Thousands of golf fans hail heroes Clarke and McIlroy

Vantage points were at top premium in Co Kerry as thousands of golf fans lined the fairways to cheer the homegrown heroes who have turned the island into one of the game’s more unlikely superpowers.

Children climbed trees while grandparents set up camp in folding chairs round the greens as the Irish Open in Killarney welcomed freshly-crowned Open champion Darren Clarke and US Open winner Rory McIlroy.