US golfer Tom Watson will be in Northern Ireland next month for the Open Championship, which he has won on five occasions.

It must be US Open week because the pros took one look at Erin Hills, site of the 117th US Open, and you heard more bellyaching than a hospital emergency room.

FÁILTE Ireland’s new director of golf Michelle McCreevy wore one of the broadest smiles of the thousands at Turnberry after Stewart Cink’s victory in the Open Championship.

ALL the talk for much of the next five days will surround Church Pews, 288-yard par threes, lightning fast greens, ridiculous rough — in other words, more of the same, where US Open courses are concerned.

A NUMBER of years ago, the then President of the USGA, Sandy Tatum, had a succinct response for the golfers complaining about the severity of a US Open venue.