk moved to the top of the early second-round leaderboard.

Any hopes Ernie Els and Retief Goosen had of climbing back into contention for The Masters nosedived today when they had a double bogey and triple bogey respectively early in their third rounds at Augusta.

Louis Oosthuizen’s bid to end a Masters jinx got off to a good start at Augusta today when he birdied the long second and 350-yard third to set the early pace.

Tiger Woods will play with fellow American Matt Kuchar and Korean KJ Choi in the first two rounds of The Masters on Thursday and Friday.

RORY MCILROY has reached a higher position on the world rankings than any other 20-year-old before him.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera will compete in next week’s HSBC Champions event in Shanghai and will therefore be eligible for the Dubai World Championship two weeks later.

Tiger Woods moved into a narrow Tour Championship lead at East Lake Golf Club midway through the second round of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup finale.

THE late summer charge to make amends for a season of frustration continued for Pádraig Harrington in Atlanta last night as he moved into contention for an US$11 million FedEx Cup bonanza at the Tour Championship.

Padraig Harrington continued to mine a rich seam of recent form as he got off to a fast start at the Tour Championship in Atlanta today.

The opportunity to turn a disappointing season into a great year will be all the motivation Padraig Harrington needs as he bids to leapfrog Tiger Woods on the way to season-ending FedEx Cup riches in America this week.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON could not be in a better frame of mind as he heads into this year’s most lucrative tournament in the form to walk off with the PGA Tour’s biggest prize.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON heads to the United States for an eighth and last occasion this year, still striving for a first Tour win of the season.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON’S bank manager and his many commercial sponsors are all smiling broadly again.

Ian Poulter has missed out on the Tour Championship in Atlanta next week by 0.46 points after a shot into water on the final hole of the BMW Championship.

ONCE Tiger Woods shot a magnificent nine under par 62 in Saturday’s third round to open up a seven-stroke advantage over his closest pursuer, the rookie Australian Marc Leishman, the rest of the high-class field were all left yesterday to play for second in the BMW Championship, the third tournament in the FedEx series on the US PGA Tour.

Padraig Harrington hopes to keep alive the chance of a $10m (€6.9m) jackpot when he starts the BMW Championship in Chicago today, but the Irishman is also having to put up with some real ribbing from a friend as he goes about his business.

THOUGH some of his keenest supporters feared Pádraig Harrington would never return to the major championship winning form of 2007 and 2008 the man himself has insisted throughout a summer of swing changes that he ‘will have the last laugh’.

Padraig Harrington is back in the world’s top 10 after finishing joint runner-up in the opening event of the US Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs.

Heath Slocum saved par in dramatic fashion at the final hole to clinch a one-shot victory in The Barclays at Liberty National.

Padraig Harrington was in contention going into the final day at The Barclays at Liberty National in New Jersey, hitting a third-day 67 to sit at four under, five shots clear of Paul Goydos and Steve Marino at the top of the leaderboard.

PGA Tour rookie Webb Simpson defied difficult conditions in the second round of The Barclays at Liberty National to take a two-shot lead at the halfway stage.

Padraig Harrington will tee-off with defending champion Tiger Woods and 2007 champion Angel Cabrera at this week's US Open at Bethpage, New York.

Graeme McDowell shot the lowest score of the day in Memphis but no-one was able to reel in runaway winner Brian Gay at the St Jude Classic.

Brian Gay gave up a shot at the final hole to leave him with a slender lead as he chased a second PGA Tour victory of the year at the St Jude Classic today.

Colin Montgomerie hopes he can carry last week’s good form into this week’s Omega Mission Hills World Cup as Scotland look to stage a successful defence of the trophy.

Ben Curtis, Open champion in 2003 and joint second behind Padraig Harrington at the US PGA in August, will make his World Cup debut for the United States in China next month.

Ryder Cup wild card Ian Poulter will lead England’s challenge for the World Cup at Mission Hills in China at the end of November.