Death of PGA Pro Connor Mallon

There has been widespread sadness in Inishowen this morning following the death of former Ballyliffin Golf Club professional, Connor Mallon.

The father of four from Fahan was found dead in his hotel room at the Nesbitt Arms, Ardara on Thursday.

The traditional St Patrick’s Day “drive in” at the famous Inishowen golf club has been cancelled tomorrow as a mark of respect for their former member.

Since the news emerged yesterday evening tributes have been pouring in from all over Inishowen and the wider golf community. 

#ConnorMallonRIP

Harrington Fires Innisbrook Record 61

On Thursday, Harrington set a course record with a 10-under 61 at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, where he made 10 birdies, including three in a row to finish his round and take the lead. It was also the lowest score Harrington has ever shot as a professional.

Apparently Harrington’s hole-in-one during the pro-am earlier this week was a sign of things to come.

“It’s been a strange last year, but I’m very comfortable where my game is at,” said Harrington, who is looking for his first win on the PGA TOUR since he won the British Open and PGA Championship in 2008.

After those victories is when Harrington underwent massive swing changes. He struggled and got fed up with his play, eventually firing his coach before turning to Pete Cowen last year and more recently adding Dave Alred to help with the mental side of his game.

As frustrated as Harrington got it times the last few years, though, his patience seems to be paying off.

“I’ve been for a long time now, I play better on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday than I do on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” Harrington said. “I’m trying to stay patient. I know my game is good. One of the hardest things is to wait with confidence.”

Harrington has plenty of reason to feel confident these days.

Earlier this year he tied for seventh at Pebble Beach. In Thursday’s opening round outside Tampa, Harrington hit 14 greens and had 14 one-putts, including one from 75 feet for birdie on the par-3 17th hole.

At 7 under through his first 11 holes, Harrington even started thinking about shooting 59. But he missed a 6-footer for birdie on the par-5 12th.

“I’d love to tell you I was so good that bad thoughts didn’t get into my head, but unfortunately they do,” Harrington said. “It cost me there. It certainly went out of my head after that.”

It didn’t slow him down any.

Harrington birdied the final three holes to close in 30.

“I felt I’ve played better than I’ve performed for the last 18 months,” Harrington said. “I have a good understanding of my game at the moment. So I’ve been quite comfortable going into nearly every tournament this year.”

Transitions Championship Leaderboard 

Irish Open on McIlroy Radar

Northern Ireland’s first World Number One, Rory McIlroy, now aims to fulfil another boyhood dream by winning the Irish Open, which will be held in front of his home fans at Royal Portrush from June 28 to July 1.

The 22 year old reigning US Open Champion from Holywood can now expect a hero’s reception when he tees off at Royal Portrush in June, with his sights firmly trained on succeeding England’s Simon Dyson as champion. 

McIlroy, who is enjoying the view from the top of the world, said: “It would be incredible to win. I haven’t played competitively at Royal Portrush since 2005, so to go back there and have the chance to win my National Open is something that is very, very important to me. Hopefully I can give it a real good go this year.

“For the Irish Open to come to Portrush is a huge thing for any golfer from Northern Ireland. So for myself and the likes of Graeme [McDowell], Darren [Clarke] and Michael Hoey to play the Irish Open in Northern Ireland is a dream come true for us.”

The chance to see the reigning US Open Champion and his three fellow Irish Major Champions – Clarke, Padraig Harrington and McDowell – has generated huge interest in his homeland, and McIlroy is expecting a bumper turnout in June. 

He said: “It’s incredible to see the response of the fans so early on, and it just goes to show how popular golf in Northern Ireland has become. Previous Irish Opens have tended to be a bit earlier in the season so the weather might not have been so good, but hopefully this year at Portrush we can get some good weather and everyone can make the most of it. I’m expecting huge crowds and a great atmosphere there, and hopefully we can have a memorable week.

“This is going to be one of the biggest events Northern Ireland has ever held, especially as three recent Major Champions will be coming home to play in front of their home fans. Everyone I’ve spoken to is so excited about the Irish Open coming to Portrush, and hopefully it’ll be a great boost for the club as well. Maybe one day they’ll be able to host an Open Championship there.”

For now, McIlroy believes Royal Portrush is the perfect venue to host the Irish Open, and he is fully expecting the 6,843 yards, par 72 course – where he once shot 61 as an amateur - to provide a fearsome but fair test when the 57th edition of the historic event unfolds.

He said: “I think the word most people use to describe Portrush is probably ‘fair’. It’s such a tough course, but it’s also very fair. It’s very well designed, and there’s some beautiful scenery, especially by the fifth green and sixth tee. Anyone who plays the course falls in love with it, and it’ll be great to get back there in June.

“You need to drive the ball well there. You definitely can’t hit it offline, because there’s some long rough, brambles and fern bushes. So you’ve really got to keep your ball in play. There are a few holes, especially the ninth and tenth, which you really need to try to take advantage of. So if you can do that and keep your ball in play, then you’ve got a good chance. I can’t wait to tee it up.”

McIlroy Can't Win Them All

Rory McIlroy teed off on the final  day at the WGC Cadillac Championship at the TPC Doral almost certainly thinking he faced too much of a deficit, with eight shots to make up.

Yet after an outward 33 he got up and down from sand for birdie at the tenth, and holed out from the sand for an eagle at the 12th.

