For a while there, Ernie Els could not have been more removed from the persona that led him to be known as the ‘Big Easy’.

It is one of the biggest clichés in professional golf that Major championships only truly start on a Sunday at the 10th tee and Ernie Els ensured it would survive another few years after this remarkable British Open triumph.

Bloodied but unbowed from his British Open experience, Rory McIlroy will bid to restore some confidence in his swing ahead of the final Major of the year.

So it was only an 18-hole British Open this year.

Graeme McDowell last night warned that some of The Open’s waterlogged bunkers were not fair and should be taken out of play.

Tiger Woods holed out from a greenside bunker at the 18th hole last night to change the entire complexion of this Open Championship heading into the weekend’s decisive rounds at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

One Irishman was looking for miracles, the other simply for answers but either way, both Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy will need a low score today if they are to get back into contention at this Open Championship.

He may be the world No 29 and three-time PGA Tour winner but the last time the public outside of the golfing bubble got a good look at Brandt Snedeker they will have seen an American kid getting all choked up about losing the Masters.

Pádraig Harrington was kicking himself for being too tentative after beginning his Open challenge with a level-par 70 at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The gauntlet has been thrown down to the 156 golfers whose ambition today is to become British Open champion at Royal Lytham & St Annes on Sunday evening — play it straight or you are in trouble.

Were golf a team sport and he had a friendship with Harry Sinden, Lee Westwood, perhaps, would be in better position for a Major title.

Royal Portrush’s hopes of staging an Open Championship in the near future have received a massive setback in the wake of comments by R&A chief executive Peter Dawson yesterday.

So keen is Rory McIlroy to move his already glittering career onto the next level, he would regard victory in this week’s Open Championship as “my biggest achievement in golf”.

After two top-10 finishes in the year’s Majors, Pádraig Harrington may well be back as a big-time contender, but the Irishman is not so sure he ever stopped being one.

Defending champion Darren Clarke handed back the Claret Jug after a year as Open Champion and warned those wishing to succeed him as Open champion that they had better play it straight at Royal Lytham & St Annes this week.

Darren Clarke may no longer be in possession of the Claret Jug but his place in the champions’ locker room at Royal Lytham & St Annes this week will be a fitting place to plot his British Open title defence.

Pádraig Harrington’s bid for a third British Open Championship victory will get off to a late start on Thursday following yesterday’s draw at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Zach Johnson won a play-off for the John Deere Classic on the US PGA Tour on Sunday when he drilled a six-iron from a fairway bunker to within 12 inches of the cup.

Darren Clarke admits he fell into the classic British Open championship winner’s trap after he fulfilled a lifetime dream and lifted the Claret Jug at Royal St George’s last year.

Pádraig Harrington will go into the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on Thursday mindful of the hazards of too much success as he continues his preparations for next week’s British Open.

Qualifying for a major championship would be considered a good week’s work in any golfer’s estimation but, instead of basking in his success, Elliot Saltman went out and won a tournament.

Pádraig Harrington is confident he will be fit, fresh and ready to go for the British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in a fortnight after making the most of a much-needed week off following the Irish Open.

At five under par after 36 holes, Rory McIlroy is certainly not out of this Irish Open but whether he wins this weekend or not, the world No 2 is building very nicely for next month’s British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Forza Gagli

IT WAS four years ago that Darren Clarke read in an English broadsheet newspaper that he was continuing an “inexorable descent towards irrelevance”.

Royal St George's in Sandwich and Royal Lytham & St Annes have been named as the venues for the 2011 and 2012 Open Championships.

Daniel Willett caused a stir in the opening matchplay round of the British Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes today as he claimed the notable scalp of rising Irish star Rory McIlroy.

Muskerry's Niall Turner closed with an eagle three to lead the Irish

England’s Laura Davies has had three second places on the Ladies’ European Tour this year and is hoping to make it fourth time lucky in the Scandinavian TPC at Bro-Balsta Golf Club in Stockholm.

American Sherri Steinhauer enjoyed a few extra spin-offs from her impressive win in the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

American Sherri Steinhauer rolled back the clock today when she shot a six under par 66 and took a two-shot lead after the third round of the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

American Juli Inkster bolted home a 30-foot birdie putt on the first green to keep daylight between herself and the rest of the field in today’s third round of the Weetabix Women’s British Open today at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Laura Davies outwitted 16-year-old playing partner Michelle Wie and was the leading British player on level par after the first round of the Weetabix Women’s British Open.

Former world number one David Duval shot a six-under-par 64 to lead the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan.

Colin Montgomerie's agent Guy Kinnings has played down fears that the seven-times European Order of Merit winner could miss this month's Open Championship.

Scandinavia held sway over the rest of the field on a day of glorious shot making and a glut of birdies and eagles in the third round of the Murphy’s Irish Open at Fota Island in Cork which ended with no fewer than 27 players within four strokes of the lead.

David Duval has won the 130th British Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes by three shots.

Sergio Garcia must have been wondering what on earth was going to happen to him - and those around him - next as he began his bid for Open glory today.