This week, the final major of the year, the PGA Championship returns to one of America’s most famous venues, the Lower Course at Baltusrol.

1 – Chambers Bay was designed by noted architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. 

Past champion Graeme McDowell believes he may have found a key to unlock the secrets of the little-known Chambers Bay course, venue for next week’s US Open.

Limerick multi-millionaire and philanthropist JP McManus has been officially announced as the new owner of Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort.

One of the jewels of Irish tourism, the Adare Manor and Golf Resort, is being put up for sale tomorrow.

Adare Manor’s Robert Trent Jones Senior-designed golf course has been named the top Parkland Course in Ireland by Golf Digest Ireland Magazine for the eighth consecutive year.

Not surprisingly, given the victory in the Memorial tournament, the bookmakers have installed Tiger Woods a 7/1 favourite for this week’s US Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

HOLDER Graeme McDowell is chasing his first tournament success of 2011. Peter Lawrie is bidding to put his place in the Race to Dubai order of merit on the European Tour beyond any further doubt. Shane Lowry badly needs a big finish to get back among the top 60 who make it to the Emirates for the cash rich Dubai World Championship in December.

THIS time last year, Graeme McDowell was the toast of the golfing world.

IF Mark Twain truly believed that golf is a good walk spoiled, he obviously never set foot on the Old Head of Kinsale, a course in southwest Ireland cut from apromontory jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.

MEMBERS of Killarney Golf & Fishing Club who feared the withdrawal of 3 as sponsors of the Irish Open would set the club back €1 million can rest easy.

MEATH native Damien McGrane capped an outstanding day for the eight-strong Irish contingent in the first round of the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama when he birdied the 18th for a three under par 68 to join Graeme McDowell in 2nd place in the €€3 million event.

PAUL McGINLEY last night gave the clearest indication yet that he will be one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice captains when the Ryder Cup takes place at Celtic Manor next October.

ADARE MANOR, the beautifully-located course on thebanks of the River Maigue in Co Limerick, will celebrate this week for one of their most esteemed members, Sean McMahon will be elected president of the Golfing Union of Ireland at their AGM in Carton House on Friday.

ARGENTINA’S Ricardo Gonzalez, without a top 10 finish all season, grabbed his fourth European Tour title in stunning fashion in Malmo yesterday.

Tommy Barker says Adare Village is proving a hit with Limerick buyers.

MAJOR changes to the Cashen Course are proposed in a plan that the Ballybunion Golf Club council will present to its members at a special general meeting to be held in the town on Friday week, July 4th.

IT’S BACK — and if this year is anything to go by, it’s back with a bang.

WORLD-RENOWNED golf course architect Robert Trent Jones has been appointed architect to the two courses planned by Douglas Golf Club for their new site at Ballinrea, Co Cork.

COURSE designer Robert Trent Jones once described the 18th hole at Adare as “the finest par five in the world” and it certainly lived up to its billing during yesterday’s first round of the Irish Open at Adare.

Arguably Ireland’s finest parkland course and certainly one of Europe’s best golfing venues.

IRISH OPEN FEATURE

IRISH OPEN FEATURE

Thongchai Jaidee is keen to make up for missing the cut last week in Malaysia and he believes the weekend’s rest will benefit his bid to win the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open.

A MALLOW construction company is set to develop €1.5 billion worth of property in London’s Docklands.

Paul Casey is aiming to continue his love affair with China’s burgeoning golf scene as he sets out to successfully defend his TCL Classic title this weekend at the Yalong Bay Golf Club on the resort island of Hainan.

WHEN he started on the European Seniors Tour back in 1998, Denis O’Sullivan’s chief rivals were people like Tommy Horton, Antonio Garrido, Brian Waites, Malcolm Gregson, Jose-Maria Canizares, Brian Huggett and Maurice Bembridge.

TWO early cloudbursts threatened to spoil the fun but after that it was all sunshine.

THERE were many winners on the first day of the JP McManus pro-am at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort yesterday.

DESPITE all the stuff we hear about the laughing Irish, the upbeat Irish, the positive Irish, it never ceases to amaze me how little appreciation we really have in this country for ourselves, for our own, for what we have.

A TOP golf course in Co Limerick yesterday branched out and bought two gigantic 50-year-old trees for €30,000.

The JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am, featuring the world’s top golfers, will take place at the Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort on July 5 and 6, 2005, it has been confirmed.

WHEN the gates to Augusta National Golf Club open at 8am, half of the fans run to the course — the rest bolt to the gift shop.

THE holder and hot favourite Paul McGinley has cruised into the lead at the halfway stage of the Smurfit IPGA Championship at Adare Manor.

IT cannot be easy for a 29 year-old to turn his back on competitive golf for six months, at a time when his career is in crisis.

PAUL McGINLEY walked off the Robert Trent Jones designed course at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Course yesterday having shot a tidy three under par 69 in the Smurfit IPGA pro-am and described it as one of the finest he had ever played.

AS Europe’s professional golfers get ready to tee it up at Celtic Manor in this weekend’s Wales Open, there will be more than a passing interest in how work is progressing on the par 72 Wentwood Hills course in readiness for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

ADA O’SULLIVAN was happier with the second day performance of her Great Britain and Ireland side in the World Amateur ladies team championships in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.