Barely had the tears dried and the emotions been choked back from Wednesday’s farewell to St Andrews by Arnold Palmer when it felt like you needed to start them all over again in Thursday’s opening round of the 144th Open Championship.

Golf fans will need to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to arrive in good time at Fota Island to watch the marquee draw in the first round of the Irish Open Championship.

Nick Faldo protege Nick Dougherty and Jamie Elson, whose father Pip played on the European tour, have both been named today in the Britain and Ireland team which will defend the Walker Cup in Georgia on August 11-12.