The Morning Sports Briefing

Golf: USPGA

American big hitter Dustin Johnson takes the first round lead of the US PGA Championship into day two this afternoon - with action re-commencing at 12.45am.

Johnson is back on the course at 7.20pm Irish time, while World No1 Rory McIlroy is out at the earlier slot of 2.05pm (full list of tee times here).

There were no signs of the dodgy ankle that ruled McIlroy out of last month's Open at Whistling Straits yesterday - it was the same old Rory McIlroy, striding down the fairways with a pep in his step.

And the world number one stood toe-to-toe and stared eyeball-to-eyeball with his would-be usurper Jordan Spieth in a first round of the US PGA Championship here at Whistling Straits that had both players opening their quests for the season’s final Major title with a pair of 71s, one-under-par.

A bogey on the Par 4 18th hole - which played as the toughest of all averaging 4.65 - was the lone blot on McIlroy’s back nine, which left him five strokes behind first round leader Johnson.

“I was a little anxious coming back (playing) and seeing how my game’s going to react whenever I am put under a little bit of pressure and have a card in my hand and have to really score.”

Soccer: Premier League

Chelsea have a press conference scheduled for today, one in which Jose Mourinho can expect some pointed questioning regarding his treatment of club doctor Eva Carneiro. Publicly lambasting her on the touchline, before telling the media that the female medical professional needed to understand the game more, because she attended to Eden Hazard in Saturday's Premier League draw with Swansea resulting in his team being momentarily reduced to nine men. The pressure will certainly be on the self proclaimed 'special one'.

Since the incident Carneiro has been removed from her match day duties, to the outrage of medical representatives in the Premier League and Fifa. Chelsea have so far remained silent.

Rugby: World Cup

Chris Henry's recovery from the stroke he suffered on the morning of the South Africa game last November, and subsequent heart surgery, to earning his 17th cap in Cardiff last weekend, has been a remarkable one. But as he looks to cement his place in Ireland's World Cup squad with another big performance against Scotland this Saturday it's something he's not to keen to dwell on.

Henry told us yesterday one in four people have a hole in their heart, but the only cases that come to mind involve rugby players - begging the question: are professional rugby players more susceptible to this because they push their body to its physical limit?

“NFL players get it quite a bit. They don’t really know. One in four people have a hole in the heart. Basically, because of the sport we play, there are more bumps and bruises, so this could have happened from a clot in the calf that went into heart. Instead of going through the lungs to be cleaned, it’s gone through the hole and up into the brain.”

For Liam Toland, he's excited by the prospect of a backrow containing Henry and Sean O'Brien against Scotland. He feels the returning Ulster flanker remains the best reader of the opposition's breakdowns in the Irish squad.

GAA: Championship

John Allen is talking Galway/ Tipperary in his column this morning, and why he think the Munster champions will progress past Sunday and into the All-Ireland senior hurling final.

“Beating Cork by 12 points, having 23 wides with Joe Canning’s radar not properly functioning tells its own story.

There now has to be a confidence within as well as well as the knowledge that they could and should have beaten Tipperary last year. But games are won over the 70-plus minutes and Galway haven’t always stayed the full course of games.”

Tennis

Good piece this morning too on Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios by Kevin Mitchell - while there would seem to be little wrong with his actual tennis lately, "there is a lot wrong with Nick Kyrgios. The kid needs help."

The latest in his growing list of look-at-me moments – telling Stan Warwrinka in public that his friend and fellow Davis Cup team-mate Thanasi Kokkinakis had slept with his girlfriend – was by some way his worst.

What to watch out for:

Day two of the US PGA championship at Whistling Straits gets underway at 12.45am (Irish time) and Darren Clarke is first of the Irish at 1.05pm.

Sky Sports 4, 7pm-1am

Premier League action tonight, with Manchester United visiting Aston Villa, a nice warm-up for the weekend.

Sky Sports 1 from 6pm

Thank GAA It's Friday continues tonight, previewing the All-Ireland hurling semi-final on Sunday.

RTÉ 2, 8.30pm-9pm

Spanish Supercopa final tonight between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, kicking off at 9pm. Barca's domestic dominance last term means Bilbao feature as Copa del Rey runners-up.

Sky Sports 5 from 8.55pm