Top seed and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy has been handed a tough draw for the new-look WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship in San Francisco after being grouped with Billy Horschel, Brandt Snedeker and Jason Dufner. 

Currently Ireland’s highest-ranked amateur golfer, Gary Hurley will be flying the flag for Irish golf once again this summer as a member of the 2015 European Palmer Cup team.

A couple who were shattered by a freak tragedy have become the public face of a campaign to keep late-night revellers safe on Irish roads, Michael Noonan says Siteserv inquiry will not look at AIB and Paddy Power causes controversy with new ad campaign. These are some of the latest and most read news on irishexaminer.com this lunchtime.

In a marquee at Sandown Park at the conclusion of one of the most beautiful, emotional tear-stained goodbyes any great sportsman can ever wished to have been accorded came the dreaded, nagging question. What the hell will A.P McCoy do now?

“I now declare these 2015 Blame Games open.”

DO YOU ever feel the world is whizzing past, that it would be wonderful if things could just stand still for a moment, that you would love a ‘time out’ to just find your feet again for a moment.

Only two players who played in the All-Ireland final five years ago will start for Cork in tomorrow’s Allianz League final against Dublin. 

Sensational breaking news on the home front: my seven-year-old daughter has suddenly discovered the beautiful game.

Having finished third of the three teams in last year’s inaugural FEI Eventing Nations Cup at Ballindenisk, the Irish will be bidding for improvement this weekend, writes John Tynan.

Hopefully now with the new sponsor, it’ll increase the chances of getting to that level and give me time to develop because I’m still young.

Joe Schmidt and the IRFU will do what they can to “influence” Paul O’Connell’s next career move, as speculation linking the Ireland captain to a switch to France’s Top 14 refuses to die down despite confirmation that Toulon are not chasing the lock.

Connacht hooker Tom McCartney has come up against some of the world’s top front rows in his seven years playing Super rugby Down Under, but it is Ireland’s Rory Best who he is now trying to emulate.

As we contemplate the prospect and the implications of a second all-French European final in three years, fans of the Irish provinces might be wondering what their sides must do to get back to the continent’s top table.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insists there is no-one better to lead the club despite a disappointing end to the season prompting questions about his future.

ENGLAND: A number of bingo hall toilets in the UK have tested positive for cocaine, according to a newspaper investigation, amid concerns that increasing numbers of older people are turning to the drug.

TONIGHT sees the third episode of Nadia: Chasing The Dream’, a new four-part series that follows model-turned-singer-turned-TV star Nadia Forde as she tries to make it in the music industry.

Paula Creamer is calling for a women’s Masters at Augusta National.

Ireland U17 manager Tom Mohan, who has led the squad to next month’s European finals in Bulgaria, has defended the FAI’s pursuit of English-born players eligible for the Republic.

In one brief but ground-breaking announcement from the Australian Rugby Union, George Smith, Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell were offered the hope of reviving their Wallabies careers in time for this year’s World Cup.

Ulster must end a nine-year wait for silverware if they are to be truly taken seriously as a force in Europe, according to Tommy Bowe.