I have to admit the announcement of Christy O’Connor Jnr’s death in Tenerife yesterday hit me hard. 

One of the great dynasties of Irish professional golf celebrates a major milestone this year when David Kinsella retires after 50 years of service at Castle Golf Club.

A Polish man who sexually assaulted a woman in a street attack a few months after he arrived in Ireland has received a four-year sentence, with the final two years suspended.

A Delicate Wildness: The Life and Loves of David Thomson 1914-1988

Hoylake is a course with a fond record for Irish golf but only those who stay out of the deep rough at a lush, green Royal Liverpool will have any chance of winning The Open next week.

The 97,000 fans who thronged the magnificent Fota Island Resort over the last four days had it all. The weather, the big names, the course looking better than an airbrushed postcard.

EUROPEAN Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley last night came out strongly in favour of the current status of the Irish Open Championship even though it is still without a title sponsor and its prize fund at Fota Island this week is €2 million, well below what the European Tour and quite a number of leading players would like it to be.

Wexford’s Woodbrook green ‘graveyard’ is a tree-bound meadow of wildflowers and wooden benches and each plot has a wooden marker. Its sustainable ethos is unique in Ireland, says John Hearne.

The K Club’s Ryder Cup course has been voted the country’s top parkland course for 2014 by readers of Golfing Weekly. Its sister course at the Straffan estate, the Smurfit Course, came in at No 15.

This country has produced many of the game’s finest but for reasons not always easy to fathom, their record at the Irish Open is a long way short of what might have been expected.

IRELAND made a winning start to the defence of their R&A Trophy in the Boys Home Internationals over the Royal and St David’s links at Harlech yesterday — but they were made to fight hard for victory over hosts Wales.

DEFENDING champion Alan Dunbar hopes his batteries will be recharged when he tees it up at Royal Dublin this morning and takes on six of his fellow Walker Cup squad members in the Irish Amateur Open.

ACCORDING to legendary golfer Christy O’Connor Junior, the Irish Open “is more like a festival than a golf tournament”.

JUST when it appeared the Irish Seniors Open would fall by the wayside after the withdrawal of AIB’s long-standing sponsorship, support for the event at Carton House next weekend came from an unusual quarter.

NATIONAL Irish Bank is entitled to summary judgment for €37 million against Durkan New Homes, a couple and another firm over failure to repay loans given for a housing development at Cabinteely, Co Dublin, the High Court has ruled.

ALTHOUGH he probably knows the great Kerry links better than every other player in the field, Denis O’Sullivan makes his first competitive appearance at Ballybunion since 1991 when he takes part in the AIB Irish Seniors Open which begins this morning.

BALLYBUNION, one of the world’s finest links courses, will be the ideal home to the 13th AIB Irish Seniors Open which begins on Friday.

Forrest Little's Eoin Arthurs took advantage of perfect early morning conditions to scorch to a six-under par 66 and a two stroke lead in the East of Ireland Amateur Championship at County Louth.

GAA legend Teddy McCarthy escaped a jail sentence yesterday.

ROAD safety chiefs yesterday welcomed the jail sentence handed down to a GAA legend for failing to provide a blood or urine sample after his arrest on suspicion of drink driving.

Walker Cup hopeful Jonathan Caldwell staked a strong claim for selection in yesterday's Irish Amatuer Close Championship at Cork, where he shot a five under par 67 to lead the field after day one.

Walker Cup hopefuls Simon Ward and Jonathan Caldwell will lead the chase for the East of Ireland Amateur Open at Co Louth on Saturday.

Carlow's Tara Delaney led the qualifiers in the Lancôme Irish Ladies’

Galway's Sinead O’Sullivan hit a brilliant level-par 74 today to lead the Lancôme Irish Ladies’ Close Championship after the first qualifying round at windswept Lahinch.

Fears heightened today for the safety of an American tourist who went missing in Co Derry.

Alison Murdoch has once again travelled from Canada to defend her Irish title at the ILGU Seniors Open Strokeplay Championship, Woodbrook Golf Club, September 11-12.

Despite the heavy rain, three players, Quentin Carew (Edenderry), Iarlaith Keane (Malahide) and Steffan O’Hara (Co. Sligo) share the lead on one over par 72 following the first round of the inaugural Irish Boys Under 15 Open 36 holes at Balbriggan Golf Club.

A man in his sixties is dead following a road traffic accident in Co Leitrim.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy cruised into the last 16 of the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close at The European Club.

Big-hitting Andrew Pitcher led the qualifiers in the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close Championship at the European Club.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy has set his sights on Tiger Woods' course record in the Irish Close at the European Club.

Defending champion and Irish international Maria Dunne (Skerries) has safely made it through to the semi-finals of the Clarins Leinster Ladies Golf Championships at Grange Golf Club.

Tricia Mangan (Ennis), fresh from her seventh-place finish at the Welsh Open Strokeplay, defends her Lancome Irish Ladies’ Close Championship at The European Club, Co Wicklow, May 13 to 17.

Police investigating the murder of a jazz and blues musician were today examining attempts to use his chequebook to pay for goods.

I WISH to compliment Mary Leland on her excellent article (Irish Examiner Property, October 8) on the proposed development of 1,500 houses in the grounds of Dunkettle House and the adjoining lands of Ballinglanna, Glanmire, near Cork city.

A man was questioned today by police investigating the murder of a musician whose body was found in a Northern Ireland river.

Irish Amateur Close Championship at Westport Golf Club

A WHOLE life was spent inside these walls and now there’s the opportunity for a whole new generation to take over at 18, Cedar Avenue, in Woodbrook, Bishopstown.

A 25-YEAR-OLD Chinese national arrested on Sunday in connection with the death of Chinese student Xiang Yi Wang was last night brought before a special sitting of the District Court in Bray and charged with her murder.

WITH the introduction of the penalty points system on the over-taxed motorist and the compulsory DOE testing of vehicles over four years old, would it be possible to have the same penalty points system imposed on those who govern us for their neglect of public roads ?

FIVE years after he bogeyed the 18th at Woodbrook to forfeit the lead and eventually lose in a playoff to Clare's Joe McDermott, 58-year-old Australian Noel Ratcliffe at last captured the AIB Irish Seniors Open at blustery Adare Hotel and Golf Resort yesterday.

IN spite of his disappointing weekend in the final Benson & Hedges International at The Belfry, Padraig Harrington is back up from 10th to 9th in the world rankings and up to third in the European Tour order of merit.

PORTMARNOCK Golf Club, Nissan Ireland, Bord Fáilte and the European Tour came together in Dublin yesterday to triumphantly announce that the future of the Irish Open is secure for at least the next two years.