2025 Masters Preview – Can McIlroy Complete the Grand Slam at Augusta?

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Historic Win Secures Masters Invitation

24 year old Joe Highsmith, made the cut on the number at the Cognizant Classic, then shot back to back 64s to take home the trophy, a 2 year PGA Tour exemption, an invite to The Masters and more than doubled his career earnings in the process. Awesome! pic.twitter.com/dt7tE47n0y

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) March 3, 2025

Joe Highsmith delivered a stunning final round at the Cognizant Classic, carding a 7-under 64 to overturn a four-shot deficit and claim his maiden PGA Tour victory in dramatic fashion.

His 64-64 weekend set a tournament record for the lowest closing 36-hole score since the event moved to PGA National in 2007. The two-shot win not only cements his breakthrough on the PGA Tour but also earns him a coveted place at the Masters, along with entry into the remaining five signature events of the season.

Highsmith’s triumph was all the more remarkable given the pressure he faced just to make the cut. A crucial par putt on Friday kept him in the tournament, and he never looked back.

Knapp’s Collapse Opens the Door

Overnight leader Jake Knapp, who made history with an opening-round 59, saw his hopes of a wire-to-wire victory unravel on the back nine.

Leading by one on the 11th, Knapp found the water, took two shots to escape, and walked away with a devastating triple bogey. The setback saw him tumble down the leaderboard, eventually settling for a tie for sixth.

Junior Bridgeman (64) and J.J. Spaun (68) finished as joint runners-up, while Ireland’s Shane Lowry closed with a 67 to secure a tie for 11th.

Lydia Ko Dominates in Singapore for 23rd LPGA Title

Fast Start Seals HSBC Women’s World Championship

Lydia Ko showcased her class with a flawless final round to capture her first HSBC Women’s World Championship title in Singapore.

The New Zealander, playing in the tournament for the 11th time, began the day with a one-shot lead and wasted no time in extending it, reeling off three consecutive birdies from the sixth hole to take control.

A composed 3-under 69 saw her finish four shots clear of Jeeno Thitikul (70) and Ayaka Furue (68), marking her 23rd career LPGA victory.

Hull’s Challenge Fades

Charley Hull, who started just one shot behind Ko, saw her chances slip away with a disappointing 74, finishing in a tie for fourth alongside Im Jin Hee, who posted the best round of the day with a 67, and Gaby Lopez (70).

Ko’s victory adds to an already glittering career that includes an Olympic gold medal and LPGA Hall of Fame status, reaffirming her place among the game’s elite.

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It will be a second time in the Ryder Cup for Lowry, and a first of European soil, having played at Whistling Straits in the USA two years ago.

Donald has also chosen Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Nicolai Højgaard, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka for the European Ryder Cup side. This year’s competition place at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, Rome, from September 29 – October 1.

The six captain’s picks join Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm, all of whom qualified automatically for the contest against the United States.

Sweden’s Åberg, Denmark’s Højgaard and Austria’s Straka will all make their Ryder Cup debuts at the end of the month.

For England’s Tommy Fleetwood it will be a third consecutive Ryder Cup, following his debut in 2018 when he won four points out of five in Paris. Justin Rose, another English player, will be making his sixth appearance at the Ryder Cup, and his first since Paris five years ago.

Luke Donald

European Captain Donald said: “I am delighted to announce Ludvig, Tommy, Nicolai, Shane, Justin and Sepp as part of Team Europe for the Ryder Cup, joining the six players who qualified automatically.
 
“We have great depth of talent in Europe, and that is perfectly illustrated with the team we now have confirmed for Rome, which is a strong blend of players with previous Ryder Cup experience combined with exciting and talented rookies.
 
“I’m really pleased to have this team now in place, and we are all looking forward to going to Rome later this month and trying to win back the Ryder Cup.”

EUROPEAN TEAM FOR THE 2023 RYDER CUP

Ludvig Åberg (Sweden). Age 23. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 0 (Rookie)
Matt Fitzpatrick (England). Age 29. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2 (2016, 2021)
Tommy Fleetwood (England) Age 32. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2 (2018, 2021)
Tyrrell Hatton (England). Age 31. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2 (2018, 2021)
Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark). Age 22. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 0 (Rookie)
Viktor Hovland (Norway). Age 25. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 1 (2021)
Shane Lowry (Ireland). Age 36. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 1 (2021)
Robert MacIntyre (Scotland). Age 27. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 0 (Rookie)
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland). Age 34. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 6 (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021)
Jon Rahm (Spain). Age 28. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2 (2018, 2021)
Justin Rose (England) Age 43. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 5 (2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018)
Sepp Straka (Austria). Age 30. Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 0 (Rookie)

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Lowry, who teed off at 11.40am, immediately birdied the opening hole. Following a run of pars on the next three holes, the Clara-native claimed his second birdie of the round at the 5th hole.

Further birdies on 10, 11 and and 14, with a bogey in between at the 12th was soon followed by his sixth birdie of the day at the penultimate hole. With a par on the last, Lowry finished the tournament on -12.

