BONUS PRIZE:A €1 million bonus will be on offer for back-to-back victories in the Irish Open at Adare Manor and the PGA Championship at Wentworth next month.
The Irish Open will be staged at Adare Manor in Co Limerick from May 17th-20th, while the PGA Championship will take place a week later at the Surrey venue.
The bonus has been offered by Adare Manor owner Tom Kane. The Irish Open first prize is €416,600, while the winner at Wentworth will take home a cheque for €725,000.
Kane said he had "no doubt that this bonus prize fund will help encourage even more of the world's top players to participate at Adare Manor".
"It would give me no greater pleasure than to see our Irish Open champion make the trip to Wentworth the following week and capture the €1 million bonus prize," said the Adare Manor owner.
n US TOUR: After two hectic days of celebrity treatment by the media, US Masters champion Zach Johnson is itching to get back inside the ropes at a tournament.
Johnson has rubbed shoulders with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, Hollywood film star Halle Berry and several talk show hosts since his surprise victory at Augusta National, but is now ready to return to his normal world.
The 31-year-old American, who defied all the odds by holding off a late challenge from world number one Tiger Woods, is playing in this week's Heritage Classic at Hilton Head, South Carolina, which starts today.
"The last few days have been quite the whirlwind, a bit chaotic at times," Johnson said yesterday. "(The) Late Night (show) with David Letterman sticks out, but then meeting Sen Obama and Ms Berry was really cool."
Johnson has a chance to carve out another piece of history at Harbour Town where he bids to become the first player in 22 years to win the opening major of the season and the PGA Tour event held the next week.
CHINA OPEN:Stephen Dodd is hoping he can repeat his 2005 China Open success at the Shanghai Silport Golf Club this week as the Welshman bids to recapture the form which brought him the most prolific period of his career.
Dodd triumphed by three shots over Thomas Bjorn, who is also among the 136-man field that teed off this morning, in a tournament that actually took place in November 2004 but was designated as part of the 2005 season when it was co-sanctioned for the first time by the European and Asian Tours.
The 40-year-old then went on to claim the Irish and European Opens, plus the World Cup for Wales when he partnered Bradley Dredge in Portugal, but has failed to record a top-10 finish on the European Tour since emerging victorious at The K Club in July last year.
However, he is hoping a similar performance at the same venue in the 2007 edition will instigate a welcome change of fortune.
"It is always nice to come back to venues where you have had success," Dodd said. "It was nice to follow the China Open with the Irish Open shortly afterwards just to show it wasn't a one-off. Doing it again means you know it wasn't a fluke."
The Irish in the field in China are Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Graeme McDowell and Gary Murphy.
SENIORS TOUR: Tony Jacklin is returning to the European Seniors Tour at the age of 62 after a gap of three years. The former British Open champion will play in the London Seniors Masters at the London Golf Club in Kent on June 22nd-24th.
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