Fellow PGA Champion Keegan Bradley says Pádraig Harrington’s double Honda Classic success is inspirational to everyone competing on the PGA Tour.

Graeme McDowell has followed Ernie Els to become the second US Open winner in confirm his appearance in what is shaping up as one of the most high profile Irish Opens.

A fugitive treasure hunter embroiled in a legal fight over what has been described as the greatest lost treasure in US history has been arrested in Florida after more than two years on the run.

West Waterford’s Seamus Power shot a blemishless final round of three under par 68 over the fearsome Champions Course at PGA National, West Palm Beach, Florida, yesterday to take a massive step towards achieving his ambition of claiming a place on the lucrative US PGA Tour.

Irish professional golf might be enduring a mini-crisis, with four European Tour regulars losing their cards at the Q-School, but there’s some good news on the horizon with West Waterford’s Seamus Power blazing a trail to the PGA Tour.

World number one Rory McIlroy faces a break from the sport as a Dublin courtroom is poised to take centre stage rather than a golf course early next year.

A US student is gaining an internet reputation as a "squirrel whisperer" for befriending, feeding and dressing up a furry little friend she has named Sneezy.

If Pádraig Harrington needed any inspiration to end a more than five-year winless drought he could again find it at the ‘Snake Pit’ in this week’s Valspar Championship at Tampa Bay.

A Florida artist is facing a criminal charge after police say he smashed a $1m vase at Miami’s new art museum, in what appears to be a form of protest.

Former tennis star Jennifer Capriati is due in court in south Florida in a stalking and battery case involving her ex-boyfriend.

Rory McIlroy is bracing himself for heavy losses to Nike stablemates Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan over the next fortnight.

Excuses abounded to try and explain away the failure of the Irish golfers in the Accenture World Match Play Championship but none were convincing.

Rory McIlroy returns to competition as the star of this week’s BMW Masters at the Lake Malaren Club in suburban Shanghai alongside 10 of his victorious European Ryder Cup colleagues.

As Rory McIlroy became golf’snumber one-ranked player,three-time major champion Pádraig Harrington slipped out of West Palm Beach almost unnoticed on his way back home to Ireland.

Greg Norman believes Caroline Wozniacki holds the key to Rory McIlroy’s seemingly inevitable march towards becoming world number one.

RORY MCILROY was a star long before he set foot on Augusta National this year but when you need security guards to patrol your back garden at night for fear of stalkers, you know you’ve reached the celebrity stratosphere.

IT’S ALL but certain that Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will be living in the same state next year but they went in opposite directions on the opening day of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at a hot and sticky Firestone Country Club.

“THE RETURN” was the talk of Akron last night as scribes dashed to their laptops to bear the good tidings to the world.

GRAEME McDOWELL is riding such a tidal wave of confidence now that not even the prospect of a four-day battle with the Blue Monster seems like a frightening prospect.

LEE WESTWOOD believes Rory McIlroy is making a mistake by writing off Tiger Woods.

The nephew of the Dalai Lama has been killed during a 300-mile "Walk for Tibet" along a Florida highway, police said today.

Burt Reynolds has had heart surgery.

Hollywood star Burt Reynolds has been released from a drug rehabilitation centre where he was being treated for an addiction to painkillers.

Newlyweds John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) move from Michigan to the subtropical climate of West Palm Beach to pursue parallel careers as journalists.

Americans think too much money is being spent on the presidential campaign and most back limits on how much candidates are allowed to spend, a survey showed today.

A Florida teenager was sentenced to 18 months in custody today for coaxing his senile grandmother into holding a gun and threatening to shoot “all the pigs” in a home-made “gangsta rap” video.

Recordings of emergency calls as a gunman rampaged through a fast-food restaurant captured the screams, moans and chaos after he murdered a paramedic and fired at terror-stricken customers.

HE MAY have been an hour late arriving but when Andy Lee walked in the door of his old club, St Francis ABC, on the corner of Mungret Street and Old St Francis Street, in Limerick, the reception was amazing and left one wondering just what it will be like when he enters the ring at the UL Arena on Saturday night.

He’s one of the world’s richest and most bombastic business men — and Donald Trump always gets his way. Which is why no-one’s betting against him hosting a future US Open on his own New Jersey creation. SIMON LEWIS reports from New York.

CRH has invested €225 million in two separate international deals.

Anna Nicole Smith’s estranged mother today asked a Florida appeals court to overturn a judge’s decision over who controls where the starlet should be buried.

Lorena Ochoa, the top player on the LPGA Tour this year, stayed on course to end a great season with a record $1m first prize when she shot an impressive third-round 67 at today’s ADT Championship at Trump International in West Palm Beach in Florida.

World number one Annika Sorenstam suffered a shock exit at the halfway stage of the ADT Championship at Trump International in West Palm Beach in Florida today.

Illusionist David Copperfield magically escaped getting robbed in Florida.

PAUL McGINLEY strolled from the Augusta National locker room to the practice range as if he was beginning his preparation for just another run-of-the-mill tournament instead of his second tilt at the Masters.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON will not be tempted to play a practice round at Augusta National despite missing the halfway cut for a first time in the Players Championship in Florida.

LUKE DONALD sees no reason to lower his sights for the start of the Players Championship - golf's unofficial fifth major - in Florida today.

Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore early today as a strong Category 3 storm, battering south-west Florida with 125 mph winds and pounding waves as it began a dash across the state.

The governor of Florida today declared a state of emergency ahead of approaching Hurricane Wilma, but the state got a little breathing room when the storm’s slower pace postponed its likely landfall.

SWEDEN’S Annika Sorenstam clinched her 10th worldwide win of another superb year with a sudden-death play-off win over Cristie Kerr in the ADT Tour Championship at Trump International in Florida.

EARLY voting for the US presidential election began in Florida yesterday as activists urged people to opt for early ballots to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election fiasco, but computer problems and queues soon emerged.

Florida was the target for George W Bush and his Democratic rival John Kerry today as they spent the day asking for the support of voters in the state that decided the presidential election four years ago.

US President George Bush today questioned Senator John Kerry’s “ability to lead our nation” raising the Democratic challenger’s year-old opposition to emergency funding for the Iraq war.

US VICE-PRESIDENT Dick Cheney and vice-presidential candidate John Edwards slugged it out over jobs, judgment and Iraq in a hard-hitting debate that set the stage for US President George W Bush’s speech yesterday denouncing his Democratic rival’s record on national security.