About two years ago the R&A got in touch with some Dublin-based PR and advertising companies. They had a concern about the 2019 Open Championship that they wanted to throw some money at.

Dubai Duty Free chief executive Colm McLoughlin has underlined his company’s commitment as title sponsor to both the Irish Open and Derby by expressing his wish to see the prize money for both events increase during its involvement.

Galway’s Ronan Mullarney will take a healthy four-shot lead into today’s second round at the Flogas Irish Amateur Open Championship after setting the pace with a course-record and career-low 62 in Sligo.

Conor Purcell leads the Irish charge on home turf at Co Sligo as the Flogas Irish Amateur Open gets underway at Rosses Point tomorrow.

If you are a golfer and you don’t know Tom Coyne, then you’ve been living under a rock.

There’s nothing like some shiny silverware to reinforce the feeling that you’re doing things right.

Robin Dawson is determined not get ahead of himself as he takes a two-stroke lead into the third round of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open at Royal County Down.

The continuing development of the Irish Open has been given a huge boost by Dubai Duty Free’s agreement with the European Tour to extend its title sponsorship of the tournament.

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.

Peter O’Keeffe will never make a cent playing golf again but if the new Flogas Irish Amateur Open champion had his time again, he knows from painful experience the key to success is not just innate talent but a big, fat wallet to match an insatiable appetite for hard work.

A missed four-footer means nothing when you’ve been out for a year battling lymphatic cancer.

Royal County Down has a habit of punishing aggression but big hitting Douglas man Peter O’Keeffe kept his love of attack in check to open with a fine 70 in the Flogas Irish Amateur Open in idyllic conditions at the firm and fast Newcastle links.

He’s one of golf’s big three but while he has spent a few days watching Africa’s big five and has his sights set on returning to world number one this month, Rory McIlroy’s early-season sojourn to South Africa is all about one thing — the first major of the year.

Olivia Mehaffey continued her rich vein of form when she produced a display of the highest quality to secure the bronze medal in the European Ladies Amateur Championship in Sweden at the weekend.

The motto of Royal Troon Golf Club sums it all up rather nicely. The Latin which adorns the 138-year-old Ayrshire links’ crest reads: “Tam Arte Quam Marte”, which means “as much by skill as by strength”.

Dustin Johnson has the slow walk, the bristled jaw and the gunslinger’s eyes of a Sergio Leone bounty hunter.

A lot has happened to Shane Lowry since he won his national title as an amateur in 2009, yet adding an Irish Open victory as a professional is very much a serious goal for the world number 35.

Asking what’s wrong with Rory McIlroy is a bit like that old joke about George Best, Miss World and the bed in £50 notes. When a player racks up six Top-10 finishes from nine stroke-play starts, there really shouldn’t be any reason to start pressing any alarm bells.

Olivia Mehaffey surrendered the Helen Holm Trophy with England’s Olivia Winning snatching Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship victory from her grasp at Troon.

Northern Ireland teenage star Olivia Mehaffey made a sensational start to the defence of her Scottish women’s open stroke-play championship over Troon’s Portland course yesterday.

The owners of the five-star Lough Erne Resort last night said they “extremely disappointed” at the European Tour’s decision not to host the 2017 Irish Open at the Fermanagh resort.

The sight of European big guns limping over the finish line early on Sunday at the Masters need not necessarily give Ryder Cup team captain Darren Clarke cause for panic five months out from the 41st match-up at Hazeltine.

One of the biggest stars of Irish golf, Christy O’Connor Jnr, has been remembered as a gentleman and sporting inspiration after he died on holiday in Tenerife.

Olivia Mehaffey continued her amazing run in strokeplay competitions when she came within an ace of winning a fourth major title this season at Moortown in Leeds yesterday.

England’s Danny Willett shot a five-under par 65 to win his third European Tour title in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.

The wheels of progress turn very slowly at Portmarnock but if the sticky issue of women members is ever resolved, Shane Lowry will join Rory McIlroy at the top of the queue for the return of the Irish Open to what many consider to be Ireland’s blue riband links.

Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger added his name to the illustrious list of Alstom Open de France champions thanks to a brilliant closing 65 at Le Golf National on Sunday.

Every golfer in Ireland knows the bounty of courses we have on our island. There are 330 18-hole courses and approximately 80 nine-hole courses. It makes for rich pickings. So how do you pick a top 100?

European Ryder Cuppers Stephen Gallacher and Henrik Stenson both saw their caddies injured during practice as Chambers Bay’s extensive elevation variations and dry grass caused plenty of footing issues inside and outside the ropes.

Rory McIlroy will have to start putting much better over the next three days if he is to add to his haul of major championship victories here at Chambers Bay after a disappointing opening round at the 115th US Open Championship.

Rickie Fowler came close at all four of last year’s major championships but now he is The Players champion, the American feels he is even better equipped to finally make his breakthrough at this week’s US Open.

Jack Nicklaus has backed Rory McIlroy’s decision to miss this week’s Memorial Tournament and predicted the world number one will not do so too often in the future.

He may not have enjoyed his two days’ play at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open but Rory McIlroy had got his missed cut out of his system by Sunday to declare the tournament he hosted an incredible success.

Another year, another Irish Open and the debates continue as to the best venue and time of year to play one of the most popular tournaments on the European Tour.

Bloodied but unbowed, Pádraig Harrington has abandoned hopes of coasting to victory at Royal County Down this weekend and will instead knuckle down to a 36 holes of hard graft as he fights to win the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Rory McIlroy refused to blame his responsibilities as tournament host at Royal County Down as he crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Graeme McDowell will tee up for his third round at Royal County Down this morning eight shots behind the leaders but convinced the Irish Open title is within his grasp.

Old reliables John Kelly and Gary Hurley took up where they left off at Fota Island last year to lead the PGA-GUI challenge in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at windswept Royal County Down.