Every week is a learning experience on the PGA Tour and that was a true for four-time major winner Rory McIlroy as it was for Waterford’s Seamus Power in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.

Tiger Woods admits he has yet to come to terms with winning his fifth Masters title at Augusta National.

American Patrick Reed secured his place on the Ryder Cup team with victory in The Barclays as overnight leader Rickie Fowler squandered his chance to do the same at Bethpage Black.

Renowned for his short-game prowess, Phil Mickelson sometimes does his best scoring with his biting perspective and cunning wit.

Golfers are sticklers for routine, mainly because their career is based upon repetition of the same thing, day in, day out.

There are two sets of names that will bear down on Phil Mickelson at Pinehurst No. 2 tomorrow as he tees off in a US Open for the 24th time.

If you believe the cavemen who scream “Mashed potatoes’, “Get in the hole’, “You the man” or “Baba Boey’ are headed for extinction under a new draconian security policy by golf’s tours, think again.

The selection of Merion Golf Club for the 113th US Open was an expensive decision for the USGA.

WHEN picking a modern day venue capable of meeting the demands of a US Open, the USGA have recently identified huge properties like Congressional, Bethpage & Torrey Pines, all of which have the course strength, the size and infrastructural capability to allow them to maximise the commercial return from the attendance of 50,000 spectators a day.

So what’s it going to be? A thoroughbred major winner with killer course management and length to spare? A major virgin with a hot putter and an even hotter wedge? How about a straight-hitting gut-player with a laser-like long game and a brain?

USGA executive director Mike Davis today said he is already keen to bring the US Open back to Merion – if the club and local residents were willing to host the tournament again.

Not quite ignorant enough to think that we invented golf, we Americans have taken disconcerting liberties with the game.

IT IS not a given that being one ofthe world’s best golfers at a US Open championship is enough to earn a golfer the undying love of the American golfing public.

PÁDRAIG Harrington already had a European Tour win under his belt and was regarded as one of the most promising young players in the world when he turned up at the Congressional Country Club outside Washington DC for his first tilt at the US Open in 1997.

THE time has arrived for Rory McIlroy to see if he can hit straight back from the most crushing disappointment of his young golfing life in the majors.

The time has arrived for Rory McIlroy to see if he can hit straight back from the most crushing disappointment of his young golfing life in the majors.

RORY McILROY’S outstanding4th place in the HSBC-WorldGolf Championship in Shanghai at the weekend has moved him to within touching distance of a Ryder Cup debut at Celtic Manor next October.

IF Tiger Woods gets his putter working and manages to keep his golf ball in play for a reasonable amount of the time over the next four days, there can be no doubt as to who will be holding the claret jug on Sunday evening.

TIGER WOODS has again backed Pádraig Harrington for seeking changes in his swing that will make the Irishman an even better player.

After years in the game’s wilderness, David Duval is eyeing the future with a new zest, both on and off the golf course, writes PJ Browne, in New York

A helicopter and a private jet remain on standby for Ross Fisher ahead of this week’s Open Championship at Turnberry.

Ross Fisher, the European who came closest to winning the US Open last month, still does not know if he will even be playing The Open this week.

Tiger Woods welcomes the PGA Tour to his AT&T National tournament at Congressional Country Club near Washington DC tomorrow looking to be the worst host possible.

THIS time three years ago, Pádraig Harrington broke with precedent and entered for the French Open in Paris.

ENGLAND’S Ross Fisher maintained his challenge to the end in highly admirable fashion before eventually settling for 5th place at Bethpage.

IN THE normal passage of time, Rory McIlroy will probably forget that he shot four admirable rounds of 72, 70, 72 and 68 to finish two over par in the 2009 US Open at Bethpage and finish in a share of 10th position.

LICKING his wounds after another bitter disappointment is becoming all too familiar for Pádraig Harrington.

CANADIAN left-hander Mike Weir led the US Open field at the completion of the first round at Bethpage yesterday after shooting a six under 64, just one outside the championship record low, and Graeme McDowell led the Irish quartet with a 69.

RORY McILROY has a long way to go to justify the opinion he is the next Tiger Woods but he demonstrated once again yesterday that he has both the golf game and the mental capacity to perform at the very highest level.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON accepted last night that he unlikely to overcome the effects of an opening round 76 at the 109th US Open Championship at Bethpage.

SHANE LOWRY believes too much is being expected of Rory McIlroy as the Northern Irishman tees up for only his third major tournament.

ATROCIOUS weather conditions have thrown the 109th US Open into turmoil with the likelihood now the championship will run over into Monday and possibly even Tuesday.

Sergio Garcia insists he has no hang ups about winning a major and is as focused as ever on the objective as he begins his 40th attempt at the feat as a professional in the US Open at Bethpage Black today.

THE MANY golfers who will surely be praying for divine intervention as the 109th US Open unfolds over the next two days might well take encouragement from how Bethpage got its name.

PHIL MICKELSON is unsure how he will react to the wave of support he will experience at this week’s US Open as he aims to sign off from golf with a fourth major victory.

EVEN though he arrived in Bethpage after a sparkling final round of 63 in the St Jude Classic in Memphis on Sunday, Graeme McDowell isn’t approaching his fourth appearance at the US Open in confident mood.

NOBODY knows better than Tiger Woods why US Opens played on public courses resonate with the crowds that flock to see them.

Phil Mickelson is unsure how he will react to the wave of support he will experience at this week’s US Open as he aims to sign off from golf with a fourth major victory.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON last night admitted that if “I was a footballer, I’d be on the bench right now but because I’m my own boss, I can live my life anyway I want”.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON well remembers the 2002 US Open and the raucous atmosphere circulating around Bethpage Black as America’s national championship reached out to the masses on a public course for the first time in its history.

TROUBLED times for Pádraig Harrington.

Padraig Harrington will tee-off with defending champion Tiger Woods and 2007 champion Angel Cabrera at this week's US Open at Bethpage, New York.

Graeme McDowell will go into this week’s US Open in high spirits following his best finish of the season yesterday.