Pádraig Harrington had an incredible start to his final round at the Horizon Irish Open. The US Open Senior Champion made 6 birdies in the opening eight holes, and turned in 30.

The closing nine holes were not as successful for the Dubliner however. A double bogey at 10 saw him lose momentum. Bogeys at 16 and 18 with a birdie in between at the seventeenth hole saw the former dual Open Champion end the 2020 Horizon Irish Open on -3 for the round – his best of the week, on an overall score of -7.

Waterford’s Séamas Power had three birdies and an eagle at the par three 6th. He posted a round of four under par, finishing the tournament on seven under par.

Niall Kearney had four birdies and 2 bogeys in a two under par round of 70 and ends this year’s Horizon Irish Open on -4.

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The 29-year-old birdied three of the last four holes at Mount Juliet Estate on Saturday to sit top of the leaderboard on 14 under par.

“I’m quite excited,” admitted Meronk. “Just happy with my score so far. Played pretty solid again today. And, yeah, can’t wait for tomorrow for sure.

“To be honest, the conditions were quite tough. Our first eight holes I would say was just — the rain was on and off. It was actually raining pretty hard for three holes. So that was quite challenging. But you know, being in contention, seeing all these people, it’s quite exciting.”

Meronk was the first Polish player to win on the European Challenge Tour at the 57º Open de Portugal in 2018, before going on to become the first Pole to graduate to the DP World Tour later that year. In 2021, he became the first player to fly the Polish flag in a Major Championship when he teed it up at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Merink is one shot ahead of second round leader Jorge Campillo. The Spaniard currently shares second place with England’s Jack Senior and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti on 13 under par.

The 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry currently leads the home charge, having posted a four under par 68 early on Saturday to move to seven under. The Offaly man is seven shots off the lead, however.

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The Waterford man carded a three under par round of 68 today and finds himself on -8, three shots behind the tournament leader Jorge Campillo of Spain.

US Open Senior Champion Pádraig Harrington posted a 72, a shot worse off than his opening round. Today’s round which included 6 birdies, 2 bogeys and a double bogey six on the seventh hole leaves the Dubliner on -3 for the tournament.

An incredible four birdies in the last four holes saw Shane Lowry stay involved at Mount Juliet for the weekend. Prior to the 15^th hole, the Offaly man had four bogeys and only two birdies on his card. His round of 70 left him on the cut-off mark of -3.

Niall Kearney, the joint-leading Irish player yesterday finds himself eight shots off the leader on -3 alongside Shane Lowry after shooting one over par round of 73 in the second round.

Amateurs Mark Power and Colm Campbell Jnr ended their tournament on with rounds of par and three-over par respectively.

The other Irish golfers John Murphy, Cormac Sharvin, Jonathan Cadwell, Paul Dunne and David Higgins all ended their involvement in the 2022 Horizon Irish Open when failing to make the cut.

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“I say it every year, it’s always great to come back to The Irish Open, the tournament.  It’s kind of close to me, and I owe a lot to it for where I am in the game with the start that I had with The Irish Open in 2009, and, yeah, gave me the kick start to my career that I really needed, definitely gave me one up on the rest of the guys around my level at the time.”

Discussing his good early season form, the Offaly native said:

“It’s been a nice stretch for me, and I feel confident, I feel good about my game. So it’s just about managing expectation in a week like this really.  But I feel like I’m doing that every week because I feel like every week I play now is such a big week, and every week I really want to do well.”

Though there is added pressure on the Irish players this week to perform in front of the home crowd, according to the former Irish Open Champion Shane Lowry:

“It’s just managing expectation, managing myself around the course and allowing myself to play good golf, and I’ll be fine. I treat it like any other tournament. I was actually talking about it the other night, you come back to Ireland like once a year to play this tournament.  And especially this year, when things have been going well and I’ve been playing quite good, there’s no point shying away, one of the highest ranked players in the field, one of the top Irish players, one of the players that people really want to do well. There’s expectation there.”

So, how will the Clara-native perform this week?

“I’m just going to be myself and be as good as I can with everyone and just give people what they want. Because I think that’s just nice. When I was a kid coming to The Irish Open, that’s what I wanted. So it’s nice to be able to do that. And, no, not doing anything different.  I’m staying here on site, my family are here. I’m going to up and down and around for dinner and stuff. Nothing really different.”

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The Horizon Irish Open returns to Mount Juliet Estate from June 30 – July 3, where home heroes Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Séamus Power will lead a field. Ryder Cup stars Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Pieters and Thorbjørn Olesen as well as defending champion Lucas Herbert will also participate.

Full capacity crowds will return to the historic event for the first time since 2019, and unprecedented demand means all General Admission tickets for the weekend have now been snapped up, while Premium Packages for the whole week have also sold out completely.

Fans hoping to attend for Wednesday’s Celebrity Pro-Am or the opening two days of tournament play, Thursday and Friday, are encouraged to purchase their tickets now to avoid disappointment.

