Stop if you’ve heard this one before: Darren Clarke wins a big tournament and spends the next week at the bar.
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — An emotional opening shot by Darren Clarke. A shocking one by Rory McIlroy.
Tiger Woods had his worst score to start a British Open. Brooks Koepka quickly...
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — The buzz among the locals at Royal Portrush has been all about Northern Irish natives Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell this week, so Shane Lowry...
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — It was about 6:30 a.m. when Darren Clarke, sporting a gray beard to match his swept-back gray hair, walked onto the first tee at Royal Portrush to hit the opening...
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — Darren Clarke was a teenager working at a bar in his hometown of Dungannon when the call came in.
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — Adam Scott already has spent seven days at Royal Portrush, three of them with Darren Clarke, and the advice was invaluable to the end. They stood off the 18th...
Graeme McDowell winning the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was a source of pride for Northern Ireland. Rory McIlroy winning the U.S. Open at Congressional the following year with a record score...
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Scott Parel matched the course record with a 9-under 63 on Friday to take a two-shot lead in the PGA Tour Champions' Principal Charity Classic.
PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Scott Parel took advantage of ideal scoring conditions Thursday morning to shoot a 4-under 66 and take the first-round lead in the weather-delayed Senior PGA...
SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Henrik Stenson has ambitious plans to go skydiving with the claret jug if he manages to retain the British Open title at Royal Birkdale this week.
On current form, that's a long shot — and Stenson acknowledges as much.
Owning the most famous trophy in golf for the past year has been a privilege for Stenson. He has traveled the world with it, drank champagne from it, taken it on a jet ski back home in Orlando.
"It's almost become part of the family," he said Tuesday.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — It's the cut-throat side of European golf that often gets overlooked, a six-day slog in northeast Spain where dreams are made and careers can be shredded.
For 156 players, a week at school couldn't get much tougher.
Next Thursday, 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) away from the opening round of the European Tour's lucrative, season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai, the final stage of the tour's Q School will reach its climax just outside Barcelona.
The hottest stretch of Alex Noren's career has come a few weeks too late.
If only two of his three European Tour wins since early July hadn't arrived after the qualification period for the Ryder Cup ended and Darren Clarke had selected his captain's picks.
"I wasn't on their minds," Noren says.
Too bad for Clarke. With Noren on the team, the Europeans might not have been humbled at Hazeltine.
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — For those U.S. golf fans imagining what it's like to have the Ryder Cup residing in America again, there were always going to be three words of caution:
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Sweep, then almost swept.
That describes the U.S. team's opening day at the Ryder Cup. The Americans won all four of Friday morning's foursomes matches, then nearly got shut out when they dropped three of four in the afternoon fourballs.
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — The Latest on the Ryder Cup (all times local):
8:05 p.m.
The late comeback that pulled Europe within 5-3 after Round 1 bought captain Darren Clarke enough breathing room to get the last two of his six rookies on the course at the start of Round 2.
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Europe is sending out some heavy metal to start the Ryder Cup — Justin Rose and his Olympic gold with Henrik Stenson and his silver claret jug.
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Rory McIlroy didn't think his 10th birthday could get any better.
His father took him to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time. He also received a new wedge with a rust finish, popular back in those days. And he was on the chipping green when he got perhaps the best gift of all.
"All of a sudden, I meet Darren Clarke," McIlroy said Tuesday at the Ryder Cup. "It was a great birthday for me."
And that's what makes this week even more special at Hazeltine.
Darren Clarke knows his way around a spotlight.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain has won just one major, but like so many of his 21 other wins in some far-flung places, Clarke made sure it was memorable.
Five years ago, playing in his 20th British Open at age 42, the burly Northern Irishman held off Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson down the stretch at Royal St. Georges, then topped it with one of the more gracious tributes the old golf ground ever hosted.
MONZA, Italy (AP) — Chris Paisley took a one-stroke lead in the second round of the Italian Open on Friday before thunderstorms ended play early.
Seeking his first European Tour win, Paisley was at 10-under through 13 holes, putting him one shot ahead of Masters champion and fellow Englishman Danny Willett.
Ian Poulter already can feel his heart pumping a little faster and his eyes getting a little wider, two indications that the Ryder Cup is almost here.
There's just one difference this time.
His hands will be on the wheel of a golf cart at Hazeltine instead of on a putter.
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Danny Willett of England, the Masters champion on both sides of the Atlantic, shot a 5-under 65 to be one stroke off the lead after the European Masters first round on Thursday.
Willett began the defense of his title in the scenic Swiss Alps among nine players trailing joint leaders Paul Peterson of the United States, Frenchmen Gregory Havret and Mike Lorenzo-Vera, and Daniel Brooks of England.
Darren Clarke set up a WhatsApp messaging group with his Ryder Cup assistants to discuss which European players looked the best leading up to the deadline for his three captain's picks.
The name of Thomas Pieters popped up more than any other.
Hitting the best form of his career at just the right time, Pieters made it tough for Clarke to ignore him. He was selected Tuesday as one of Europe's three wild cards for next month's showdown with the United States at Hazeltine.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Darren Clarke got an extra week to start mulling over his three captain's picks for Europe in the Ryder Cup because the top nine already are set. Matthew Fitzpatrick finished fifth in the Czech Masters and locked up no worse than the final spot.
Davis Love III has a little more time, and he likely will need it.
Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III keeps a separate points list for Americans to consider performances that might not show up in the standings, whether that's Rickie Fowler giving up potential starts to play in the Olympics or Kevin Kisner and Justin Thomas winning fall events that don't count.
The bigger question is whether Darren Clarke is thinking along the same lines.
That could determine whether Russell Knox is at Hazeltine next month. By winning the Travelers...