From McIlroy to Tiger, we look at the talking points ahead of Augusta. 

Most bagmen go unnoticed, quietly doing their jobs and supporting their employer to the best of their ability. That is what they have been hired to do.

They may be old men now, but the competitive spirit remains strong in both Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

Phil Mickelson is relishing the poor weather conditions being forecast for the first two rounds of the Masters and the prospect of less experienced players shooting themselves out of contention at Augusta National.

Pádraig Harrington insists that temperamental Thomas Bjorn will not be a liability as Ryder Cup captain and conceded that his own captaincy ambitions will have to be reviewed if he’s not to miss the boat in 2020 or 2022.

It might not have been rock bottom for Henrik Stenson as he packed his bags on a January Friday night and slunk out of the 2012 Qatar Masters after another missed cut but the Swede had every reason to feel low.

Golfer Pádraig Harrington, developer Seán Mulryan and former U2 manager Paul McGuinness are among a new list of Irish names connected to the Panama Papers.

England’s Andrew Johnston hailed a dream come true after holding off a final-day charge from tournament host Sergio Garcia to win a first European Tour title in the Spanish Open.

Augusta Masters champion Danny Willett will add to the cast of homegrown major winners when he keeps his promise to play next month’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the K Club.

It is 25 years since Ian Woosnam became Masters champion and yesterday a painful back condition finally caught up with the Welshman as far as playing Augusta National is concerned.

Rory McIlroy may have enhanced his chances of completing the career grand slam by opting out of the par-three contest, but the world No 3 still faces a tough task to end Europe’s surprising Masters drought.

Rory McIlroy has cut down on the distractions as he attempts to complete the career grand slam at Augusta this week.

Brian Keogh takes a closer look at the world of caddies, the few who’ve made millions and the vast majority who live the jet-set lifestyle without the money, or the jet. 

Graeme McDowell will look to write his name in the record books by securing a hat-trick of wins in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National this week.

You might have won a major before but following it up with a green jacket elevates your status to another level.

Darren Clarke admits his lack of experience as a skipper will leave him heading into the unknown at Hazeltine in 19 months’ time.

The way Darren Clarke celebrated winning the Open Championship neatly sums up one of the contradictions at the heart of Europe’s new Ryder Cup captain.

Ryder Cup hero Graeme McDowell praised Paul McGinley as the best captain he had played under and then backed his friend Darren Clarke to succeed the Dubliner in 2016.

When Europe needed him most, Rory McIlroy stepped up to the mark and delivered.

Paul McGinley believes his experience "riding shotgun" during Europe’s remarkable Ryder Cup run of success has made him better equipped to step into the captaincy role at Gleneagles this weekend.

Rory McIlroy’s bid for a first FedEx Cup title – and with it a bonus of £6m – got off to an eventful start in the Tour Championship in Atlanta yesterday.

At 66 and with his sights firmly trained on a top 10 finish in this week’s British Seniors Open at Royal Porthcawl, Cork’s Denis O’Sullivan is focused.

The 97,000 fans who thronged the magnificent Fota Island Resort over the last four days had it all. The weather, the big names, the course looking better than an airbrushed postcard.

Pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy has been drawn in with two young American stars in the first round of the US Masters on Thursday.

European Ryder Cup vice-captain Des Smyth will get an early chance to reacquaint himself with the rigours of the role when he teams up with Miguel Angel Jimenez for the inaugural EurAsia Cup in Malaysia in two weeks.

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has thrown down the gauntlet to Pádraig Harrington to produce the form that will make a pick on Europe’s team to face the United States at Gleneagles this September.

Des Smyth spoke yesterday ofhis delight at being thrust back into the Ryder Cup limelight after he was named by fellow Irishman Paul McGinley as a Team Europe vice-captain for this September’s matches against the USA at Gleneagles, Scotland.

European captain Paul McGinley today named Sam Torrance and Des Smyth as his first two vice-captains for September’s Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

The composition of Paul McGinley’s Ryder Cup backroom team for Gleneagles in September should become a little clearer today when the Dubliner hosts a European Tour press conference in his home town.

SHONA Pitman grew up in a rough patch of a $2 trillion dollar island. Reared in Nicholson Park, a neighbourhood in Jersey once so dangerous the school buses took the long way round it, she was acutely aware she did not belong to the island’s elite.

It was the most English of distances — a couple of paces less than a cricket pitch — yet for Paul Casey the 20-yard walk to pull the ball out of the hole on the 18th green on the Montgomerie Course was the most pleasant of journeys.

The title sponsor that Pádraig Harrington says he has up his sleeve, and anyone who may be contemplating pumping millions into the Irish Open prize fund, will not have been enthused by the leaderboard in Maynooth yesterday.

This country has produced many of the game’s finest but for reasons not always easy to fathom, their record at the Irish Open is a long way short of what might have been expected.

Justin Rose’s magnificent US Open triumph was a victory for the good guy, the hard-worker, the gentleman and the good son.

Bernard Gallacher, who held the Ryder Cup captaincy for three events before finally leading Europe to victory in 1995, caused a major surprise yesterday when coming out in favour of Paul McGinley over his fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie in the contest to lead the side at Gleneagles in 2014.

Darren Clarke, many people’s favourite to lead Europe at the next Ryder Cup, said today: “As much as I would dearly love to be captain, this may not be my time”.