Suddenly, he was only one behind, but a bogey on the 14th hole for the second day running left him a mountain to climb again and, with his chances fading, he dropped another shot on the last after finding a tough lie at the back of the green.

“It’s been another good week,” said the 22 year old. “This is my fifth event of the season, and my fifth top five.

“It feels like every time I tee it up, I have a chance to win. Now I’m looking forward to three weeks off to prepare for The Masters.

“I’m feeling more and more comfortable going in these type of situations. Last week [at the Honda Classic] I felt pretty comfortable with the lead, the back nine today I felt pretty good, as well. It’s a shame I couldn’t finish it off, but you can’t win them all.” 

But it was Justin Rose who overcame all the challengers to claim the biggest victory of his career at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on a dramatic day’s golf.

A closing round of 70 for a 16 under par aggregate total gave Rose his fifth European Tour title at the second of this season’s World Golf Championships.

The 31 year old beat American left-hander Bubba Watson (74) by a single stroke and World Number One Rory McIlroy (67) by two, in the process leaping back into the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking, to seventh place.

A bogey at the last gave Rose a nervous wait when Watson, playing in the final group behind him, hit his second shot from the rough to nine feet. But his birdie putt slid past the hole, and Rose was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

The triumph is also a huge boost for Rose’s hopes of reclaiming a Ryder Cup berth, having missed out on the 2010 contest at The Celtic Manor Resort.

Rose said: “There’s been a lot of hard work going on in my game, and it’s paid off – but Bubba’s two shots to 18 had me sweating there.

“These moments are incredibly sweet – they are few and far between as a golfer. My son always asks if I’ve won the trophy before, and 90 per cent of the time you have to say ‘No’.

“For this little beauty of a trophy to show up on my mantelpiece so early in the season is definitely a fantastic feeling, and it sets up a very exciting year for me now.”

South African Charl Schwartzel and Swede Peter Hanson tied for fourth place after carding respective rounds of 68 and 71.

“It was a good week’s work, and it was fun to play with Justin,” said Hanson. “I played very well. I felt on the back nine, I thought if I could stay close to him I was going to get close to winning, but I three-putted the 13th from maybe 30 feet, and that kind of killed my round a little bit.”

Schwartzel, who defends his Masters Tournament title at Augusta next month, was pleased to have given himself a chance of victory after starting the final day eight shots back.

“A 68 in these conditions, I think that’s very decent,” he said. “At least I gave it a run. I just thought standing on the 13th tee that if I can get it to maybe 15 or 16 under, I might have an outside chance. So that was the thought process, and I got close, but in the end I came up just short.”

Watson led by three overnight and had a two-putt birdie on the first, but he threw the tournament wide open with a hat-trick of bogeys from the third hole.

He was in the water there and again from the fifth tee, and Rose’s birdies at the first and fourth holes gave him the lead for the first time.

He then bogeyed the sixth, however, and Keegan Bradley became favourite when he established a two-stroke advantage after seven holes.

However, the US PGA Champion took bogey sixes at the eighth and tenth holes, where he four-putted, and Rose became the man to catch again after further birdies at the tenth and 14th holes.

Watson caught him by suddenly finding form with birdies at the 11th and 12th, but he was bunkered on the next before carding four successive pars to set up a dramatic finale.

World Number Two Luke Donald of England finished in a tie for sixth place on 12 under par after signing off with a round of 69.

He said: “It’s been a bit of a slow start to the year for me, so it’s nice to get back in the mix and I obviously did a lot of good things this week. I don’t think this particular course suits my game, so to come here and have a chance of winning is a very positive step.”

McIlroy Finds Flat Earth at Doral

Rory McIlroy struggled in his first appearance as world number one on Thursday and was sitting seven shots off the pace after a disappointing start to the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

The Northern Irishman mixed four bogeys with three birdies en route to a one-over-par 73 in gusty winds on the Blue Monster course, where it was evident the come down from the adrenalin rush of grabbing the top ranking had started to take a toll.

"It was a bit of a struggle. It was a pretty tricky day but obviously there were good scores out there. I just didn't really get anything going," McIlroy, who earned the number one ranking with his win at the Honda Classic last week, told reporters.

"I thought if I could shoot under par on the back nine, which was the front nine for me, post something around 70, 69, it would have been a good score. But made a couple bogeys early on that nine and couldn't really get it back."

McIlroy, 22, celebrated his arrival at the peak of the sport's rankings by flying to New York where he made a guest appearance during his girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki's exhibition game with Maria Sharapova and he conceded it had been tricky to get back into a groove.

"A little bit. To be honest I felt a little flat out there. I don't know, I shouldn't, it's a World GolfChampionship, but just felt a little flat out there. But, look, I'll go out there tomorrow and try my best, try and get it into red figures and see what I can do," he said.

"It was just hard to get anything going. I mean, physically, I'm fine. But mentally, just I don't know, it's tough. When you're working, you've got, Arizona and you've got a chance to go to world number one and then Honda, you've got a chance to then all of a sudden you're there, and you're like, well, what do you do?"

McIlroy was grouped with the world number two Luke Donald (70) and third-ranked Lee Westwood (76) and the latter really laboured in the wind.

Westwood, who started on the back nine, was unable to recover after recording three of his six bogeys on the opening three holes, while Donald was in contention after mixing five birdies with a bogey and double-bogey.

Australian Adam Scott and American Jason Dufner were joint leaders after shooting six-under-par 66s.