SHANE LOWRY begins his first major championship in the United States today finally beginning to feel at home amongst the best players in the world.

PÁDRAIG Harrington’s hopes of winning a Ryder Cup wild card got a significant boost from European captain Colin Montgomerie last night as rival skipper Corey Pavin said his United States team were underdogs for the October showdown at Celtic Manor.

GRAEME McDOWELL is finally getting his feet back on the ground seven weeks after his US Open heroics and right on schedule for a proper assault on a second major title at this week’s USPGA Championship.

A NEW week, a new start.

MASTERS champion Phil Mickelson last night revealed he has started treatment for a condition known as psoriatic arthritis.

AS the spiritual home of the US Open, the storied Pebble Beach Golf Links seemed perhaps an incongruous place to announce the destination of a new venue on the circuit for the 2017 tournament.

DERMOT EARLEY will be given until right before throw-in to prove his fitness for Kildare’s All-Ireland semi-final with Down on Sunday.

CROKE PARK stadium director Peter McKenna has played down the impact which the fencing in front of Hill 16 will have on patrons watching games from the famous terrace.

TO the victor the spoils, and the label of showing ‘bottle’, but Cork’s stuttering march to next month’s final owes most to Dublin’s utter lack of composure – and it would be a foolish Rebel who would view this triumph in any other light.

A COMPREHENSIVE win for champions Newtownshandrum in this fourth-round Cork county senior hurling clash in front of a good crowd in Fermoy on Saturday evening.

SATURDAY evening in Tullamore provided further irrefutable evidence of how these counties operate at underage hurling level.

FAMILIAR tales of joy for Tyrone and heartbreak for Mayo in yesterday afternoon’s minor curtain- raiser in Croke Park.

EAMON RYAN will take time out to consider his future in charge of Cork’s ladies senior football team following Saturday’s TG4 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat against Tyrone.

IT was dramatic but hardly surprising.

THE discussion about fencing Croke Park rumbles on and on, flooding the airwaves and the papers, rolling out, spilling across, very much like a... well, like a pitch invasion.

HIS congestion may have cleared but the hangover from the Taoiseach’s ill-advised radio interview the morning after the Fianna Fáil shindig in Galway continues with a devastating lampoon on a top-rated US TV chat show in which he was branded a “drunken moron”.

DOUGLAS will compete in the semi-finals of the Evening Echo Cork SHC for the first time in their history after they pipped Cork IT by a point after extra-time in a thrilling quarter-final at Páirc Uí Rinn last night.

KIERAN McGEENEY has rarely been shy about offering his opinions on referees but the Kildare manager actually spoke up for the game’s officials yesterday by claiming that some of football’s rules are impossible to implement.

THEY don’t own the copyright on sporting drama in Meath but they might want to consider a visit to the patents office after a county football final that brought down the curtain on a memorable season.

WHITE’S CROSS withstood a strong late Gabriel Rangers’ rally before advancing to the Evening Echo Cork JAFC semi-final in Bandon yesterday.