Few things captivate better then a Sunday golf shootout. Throw in two Irish heavyweights going at each other down the back nine and you have the whole country enthralled. Rory McIlroy, fresh his PGA Tour Championship victory, had an eagle put on the last hole at Wentworth to force a playoff with Shane Lowry. His effort fell inches short and the Offaly man could celebrate a stunning, one shot victory following his final round 65 at the BMW PGA Championship. “It gives me a great privilege to win this tournament because it is one of the biggest in the world and it is the reason I play golf. You look at the great names on this trophy, and this is what golf is about,” said an emotional Lowry, after his first win since his 2019 British Open success.
Around half an hour or so after Lowry’s triumph, the Ireland men’s team took to the field in Cape Town against Australia, third place in the Sevens World Cup on the line. Terry Kennedy was instrumental, scoring one try and setting up another as a country that didn’t have a Sevens programme only seven years ago secured a 19-14 win and a bronze medal at the global showpiece to boot. Ireland captain Billy Dardis admitted: “It’s pretty surreal. We have had some memorable days in the Sevens, and this is another to add to it. To come third in a World Cup is pretty special.” The women’s side, led by Lucy Mulhall, finished seventh.
“In the wild saloon bar of sports punditry, absolute impartiality — or its appearance — assumed the properties of non-alcoholic beer: there was no hangover but there was no buzz either.” In his first column in these pages, Denis Walsh tackles the issue of the death of impartial television punditry. From Roy Keane to Ger Loughnane, he looks at how broadcasts now favour the made for social media emotive tirades that come from no longer having neutral observers in the room. In Monday’s other column, Ken Early looks at Liverpool’s poor start to the season and how their counter-pressing game has dropped off significantly. “Fast-forward to this season, which has seen Liverpool outrun and outsprinted by their opponent in nearly every game. How badly do we want it? Not as badly as the others do, it seems.”
“I wanted it since I was six. For me the biggest honour is to represent your country. I remember going to see [Conor] Niland playing against Lithuania in Fitzwilliam. I thought that was the best thing ever. I still have posters up in my room. That would be a dream for me.” Conor Gannon is on the cusp of making his dream come true. Ahead of Ireland’s Davis Cup clash against Barbados next weekend, John O’Sullivan caught up with 20-year-old Memphis University student. In other US-related tennis news, 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz claimed his maiden grand slam title by seeing off Casper Ruud in the US Open final at Flushing Meadows.
