Eighteen months ago, Quail Hollow club president Johnny Harris phoned PGA CEO Pete Bevacqua and Kerry Haigh, chief championships officer, and invited them to visit to discuss a few changes he had in mind for the course in advance of hosting the 99th PGA Championship this week.

World number one Dustin Johnson will have no distractions at Royal Birkdale this week as he seeks to avoid a third successive missed cut.

Jordan Spieth would understand why the bookmakers are finding it hard to name an outright favourite for this week’s 146th Open Championship.

For the third time in five years, the Irish Open will be contested on a links golf course. After the successes of Royal Portrush and Royal County Down, it is Portstewart’s turn and Northern Ireland can bask in the collective glory.

Rory McIlroy will look to bounce back from his US Open disappointment as he makes his debut in the Travelers Championship.

The list of places Brooks Koepka had to go to win golf tournaments looks like a page straight out of a travelogue: Spain. Scotland. Turkey. Japan.

Shane Lowry is saddened there will be no repeat fairytale for an amateur in next month’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Caddie Ricky Elliott gave up on his tour dream to become a humble assistant pro but he never lost his love of the game and got the thrill of his life — and a $216,000 (€193,427) bonus — when he helped Brooks Koepka win the US Open at Erin Hills on Sunday.

Shane Lowry is looking forward to a return to the type of US Open courses which produce "carnage" after the experiment with two new venues in the last three years.

It’s only small — 1.68 inches in diameter — but it has always been a big issue in golf. Almost from the day that the first Scottish shepherd picked up a stick and whacked a wee stone across a field, there have been disputes about golf balls.

He might have had just one top 10 finish since last year’s US Open but Shane Lowry is heading into the meat of the summer with renewed confidence despite a mediocre week at Erin Hills.

Former champion Jordan Spieth was among the interested spectators as the US Open headed for a thrilling climax at Erin Hills on Sunday.

The leaders are set to face Erin Hills at its hardest today.

Tommy Fleetwood will try to block out thoughts of the "life-changing" effect of becoming the second English winner in five years in Sunday's final round of the US Open.

Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed set the early clubhouse target as the third round of the 117th US Open turned into a shootout at a rain-softened Erin Hills.

A rain-softened course was protected by some fearsome pin positions as the third round of the US Open got under way at Erin Hills today.

Jim Furyk still remembers his US Open threesome for the first two rounds many moons ago with Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

Rory McIlroy comfortably missed the US Open cut for the second year running but insisted he was looking to the future with confidence after a late birdie barrage eased his pain at Erin Hills.

Rory McIlroy's pre-tournament comments looked set to prove disappointingly accurate as he battled to avoid missing the cut for the second year running in the US Open.

The pilot of the blimp which crashed and burst into flames near the site of the US Open at Erin Hills had been involved in two previous emergency landings.

E. coli bacteria has been found in drinking water at Erin Hills golf course where the US Open is under way, according to health officials.

Here's what you need to know.

Glorious sunshine covered the Erin Hills links like honey on hotcakes yesterday, and doomed the dream of Phil Mickelson to compete at the 117th US Open.

Rickie Fowler isn’t sponsored by an Italian tyre manufacturer but their slogan summed up the Californian’s stunning 65 in the opening round of the US Open to perfection.

Rickie Fowler made light of the longest course in major championship history to produce a record-equalling start to the US Open on Thursday.

The pilot of a blimp which crashed at the US Open is doing "okay" but is being taken to hospital, an official with the company operating the craft said.

Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from the US Open after good weather ended his slim chances of making a last-minute dash to Erin Hills.

If the media drives sport and most of the money generated comes from TV broadcasting rights then it’s hardly surprising that professional sport worldwide has always been a star-driven enterprise dominated by the world’s greatest athletes.

Old man par is usually your friend at the US Open but Erin Hills is such an unknown quantity that the world’s best are hedging their bets on the winning score this week.

Graeme McDowell might have slipped from fourth to 89th in the world over the past six years, but he insists he still has the grit, the tactical talent and the patience to contend for his second US Open crown at Erin Hills.

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.

Darren Clarke never had the patience to handle the US Open but even though he’ll be behind a microphone for FOX Sports this week the big Irishman is fascinated by the challenge that lies in store.

Compared to Sergio Garcia’s 73-major wait for his maiden win, Rory McIlroy’s nine-major dry streak is but the blink of an eye. 

When Paul Dunne qualified for the US Open at Walton Heath, he insisted he wasn’t going to Erin Hills on a tourism trip.

Tall fescue grass on the fourth, 12th, 14th and 18th holes was being cut as McIlroy gave his pre-tournament press conference, which caught the 2011 champion by surprise.

The venue for this week's US Open is like a "links course on steroids" according to Spain's Jon Rahm, who is one of the favourites for victory in just the fourth major championship of his career.

The man who first imagined the grassy Wisconsin cattle farm as a potential piece of the US Open’s hallowed history will see that vision come to life this week.

Ahead of the US Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin this week, the United States Golf Association (USGA) is rightfully nervous. 

Paul McGinley might believe Rory McIlroy is undercooked for the tilt at the US Open but the world No 2 insists he’s 100% fit and raring to go at Erin Hills.

Paul Dunne qualified for next month’s US Open as three-time US Open winner Tiger Woods was suffering another public humiliation that leaves as many questions about the former world No 1’s mental well-being as it does about his ailing back.

If the Masters signifies the unofficial start of the golfing season on the PGA Tour, then the TPC at Sawgrass represents the real start of business, writes John McHenry.

Good but not good enough.