IRISH golf fans are in for a real treat at Carton House today when the Nissan Irish Open hots up.

RYDER CUP players Paul Casey, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Lee Westwood, double Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal and Angel Cabrera, Graeme McDowell and Nick O’Hern are the latest players to confirm their participation in the Nissan Irish Open at Carton House Golf Club, Maynooth, from May 19-22.

PÁDRAIG Harrington, seeded seventh, was a major casualty – going down three and one to South African Rory Sabbatini in the Accenture World Match Play Championship in California.

One of Britain’s brightest golfing prospects spoke today about the damage he had done to his career enjoying the good life.

Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley produced the score he has been waiting for today and hopes it is the start of something big.

Australian golfer Nick O’Hern is in no mood to forgive the Royal and Ancient Club for what they did to him over the British Open championship.

REMEMBER those halcyon days when Ben Crenshaw and Hubert Green, Severiano Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo, used to enthrall us all among the sandhills and the sunshine of those famous Co Dublin dunes?

US Open champion Retief Goosen claimed he was "brain dead" for the first few holes at The K-Club yesterday.

LAURA DAVIES, who was so racked with nerves she hardly slept a wink, overcame debilitating pressures to make a credible debut on the European Tour at the ANZ Championship in Australia yesterday.

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Padraig Harrington has stormed up to fourth place in the Italian open. He is currently on 14 unders after 17 holes, five shots behind leader Ian Poulter.

Nick Faldo is four shots off the pace after the first round of the Caltex Singapore Masters.

Play has been suspended for the day due to excessively strong winds at the Volvo Masters.

Paul McGinley leads the Volvo Masters after 11 holes of the second round. McGinley is eight under, one shot ahead of Sweden's Mathias Gronberg.

Ireland's Padraig Harringon and Paul McGinley are five shots off the pace as they continue their opening rounds on the Volvo Masters played at Andalucia

Ireland's Paul McGinley has finished the first round of the Murphy's Irish Open at Fota on two under. He shot a round of 69.

The effects of a bad headache finally caught up with Steen Tinning as he lost a four-stroke lead in the Heineken Classic in Perth.

Padraig Harrington, the highest-ranked European in the Accenture World Matchplay Championship, failed to survive the opening round for the second year running in Melbourne today.