“We have been blown away by the eagerness of the Irish golf fans to return to their national Open this year and this is the earliest weekend sell-out we have ever experienced,” said Simon Alliss, the DP World Tour’s Championship Director for the Horizon Irish Open.

“It is set to be an incredible week, with exciting music acts Hermitage Green and Allie Sherlock adding to the festival atmosphere for which this event is famous.

“With Shane Lowry in red-hot form and Séamus Power returning for the first time since becoming a PGA TOUR winner, it is shaping up to be a huge celebration of Irish golf. We are looking forward to a cracking week at the wonderful Mount Juliet Estate.”

Last year, the returning home fans watched Herbert triumph in wire-to-wire fashion, sealing a three-stroke victory for a second DP World Tour title. The promising 25-year-old has since won for the first time on the PGA TOUR, at October’s 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Prior to the 2021 edition, Mount Juliet had hosted the Irish Open for three consecutive years in 1993, 1994 and 1995, won by Nick Faldo of England, Bernhard Langer of Germany and Sam Torrance of Scotland respectively.

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Lowry is one of three wildcards and is set to make his Team Europe debut alongside Ryder Cup veterans Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter in this year’s instalment of the competition.

The Irish golfer had missed out on the automatic spots after a 17th-placed finish at the BMW PGA Championship.

The 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year needed to finish in the top eight of the tournament to earn an automatic spot after Bernd Weisberger and Lee Westwood did enough at Wentworth.

However, all three will be teammates for the Ryder Cup after Harrington announced his choices on Sunday evening.

Lowry said to Sky Sports: “It’s been a career-long dream to play in the Ryder Cup. I remember when the points race started, I said it was my number one goal and it has been for the last two years.

“I’m just incredibly proud of what I have achieved. But there’s no point going over there to make up the numbers. I want to win points and help bring the cup back.”

The Offaly native will be one of three rookies partaking in their maiden Ryder Cup tournament for Harrington’s team.

Weisberger and Viktor Hovland will also make their debuts against Team USA this year after earning automatic qualifications.

However, although the rookie tag is placed on Lowry for this competition, the 34-year-old will come into the tournament with major-winning experience.

“He is a rookie but nobody thinks of him as a rookie,” Harrington said on Sky Sports after announcing his picks.

“He’s a major champion, a World Golf Championship winner. If I’ve picked a rookie it’s probably because they have delivered twice to get in the team.”

The 2021 Ryder Cup will take place from Friday, September 24 to Sunday, September 26.

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It was a tense and thrilling final day in the Men’s Individual Stroke Play at Kasumigaseki Country Club today, the County Down golfer finished in a tie for 4^th after a thrilling seven-way playoff for the bronze medal.

Having carded a final round 67, 4-under par, McIlroy joined the 7-way playoff for bronze. Open champion Collin Morikawa (USA), CT Pan (Chinese Taipei), Mito Pereira (Chile), Sebastián Munoz (Columbia), Paul Casey (GB) and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) all finished on 15-under par with McIlroy.

McIlroy made a 10-foot putt on the first play-off hole to progress while Matsuyama and Casey bowed out. On the next, all 5 remaining players made par. Morikawa and CT Pan birdied the third play-off hole to knock McIlroy, Pereira and Munoz out.

McIlroy determined to make Paris Olympics

Despite his disappointment at not winning a medal, McIlroy said of his first Olympic experience:

“It makes me even more determined going to Paris and trying to pick one up. It’s disappointing going away without any hardware. I’ve been saying all day I’ve never tried so hard in my life to finish third!

“It’s been a great experience. Today was a great day to be up there in contention for a medal. Certainly it had a different feeling to it than I expected but as I said, I’m already looking forward to 3 years’ time and hopefully go at least one better, if not three better.”

Offaly’s Shane Lowry had to settle for a tie for 22^nd as his final day saw him stall, shooting a level par 71. A bogey on the par 3 4^th hole, followed by a double-bogey on the 8^th put an end to his medal chances. Lowry birdied 3 of his final 4 holes to secure the top 25 spot.

Xander Schauffele held his overnight lead to secure the Gold Medal for USA, while Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) fired a superb final round 61 to take Silver.

Gymnastics history maker Rhys McClenaghan

Rhys McClenaghan became the first Irish gymnast to reach an Olympic final. McClenaghan finished in 7^th place in the Men’s Pommel Horse final with a score of 13.100.

McClenaghan was second last to take to the pommel following a host of other impressive performances across the board. An unfortunate error early on though, saw him catch his finger under the handle of the pommel which resulted in a fall from the horse.

He regained his composure quickly though and completed his routine in magnificent style, with a clean dismount, but knew that it was not enough for a podium finish. His final score of 13.100 was a combination of a 6.400 difficulty score and an execution score of 6.700.

“I was disappointed with my performance today,” he commented. “It could have gone a lot better of course, just that one finger got caught under the handle. That one finger got caught, and that’s the finest of margins in gymnastics, where that one finger placement wrong can throw you off course. It’s the beauty of the sport as well the fact that it makes it so exciting. I’m excited to get back out there and just be better than ever.”

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